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Vans Tailwheel Bearings

mike newall

Well Known Member
Sponsor
Standard Vans tailwheel.....

Bolt is wobbly, the bearing is worn, but the tyre is OK.

Can you replace the bearings, and if so - do you have a reference for the bearing please.
 
Tailwheel Bearings

Yes, it can be done. Not at the hangar right now, but the original bearings are hard to find. You can get essentially skateboard bearings, but the inside diameter will be wrong for the bolt, so you will also need bushings. Find a good bearing supplier and start a conversation on how to do it.
 
Get rid of the stock bearing

I'd get rid of the stock bearing/TW, it is not a sealed bearing and requires more maintenance. While not exactly related to the TW bearing, failure of the TW/fork setup killed Ken Brock in 2001 in his T-18, so obviously the TW is pretty important.

http://planecrashmap.com/plane/ca/N42KB/


My stock bearing went out on me after only about 50 hours. When I was putting my -7 kit together, I didn't give any thought about the grease in the bearing, one would think it would have been adequately pre-greased. Wrong. Whoever assembled it didn't shoot enough grease in the zerk fitting to travel to the opposite side bearing. The opposite side bearing lost some balls over that short time (got hot?), and the TW itself was starting to counter/rub into the stock TW sheet metal fork, before I realized the bearing was going south.

I went with a Doug Bell TW fork, and lightweight TW with sealed bearings, from Flyboy Accessories, and could not be happier. I also got rid of the chain setup, and went with the Rocket steering link.


http://www.flyboyaccessories.com/product-p/1120.htm

http://www.flyboyaccessories.com/Deluxe-Tailwheel-Tire-p/1001.htm

http://www.flyboyaccessories.com/RV-Rocket-Steering-Link-p/1200.htm
 
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Vans sells the bearings. That’s what I did.

Yep, the aftermarket tailwheels are nice pieces but I haven't had any service issues with the Vans tailwheels since 1999 (Bell fork for many of those years). I've replaced the Vans-sourced bearings in a couple of tailwheels when they start to get a little noisy. Use a punch to drive the old bearings out and gently tap in the new bearings. The grease zerk is useless, don't even bother to try lubing the bearings, just replace if necessary.
 
Dual bearing unit

Hey Folks,

We have the dual bearing yoke available for both all of the RV's including the RV14. This features an upper needle bearing and a lower sealed bearing.

The tailwheel is the most overlooked component on our planes. No matter which one you have give it some love every oil change. Only takes a few minutes to remove, clean, re grease and replace.

www.jdair.com
 
Don't under estimate the importance of wheels/tires/brakes!
I prefer this tailwheel to the one posted above:
https://www.flyboyaccessories.com/Lightweight-Tailwheel-Tire-p/1002.htm
Since day one (back in the mid 90's), my 4 has been flying with the Aviation Products fork, using the AS&S "Experimenter's" Tailwheel with sealed bearings. No issues to date, but since they are relatively inexpensive ($45), I usually replace them every other CI and just "flip" them around on years I don't replace, since mine tend to wear more on one side due to a not-so-plumb tailwheel attachment hole (which I drilled) :(

There are a few negative comments on the AS&S page regarding this wheel,, mainly "out-of-round" condition. I haven't seen that yet with any I have purchased.

(I built the plane pre Flyboy's)
 
Standard Vans tailwheel.....

Bolt is wobbly, the bearing is worn, but the tyre is OK.

Can you replace the bearings, and if so - do you have a reference for the bearing please.

I turned myself a teflon bushing and fitted a high quality sealed bearing. You'll never look back.
 
Well guys... Lots of great suggestions, fortunately I have found some old tailwheels in the local airfield box of trash bits.

I think I can resurrect this one for now. But it is work in progress to find a proper solution.

I went with the pneumatic tailwheel but we had chronic shimmy - the tyre was ripped.

Looked at the geometry and are now getting the stinger bent down by 5-8*

Will re visit the pneumatic one, but keeping 50psi in it is a PITA, even with tyre jizz.
 
After the original wheel's bearing failed, I installed a Condor2 pneumatic tailwheel fork unit with Rocket steering link and couldn't be happier. But, you're right, keeping it at 50psi is a pain.
 
...

Looked at the geometry and are now getting the stinger bent down by 5-8*
...
Mike, please let us know how that works out. I've seen that recommended but have to admit I don't understand why this is a good thing, or if it will really help.
 
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