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

Thanks for sharing, Kevin, and I hope your home-made runway turns out to be as smooth and handy as you're hoping it will. Report back and let us know how things turn out!

Get a drill bit. Not a big thing to enlarge a hole in a wheel.

And the larger wheel will probably help a lot but recheck your CG.

Tom

I will recheck the CG for sure.  Lots of twist drills, as I started off my working life as a machinist, and tool and die maker. 

One of my club fields in Calif. was just pasture land on the side of a mountain, county owned so we couldn't really use anything except a mower. The bigger wheels help a lot but everyone ended up flying nothing but tail dragger's there except for the club trainer. We had a gopher and ground squirrel problem so trike geared planes had a lot more problems. It worked out for us but sometimes when guys from the valley would come up for an event they couldn't get there planes off the ground with stock wheels.

4" Wheels??!!! I am planning to have 3 " wheels on my Extra 60-90 and I am worried they are too large. This gives me confidence.

By the way, what is everyone's take on rubber v/s foam wheels for 3" or larger size? I know foam are lighter but dont they absorb less shock?

Ameyam

Dubro makes these foam wheels that weigh practically nothing and work out really well. They are plastic wheel hubs with foam tires. I have 3 1/2" on my trainer as well as on my other planes. It looks odd, like an Alaska bush aircraft, but what the heck.. what works is what works.

Yeah, do re-check your CG after installing these wheels. It may not matter, but do check it.

CGr.