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tail wheel bearings

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by0ung(at)brigham.net
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Posted: Sat Aug 08, 2009 7:09 am Post subject: tail wheel bearings

Been working on the tail wheel on my plane,    it seems that the bearings that come with it had between 20 and 25 thousandths  of play in them.  When I went to the local bearing supplier he came out with a new set that looked just like the ones I wanted to replace.   He told me that they were wheel barrow bearings,  thy had about 10 thousandths play,  I didn’t measure, just my calibrated eye.   I asked if he had anything better and he asked the normal questions,  what was it going on and did it get any water on them,,,   as he emerged from the back a second time, he had a very nice set of  sealed bearings, no play, rolled very smooth,,,,,  just what you would expect,,,   but they did not have the retaining ring on the outside edge to keep them from going all the way into the wheel hub, as there is no shoulder to press the bearing to.    Interesting they were only around $0.50 more for the pair  over the cheep bearings.   So going home I started looking for something to put into the wheel hub to work as a shoulder to seat the bearings against.   What I found in the back of my plumbing van was a short piece of 1 1/4  thin wall copper pipe.  As I checked it out I determined that if I got a good press I could get it in.   went about measuring the thickness of the wheel hub, the thickness of the 2 bearings and came up needing a piece 0.8 inches long.  I checked all my sockets to find one that would be small enough to go  through the wheel hub but  large enough to push the copper to the center, no luck.  What I ended up using was a 2 inch piece of the same copper. I had to grind and sand off about 1/3 the wall thickness to insure I could get it back out.  I am not sure I needed the next step because it was a real tight fit, but I coated the copper as well as the inside of the hub  with a thin film of epoxy before setting.    Cleaned up all the excess epoxy and then applied a very thin coat of grease to the hub before seating the wheel bearings.   The bearings fit tight enough that they might have been ok without the copper shoulder.  But now I am sure they are not going anywhere.   Because the bearings went flush on the sides of the hub the finished assembly needed a couple of washers to keep it centered on the axel.  

   

I got it all installed on Thursday, but because of 50 mph winds,   and my state of mind after visiting with my new prop blast friend on Friday,   and rain this morning,,, I may not get a chance to test it out till next week.  

   

[img]cid:image001.jpg(at)01CA1806.C74D6910[/img]  

   

Boyd Young  

Kolb MkIII C   600+ hours and counting  

Brigham City  Utah.

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Thom Riddle

Joined: 10 Jan 2006
Posts: 1597
Location: Buffalo, NY, USA (9G0)

Posted: Sat Aug 08, 2009 2:01 pm Post subject: Re: tail wheel bearings

Thanks for the explanation, Boyd.



I'm going to check the play in my tailwheel some day soon, since it is carrying 120 lbs when empty but a little less in service with me in the seat.

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Thom Riddle
Buffalo, NY (9G0)

Don't worry about old age... it doesn't last very long.
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