REFLECTOR: Front fixed gear question

[Grover McNair]

A note on balancing wheels: Weights should be put on opposite the low spot.
That would be 180 degrees from the bottom point. An equal amount of weight
should be used on both sides of the wheel to avoid a dynamic imbalance.

In balancing a car tire, it rarely takes more than 3-4oz. Usually 1-2oz. One
stick of stick on weights is 1.5oz. They are segmented in .25oz pieces.  If
you use more than a stick, I would be very concerned that something was
wrong with the structure of the tire or perhaps it might have a bad flat
spot. Normally balancing a small aviation tire should take less than 1oz.

Grover McNair

 

  _____  

From: reflector-bounces at tvbf.org [mailto:reflector-bounces at tvbf.org] On
Behalf Of Dennis Martin
Sent: Tuesday, May 22, 2012 12:08 PM
To: Velocity Aircraft Owners and Builders list
Subject: Re: REFLECTOR: Front fixed gear question

 

Definitely install washers. I called factory to make sure. I installed two
fairly thick washers on my fixed gear Elite, and it works great. 

Here's a true story. A friend from Salt Lake City flew down to Provo area
where I'm located (40 miles). His front tire went flat and asked if he could
borrow my front gear fork, wheel and all. As we installed it on his
retractable and resisted the urge to retract. I noticed the slop in the
wheel and suggested we fix it. He laughed it off, but almost wet his pants
when he landed in SLC. Horrible shimmy he'll never forget.

BALANCING FRONT GEAR: I took advice of one of our builders and used adhesive
lead weights to balance the front wheel. I bought the weights from the local
auto repair shop for $1.50 a sleeve. Very easy task - just leave the wheel
on the fork and jack up the front of the plane a few inches. I spun the
wheel to find the "bottoming" spot - then marked it with a magic marker.
Each time I spun the wheel, the mark ended up at the bottom with 100%
consistency. I added weights to the bottoming spot until the wheel behaved.
My wheel was way out of balance and required about two full sleeves of
weights, so buy two or three sleeves. Also, apply weights in the center of
the aluminum wheel and move outward both left and right. Cut weights in half
to make them fit the outside part of the rim where spokes get in the way. 

All the best,
Dennis




On Tue, May 22, 2012 at 8:00 AM, Chris Barber <cbarber at texasattorney.net>
wrote:

My hangar mate noticed a concern regarding my front gear on my fixed gear
SE.  Since I am doing some cooling mods before continuing high speed taxi,
it gave him the opportunity to mention it to me before I careen off the
runway....

 

Anyway, I have had the front gear installed for years.  I included the two
spacer that go on each side of the axel that help hold in the bearings
inside the rim.  What was noted was that there is about a quarter inch space
on the axel that allows the bearing to move out of the wheel even with the
spacers in place.  It still rolls ok but it does allow the wheel to shift a
bit back and forth on the axel as it moves.  I hope I am explaining this ok.

 

Is this ok, or should I install a couple of shims/washers to keep the wheel
from shifting back and forth?

 

Thanks.

 

Chris

 


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-- 
All the best,
Dennis

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