How free are your wheels?
 

Just curious as to how easily your wheels rotate. Mine do have some friction, not a lot but noticeable. Should I be adjusting them somehow?

Dale

RE: How free are your wheels?
 

Do they have bushings or bearings? mine has bearings and they are really free

RE: How free are your wheels?
 

Bushings

RE: How free are your wheels?
 

Lube them.

RE: How free are your wheels?
 

I have Dubro low bounce wheels on the mains on my Nano Boomerang. The wheels rotate freely, but the tyres are soft, and wheel drag on the ground has a useful slight braking effect. I like this setup as I don't have wheel brakes and the ground handling is just fine, with taxy thrust being easy to find, whilst the plane rolls to a stop nicely on landing despite residual engine thrust. For a very short time I replaced the Dubros with some "jet wheels", again unbraked, and these were so free rolling that the jet didn't want to stop, so I replaced the tatty old Dubros and restored the ground handling.

If you use brakes - I don't know if brakes are mandatory in Canada but they're not over here - then lubing the wheels will be OK, but without brakes I wouldn't bother :D

Gordon

RE: How free are your wheels?
 

I'll try some 3in1 oil, unless there are other suggestions?

RE: How free are your wheels?
 

I would use something heavier than 3-in-1 oil - like high-temperature grease. Jets have higher takeoff and landing speeds and thus have more of a tendency to either spin off the lube or burn it off. Its important to inspect and lube bushed wheels on a jet - if you don't, you run the very real chance of the bearing galling on the shaft and locking up. I have seen that several times before and depending on when it happens, the result can be unpleasant.

Many jet wheels use oilite bushings to help alleviate this problem...

Bob

RE: How free are your wheels?
 

Sounds good. I'll see what I can find. Any brand names you can suggest?

RE: How free are your wheels?
 

"White lithium grease". Available at any auto parts house, a small tube lasts years.

Shepp

RE: How free are your wheels?
 

I'll give it a try, thanks

Dale

RE: How free are your wheels?
 

Mine are BVM and they sure aren't free!

RE: How free are your wheels?
 

I've been using automotive silicone grease to lube my axles andbrake o-rings for years. It works great and is available at any auto parts store.

Joe