Dayton Tail Wheel Impressions

[JonJay]

I searched for a review but did not find any, so I thought I would share my impressions at about 20 hours and a few dozen landings.
The quality of the unit is first class. The hub is slightly narrower but with a few washers for spacers it was a direct fit on my Doug Bell Fork.
There are two noticeable differences during Taxi. The Dayton wheel transmits slightly more vibration into the airframe and the subsequent noise. You can also feel the square shoulders of the wheel as you execute turns.
The tailwheel tracks a little better at slow speeds I suspect due to the square shoulders but my standard wheel tracked just fine too, so no real gain here.
The reduced weight, although slight, is noticeable. This was apparent to me as I trimmed for landing as the trim set up that used to produce 80mph produces 83mph. That little bit of wieght does make a difference back there and in my slightly nose heavy six, the benefit is lost on me.

Would I buy it again? 50/50. It looks cool, is a quality piece, and weighs less which could be an advantage if you are tail heavy.

[N941WR]

Originally Posted by JonJay

...Would I buy it again? 50/50. It looks cool, is a quality piece, and weighs less which could be an advantage if you are tail heavy.

One advantage to building "light" is that you can put weight in where and when you need it. If you build "heavy", it is very hard to remove weight.