I just felt the need to share a quick story and the information that I gained from it.

I am a member of a flying club here in Manitoba, and also own 80 acres of land, some of which is nice pasture. I wanted to be able to fly here at home, if the urge struck, as the flying club field is an hour drive.

Last fall I took my NexSTAR out to the runway that I had mowed, and things just didn't go all that well. The plane did not like the small bumps and dips in the field, so I thought ( something I didn't do when I was 20 ) this isn't a good idea right now, and aborted a takeoff.

Decided that three things were needed.

One was to cut the field a little shorter,

the second was to buy a roller to pull behind the lawn tractor,

and the third was to go to larger wheels on the plane.

Bought a roller, and am getting anxious to cut the grass, as soon as it dries out enough.

Now comes the good part.

I wanted to put maybe 4" tires on the NexSTAR, so I went to the hobby shop and bought 1, 4" Sullivan wheel and took it home to try on the plane for fit and clearance. Found that the plane has 5/32 axles, and the new wheel has 3/16 hubs. Started looking, and found 3/16 axles for the two rear wheels, so far so good.

Went looking for a 3/16 steerable front axle and had no luck. Maybe I didn't look in the right place, but nonetheless didn't find what I wanted. I thought maybe I could cut the verticle part of the existing front axle, and have an adapter made to graft on either a 3/16 or 5/32 axle, depending where I was going to fly. Went to Robarts site, and found a great fix. Their site says that these items are new, and to me they are.

I have no idea how long they have had them, but the important thing is that I found them. As I see it, I need to drill out the smaller wheels to fit on a 3/16 axle, and I can change wheels as needed.

I just wanted to share this with all, and hopefully, this will help someone else. http://www.robart.com/store/retracts/custom-add-parts