hookedonrc

Yesterday was my maiden day for my new Ultra Stick Lite with a Zenoah G-26 for power. It is my first venture into the gasoline engine arena, and what a rush. The plane is powerful, fast, and is a kick to fly. However, one thing did happen on take off that could have spelled disaster, but was overcome by a slow, easy landing. On take off the right main gear wheel came off of the plane and rolled down our asphalt runway and off into the grass. I first thought I forgot to tighten the wheel collar set screw during assembly, but when we found the wheel, the entire axle had separated from the axle bolt. Not sheered, but came out of the nutted end completely. I will admit, while I changed 95% of the hardware supplied in the US Lite ARF, I never even considered changing the axle setup. Well I will be now! Never have seen where the round part of the axle came out of the center of the nut, but it did. It looks like the axle part was just pressure fitted into the nutted end. Anyone else ever see something like this? It was a first for me.

SST

My Feedback: (2)

Cedarville University had it happen to their SAE lift competition plane (50# all up weight!). It was fixed with a little locktite bearing locking compound.

carrellh

I saw this happen to an Ultra Stck 60. Barry made a great landing with no damage, he was glad we had a nice headwind that day.
I guess a few with poor fit slip through. They appear to be press fit only, with no spot weld or other visible reinforcement.

glowplug

My Feedback: (1)

Sounds like a Hangar 9 axle problem......I had the same thing happen on my Funtana on it's maiden flight. Luckily, I was able to land it slowly with no damage. The pressure fit on one axle was fine, but the other could not be fixed......it felt tight, but would loosen up within minutes. I got new axles for it, and will get new axles for any future Hangar 9 planes that I buy.

hookedonrc

Yep...they were Hangar 9 axles. Replaced both of them yesterday. I also have a US 60 that I will take a look at.