Amazing video of RV nose gear collapse shot with GoPro

[Steve Melton]

Originally Posted by Zero4Zulu

My Matco wheel has the rubber seal that has two lips on the seal and it had a lot of drag. I used a razor blade to remove one of the lips on the seal. The wheel now spins freely.

anti-splat nose wheel bearing mod allows the wheel to rotate slowly in flight.

see video

https://youtu.be/QpS3JzUIgTE

this the same nose wheel at 850 hrs. I like it.

[terrye]

Originally Posted by RV fan

Hello Together,

What is your Opinion: Does a ? Lighter? Hose Wheel (for Exempel a Behringer Wheel and Tire) Support the Issue die ?Oszillation? ?
My thinking is, the lower Mass for the Wheel should be reduce this a bit. Or?

Greetings
Manfred

I checked the weight of Van's standard nose wheel with bearings, tube and tire mounted against the Beringer nose wheel with bearings and tire mounted. In spite of the Beringer wheel looking much lighter than the Vans wheel, the assembly weight saving was only about the weight difference of the tube, about 0.5 lbs (Beringer is tubeless). The reasons I'm thinking about buying a Beringer are lower bearing torque and the elimination of the tube.

[Walt]

Another benefit of the Beringer is the one piece axle.

[Steve Iacoviello]

I used the Matco axle upgrade in my build. I just checked and Spruce sells it. Allows smooth turning of the nose wheel and proper torque on the fork. https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catal...ccessories.php

[Captain Avgas]

Originally Posted by Steve Iacoviello

I used the Matco axle upgrade in my build. I just checked and Spruce sells it. Allows smooth turning of the nose wheel and proper torque on the fork. https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catal...ccessories.php

Yes, I have the same upgrade and highly recommend it. The original Vans nose wheel bearing system just made no sense to me....if you torqued up the axle bolt enough to take out all of the lateral wheel movement the wheel wouldn?t spin freely. 500 hours on the Matco upgrade and no problems so far but I always try to keep the nose wheel off the surface while there is elevator authority left to do so on both take-off and landing.

Incidentally Steve Melton?s video in Post # 131 is interesting. The landings and take-offs are not flat but he is definitely not holding his nosegear off the runway for anywhere near long enough. But they were shot in 2015 so he might have improved his technique since then.

[FlyinTiger]

As highlighted in the recent RV flying webinar please remember to keep the nose wheel off the ground as must as possible and stick full aft during taxi, no matter what mods you have.

“The nose gear is just a kickstand for the prop” - stolen from someone else here on VAF.

Those watching the recent video, the nose gear is up very late in the takeoff roll and comes down way too soon. Since we’re using videos it must be said. Don’t take my word for it.

Source EAA Webinar with Mike S.

[Steve Melton]

Originally Posted by FlyinTiger

As highlighted in the recent RV flying webinar please remember to keep the nose wheel off the ground as must as possible and stick full aft during taxi, no matter what mods you have.

“The nose gear is just a kickstand for the prop” - stolen from someone else here on VAF.

Those watching the recent video, the nose gear is up very late in the takeoff roll and comes down way too soon. Since we’re using videos it must be said. Don’t take my word for it.

Source EAA Webinar with Mike S.

if you are speaking of my video, sometimes one installs a camera to do a test and have a look.

[terrye]

As with all the videos of the standard "A" model rod type nose gear strut I'm amazed at how much fore/aft movement there is due to minor ripples on paved runways and especially how much the "spin up torque" of the nose wheel on landing moves and rotates the rod type nose gear strut.

I'm not sure there is an easy way to measure spin up torque, but there certainly is for the various nose wheels, nose wheel bearings and axles in current use.

The original Vans design of a simple bolt through the castering fork is not a robust design and a poor way of adjusting the taper roller bearings.

However, Vans current design (rubber biscuit sprung tube strut) includes a solid axle which allows the bearing end play to be adjusted separately from the fork bolt. This solid axle can be retrofitted to the nose wheel without any other changes.

The Anti Splat conversion replaces the taper roller bearing with sealed ball bearings.

The Matco axle (solid axle) also can be retrofitted to the nose wheel without any other changes (or installed initially) and also allows the bearing end play to be adjusted separately from the fork bolt.

The Beringer nose wheel has ball bearings and a solid axle.

Has anybody ever measured the bearing/seal torque of any or all of the above options? I don't recall seeing any numbers, forgive me if I overlooked them. It would be an easy test. Lift the nose wheel (put a weight on the HS), wrap a string around the wheel and add weights until it just starts to rotate.

What would this prove? Whether the ball bearings really have a measurable advantage over taper roller bearings in wheel torque. I think the spin up torque of wheel/tire itself would be the same in all cases, essentially the same weight and moment of inertia of the wheel/tire.

[rvbuilder2002]

Originally Posted by terrye

However, Vans current design (rubber biscuit sprung tube strut) includes a solid axle which allows the bearing end play to be adjusted separately from the fork bolt. This solid axle can be retrofitted to the nose wheel without any other changes.

Correct

The new design axle can be installed on legacy nose gears even if the new design nose gear/engine mount is not being retrofitted.

[PaulvS]

Originally Posted by rvbuilder2002

Correct

The new design axle can be installed on legacy nose gears even if the new design nose gear/engine mount is not being retrofitted.

Is it possible to install the fork and nose wheel from a -10 onto the new style nose gear for the -7A and 9A so as to have a 5 inch nose wheel? This would be done in conjunction with 380-150×5 tyres on the mains so overall ground stance should remain the same. I'm aware that there would be work involved on the spats to get clearance.