seemefly_1

I will be getting a new airframe and have been informed that for the money this is a great plane. I have been reading reviews and it seems as if the landing gear isn’t very good quality. What landing gear have any of you used in replacement that works with this plane?

shd3920

Dubro
http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXNM65&P=7

Goldberg
http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXHBP8&P=7

Great Planes
http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXJ922&P=7

The wire gears can be easily replaced with either of these. But personally I have never heard complaints regarding the Tower Trainer's landing gears.

ramboy

I have the Tower Trainer RTF and the landing gear is fine.

seemefly_1

I am not sure about the landing gear but the reviews on RCU has people saying they were bad

carrellh

Nearly all wire gears will flatten out over time. You just have to bend them back into shape once in a while.

When they have been bent so many times you feel you have to replace them, a complete setup is $5.49 but is currently out of stock.
http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXDRB5&P=0

seemefly_1

alright thanks for the info

Campgems

Most of the wire gears, but not all, tend to be easily bent. The ARF planes are the ones most likely to have the softer steel.

I've got to second shed3920's recomendations. Especailly the Dubro gear. I've used it on everything from a 40 trainer to a 9 lb 1.20 size bipe. The gear is bullet proof. You will never bend it, you well never break it. You can paint it to your choice of color or leave it the stock color although it will slowly change to an yellowish color with sun and fuel exposure. It is flexable enough to take some really hard landings and then spring back to shape and not damage the fuselage. Use the dubro axles http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXD823&P=Mand you have an unbeatable set of mains.

I think the tower trainer is a trike gear, so you need to address the nose gear as well. The Dubro nose gear is also a very good choice. http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXD842&P=SM I found on my trainer that the nose gear could have used another turn or two on the spring, and it was impossible to get the nose wheel aligned with teh vertical axis of the gear. Each time you touched down, it put a twisting motion on the gear and it soon required an adjustment on the tiller arm. The dubro gear cleaned that problem upnicely.

Don

RCKen

My Feedback: (9)

I've trained many students with the Tower Trainer, and yes the landing gear to spread out a bit over time. However, I would recommend to not waste your money buying new landing gear as the fix for the stock landing gear is pretty simple. Use a piece of coat hanger wire to built a small brace between the two landing gear about half way between the wheels and the bottom of the fuselage. This will keep them from spreading apart. I did this and soldered it in place with my Tower Trainer when I learned 14 years ago, and it's still in place and working fine to this day.

Ken

seemefly_1

can you post a picture please

RCKen

My Feedback: (9)

I'm on site in Delaware covering Warbirds Over Delaware. I won't be able to post a picture until I get home next week.

Ken

dash008

My Feedback: (1)

The gear on the tower trainer is weak. Other than that it is a very good plane. I got this gear which is inexpensive and matches up perfectly. http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXDXA7 Do yourself a favor and replace the gear on it.

seemefly_1

Alright i can wait

mclina

I am now a big fan of wire landing gear. During a recent fun-fly, doing a limbo-loops contest, the elevator clevis came off on my Dazzler during a low altitude loop. It went into the tall grass, at full speed, at about a 45 degree angle. The only damage to the plane was the landing gear wire bent. From the way it went in, I thought it was going to be totalled, but it turned out to be a 5 minute fix to remove and re-bend the landing gear.

I'm not sure why the clevis came loose. It had a piece of tubing on it, but it has been replaced.

Conversely, I 'upgraded' the stock gear on my Four Star 40 (flat aluminum gear) with the Dubro High Strength (composite) gear during my latest rebuild. In the first five landings, I ripped the landing gear block out twice. That never happened with the stock gear. I have since put the stock gear back on.

The lesson I took from this is that stronger gear is not necessarily better.

Good luck

mclina

I liked that Dazzler gear so much that I copied it for the small Ugly Stick I am currently building. It's cheap, easy, and strong. It's a 20" piece of 5/32" wire with five bends, and four landing gear straps.

CGRetired

My Feedback: (1)

Is that blood from bending that wire? sorry..

seemefly_1

good story. I'll see how it goes. I have had no problems with the main on my avistar but had as many nosegear problems as there were landings.

mclina

That's either from where I painted my guitar or my flight box. The blood stains turn brown pretty quickly.

WestCoastFlyer

My Feedback: (1)

Nice paint on the Tele, looks like a new pickguard, bridge - it looks like a new guitar, a restoration? How does it fly? Hopefully it flies well!

TruBlu02

The stock gear on the tower trianer will last for awhile but it will quickly grow tiresome having to always bend them back in to shape. I bought mine for training friends but ended up flying it mylself more than anything. I like to to do steep appraoches and full stall landings so the wire gear wore out pretty quick. A buddy of mine had a set of old aluminum gear from who knows where and I slapped them on the trainer. No problems now! The good thing about the tower trainer is that the landing gear bock is very strong. there is alot of wood to work with when mounting some after market gear. I would reccomend getting a set of the above listed gear and save yourself the headache.

seemefly_1

thanks for the advise

WestCoastFlyer

My Feedback: (1)

It might not be in your budget because its easy to bend aluminum gear back into shape, but carbon fiber gear is the best of both worlds.

Lots of flex with carbon fiber if you bounce a landing, the airplane springs up like a trampoline, and most important no re bending like aluminum. Also, less stress on whatever landing gear mount methodology.

seemefly_1

I'm not sure that this is carbon fiber but it looks somthing close to it.

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXHBP8&P=7

TruBlu02

No it is a glass filled composite not carbon fiber. This would make a good gear for the Tower Trainer. Carbon fiber is nice but expensive. I thin either a good composite set of gear or go with aluminum.

WestCoastFlyer

My Feedback: (1)

Aluminum is fine, you have to bend it back into shape every once in awhile, no big deal. Carbon fiber is for lazy guys like me that don't want to deal with it, that's the only difference.

I'd say go with aluminum because it absorbs the shock of a bounced landing very well, and you merely re-bend it. Over time there could be an issue re-bending at those stress points of the gear, but in my experience I've never been able to notice a difference in stressed aluminum vs. non=stressed.

mclina

The Tele is one of those $79 kits from Saga. I'm not much of a guitarist, so I can't tell how bad it is. I haven't tried flying it yet, but with a big enough motor....