Post by Dillzio on Oct 27, 2009 4:35:35 GMT 1
Hey all, I've bought a bunch of wheels for the cub now to see what works best for me, and i thought I'd share my experiences.
For the newbees reading this thread, bigger wheels allow the plane to take off and land on rougher surfaces such as grass, and if chosen correctly can make you cub look up to 45% cooler.
Most tail wheels have a hole for the axle that is too big for the tail axle on the cub, having wobbly on the rear wheel is a BAD thing, because the cub uses the rear wheel to steer when it's on the ground. Most small wheels are also too wide to attach with the stock nut. Sure you can make them fit by lengthening the shafts, or using heat shrink to make the axle bigger, but it all takes time. I've found a much easier alternative.
Dubro part number 100MW, it's a pair of 1" tail wheels. The hole in the middle is a tiny bit too small for the axle, but that is easily fixed with a fine drillbit. I didn't have a drill bit that small (all my drillbits under 2mm seem to break for some mysterious reason), so I just used a fine nail to tap the hole out a bit bigger. If you use a nail, learn from my mistake, apply some oil to the inside first or you'll have one hell of a time getting the nail out. If you wanted to go a little larger, part 125MW is 1&1/4 inch, and 150MW is 1&1/2 inch, they all come in pairs.
If you're looking to upgrade the front wheels, I would recommend this wheel as one that fits perfectly without any modification. The ones I got were 65mmx19mm wide, part 4099, but I think that part may be discontinued now (It's HobbyKing). They've replaced them with these, which appear to be identical, except they're 5mm bigger:
www.hobbycity.com/hobbycity/store/uh_viewitem.asp?idproduct=4100
The wheels I've got on my plane at the moment DO require modification, they're 70mm by 24mm thick. I think they look a bit fatter and more robust than my HobbyKing wheels, more like a bush plane, the HobbyKing ones are a bit better looking though,:
www.brchobbies.co.uk/?page=search&sort=priceDesc&resultPage=0&search=brc454
To get them to fit on a unmodified axel you need to do some drilling on one side of each wheel. First I drilled out a recess for the nut to go into (about 4mm wide and 5mm deep. I tried it like that, but once the nut goes into the recess you can't get enough grip on it to tighten or loosen it properly and I ended up loosing a nut on a landing, so I had to get rid of the collar too. To get rid of the collar, I took a BIG drillbit (20mm or larger), and drilled away until the collar was completely gone and it was indented just a bit. Here's the pics:
In this pic you can see the collar I had to get rid of:
For the newbees reading this thread, bigger wheels allow the plane to take off and land on rougher surfaces such as grass, and if chosen correctly can make you cub look up to 45% cooler.
Most tail wheels have a hole for the axle that is too big for the tail axle on the cub, having wobbly on the rear wheel is a BAD thing, because the cub uses the rear wheel to steer when it's on the ground. Most small wheels are also too wide to attach with the stock nut. Sure you can make them fit by lengthening the shafts, or using heat shrink to make the axle bigger, but it all takes time. I've found a much easier alternative.
Dubro part number 100MW, it's a pair of 1" tail wheels. The hole in the middle is a tiny bit too small for the axle, but that is easily fixed with a fine drillbit. I didn't have a drill bit that small (all my drillbits under 2mm seem to break for some mysterious reason), so I just used a fine nail to tap the hole out a bit bigger. If you use a nail, learn from my mistake, apply some oil to the inside first or you'll have one hell of a time getting the nail out. If you wanted to go a little larger, part 125MW is 1&1/4 inch, and 150MW is 1&1/2 inch, they all come in pairs.
If you're looking to upgrade the front wheels, I would recommend this wheel as one that fits perfectly without any modification. The ones I got were 65mmx19mm wide, part 4099, but I think that part may be discontinued now (It's HobbyKing). They've replaced them with these, which appear to be identical, except they're 5mm bigger:
www.hobbycity.com/hobbycity/store/uh_viewitem.asp?idproduct=4100
The wheels I've got on my plane at the moment DO require modification, they're 70mm by 24mm thick. I think they look a bit fatter and more robust than my HobbyKing wheels, more like a bush plane, the HobbyKing ones are a bit better looking though,:
www.brchobbies.co.uk/?page=search&sort=priceDesc&resultPage=0&search=brc454
To get them to fit on a unmodified axel you need to do some drilling on one side of each wheel. First I drilled out a recess for the nut to go into (about 4mm wide and 5mm deep. I tried it like that, but once the nut goes into the recess you can't get enough grip on it to tighten or loosen it properly and I ended up loosing a nut on a landing, so I had to get rid of the collar too. To get rid of the collar, I took a BIG drillbit (20mm or larger), and drilled away until the collar was completely gone and it was indented just a bit. Here's the pics:
In this pic you can see the collar I had to get rid of: