I’ve got one on the shelf. This replacement 4" tailwheel is a quick weight savings project. Plus when I finish my Hummelbird, it’s a great candidate for that airplane.
My Anson tailwheel:
Follow up;
The photo I posted ,above, is of a Peter Anson (Hota Tyre, Nylon Rim) Wheel, fitted to an API 6" Fork
Significant improvement over the previous API 4" (solid wheel/fork) - much better grass taxying and a lot quieter on sealed runway.
6" Slightly heavier than the 4" ( +0.213kg).
Other than a possible slight change in Cruise trim adjustment, has not had a noticeable impacted on flight characteristics.
I originally installed the Sonex supplied light weight version of the 6" solid tail wheel assembly which weight 1133grams.
The Anson engineering 6" wheel assembly (Grey tired aluminiumrimmed air filled) only weighs 725 grams. That’s just shy of 1 pound savings right at the tail wheel!
The other upside is I don’t get any of that tin canning noise that many complain about.
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On the aluminum Anson tailwheel assembly, be sure to keep the pressure up on the tire as I had neglected to do. I rolled the tire off the rim and stretched the bead making the tire unusable. Fortunately, no damage to the aluminum wheel occurred, but steering was sloppy during taxi back to the hanger.
On that tailwheel the gray colored tire is rated to only about 35 psi. I fabricated a thicker back plate for the wheel and then purchased a tire rated to 85 psi and installed. I now keep the pressure above 50 psi to avoid the same problem. Even with the higher psi, there is no noticeable difference in vibration or noise compared to the original lower psi tire.
TNHelm, OneX 0137
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I’ve got 9 landings on the new tailwheel so far. Seems good. I need some hairy crosswinds to fully evaluate it.
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