The front wheel on my GP Trainer 40 has started to squeak like a banshi when taking off or landing. I probably have 100 flights on it and it just now started to squeak. I was wondering if just taking off the wheel and cleaning it and sanding the axle would be enough. What is the best way to make it stop? Should i use some WD-40 or grease when reassembling it?

skeeter

The squeaky wheel gets the grease. It is probably squeaking becasue after time the metal axle starts to polish the plastic rim causing it to squeak. You can remove the wheel and give it a light sanding to remove the glaze or just give it a little lube.

WD40 always solved this problem for me

WD40 is NOT a lubricant and does not do a very good job when used for that purpose. Check your wheel for wear. If the hole is quite worn, get a piece of brass tubing that will fit over the landing gear axel and then ream out the wheel so you can epoxy in a piece of the tubing to make a new brass bearing for your wheel, it will be better than when new. Just about any type of oil will be much better than WD40.

lol i would leave it alone, it adds character

I had a plane a couple years ago and the left wheel squeaked. The right wheel had castor oil all over it.

Darn thing squeaked the whole flying season. If I flew early in the morning and dew got on the axle, the squeaking would stop.

We all got a charge out of the squeaking wheel.

WD 40 = (Water Displacement,...formula 40)... It never was intended for long term oiling type use. It is also often used to soak and remove oil coating.
regards, Rich

If WD40 is not oil try dribbling a few drops on your favorite meduim colored T-shirt... let it dry... then try washing it out.
Not quite as powerful as the oil that will squirt out of a taco but still plenty tough to get out.

It will also stop the wheel from squeaking for some time
http://www.wd40.com/

http://www.wd40company.com/files/pdf...d494716385.pdf

It is classed as a lubricant among other things in the MSDS

WD-40 is good,I always wonder why its so derided in the forums the stuff is a fine product,prevents rust, I use a ton of the stuff.

another exelent but often overlooked lubricant is tri-flow its used in the biking world primaraly because it doesn't pick up dirt as much as a grease and can be used in brake,and gear shift cables to allow them to move smoothly,its becoming more widespread now but I used to have to get it from the Local Bike Shop when it first started showing up,living in the birthplace of mountain biking its popular in our neck of the woods.

and then there's always Vasaline,it works well but like any petrolium grease like material will pick up dirt and debris that needs to be cleaned like any of its counterparts I use it for modeling as well.

don't sand the axel the noise is coming from the plastic hub.

First thing is don't sand the axle. That will just wear out the hole in the wheel.

Remove the outside collar from the axle and see if the wheel has too much play. It should wobble a little but not much. If it doesn't have too much wobble just use a silicone or teflon lube and put everything back together. Don't forget to use some threadlock on the screw to the collar.

If there is a lot of wobble, either replace the wheel or get a piece of brass tube with the inside diameter about the size of the axle, and a drill bit about the size of the outside diameter of the brass tube. If you can find a drill bit about 1 or 2 thousandths smaller than the brass tube you can get a press fit and not have to glue it into the hub. Then lube the axle and install the wheel and go fly.

You guys crack me up!

skeeter

And you can freeze the brass tubing for an undersize hole too.Pop it in and as it warms up..

Simple answer, retire the PT-40 and get yourself into a 4*.

As an alternative you could just replace what ever is making the noise, the wheel, gear or engine mount. All fast and cheap, but not as fun as a 4*.

change it into a tail dragger, or always do wheelies while on the the runway

Jon

I always convert the trigear planes to tail dragger

This is not a PT40. It is a Trainer 40 i built in 1991 and just got back into flying it last year. I just right this moment came in from my hanger (garage) after glueing together the tail sections for my a Super Sportster 60. It will take awhile to build (what can i say i'm slow) but hope to have a good bird to fly then. It will have some mods for style but otherwise stock. I am keeping this flying for alittle longer and then plan to convert it to TD. Had installed the necessary reinforcement when building it from the kit.

skeeter

time to rotate the tires or use ligntning grease, that will make it taxi faster

The squeak doesn't seem to bother the flying ability.

I had another plane with a squeaky tail wheel. It squeaked until some one shot me down with their transmitter.

on purpose or accident

It was an accident. He had a Airtronics and I think he thought it wouldn't interfere with a futaba

It was history in 2 sec My thoughts just before the accident was about how great and easy flying the plane was.

Oh come on... you know you were worrying about that tail wheel

I was doing touch and goes. For some reason I wasn't thinking about the tail wheel.

The crash didn't hurt the tail wheel. It probably still squeaks?

I've seen a lot of shoot downs. They happen mighty quick and cause a lot of hard feelings