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Tailwheel upgrade

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undoctor

Joined: 21 Oct 2008
Posts: 212
Location: Bethelhem, PA

Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2012 6:58 am Post subject: Tailwheel upgrade

Kolbers,



I'm looking to upgrade the tailwheel on my FlagFly.  Kolb has a very 

nice replacement, but the cost, over 300 clams, puts a strain on the "is 

it worth the price" equation.   Is anyone familiar with a less expensive 

alternative, or does anyone know of a used tailwheel appropriate for a 

FireFly for sale?



Gorgeous early fall weather here.  Spent much of the day in the sky 

yesterday as well as landing at paved airstrips so I can practice hard 

surface wheel and three point landings.  One of my stops was the Butter 

Valley Golf Port, which is a combination of pilots and golfers and is 

very close to the twin cooling towers that mark Homer's strip.  Had a 

luscious hamburger, enjoyed the atmosphere for a while and left.  

FlagFly is performing without flaw.  (Thanks Don!!!)



Dave Kulp

Bethlehem, PA

FireFly 11DMK

phactor9

Joined: 16 Jun 2011
Posts: 78

Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2012 7:30 am Post subject: Tailwheel upgrade

You might want to try a less-than-$10 alternative, first. I recently taxied the tailwheel into a small mud rut and lost an S hook (and steering). I spent a few bucks at Ace and beefed up the linkage. Here's how I did it. Ace has a huge selection of springs and I didn't get the number of this spring, but by the dimensions, you should be able to match it. I haven't taxied with it yet. Hope to tomorrow (Sat).

http://phactor.com/tailwheelLink.jpg

http://phactor.com/tailwheelLink2.jpg

http://phactor.com/tailwheelLink3.jpg



Phil H

FF11-4-76

--- On Fri, 9/14/12, David Kulp <undoctor(at)ptd.net> wrote:

 	  Quote: 	
		  

From: David Kulp <undoctor(at)ptd.net>

Subject: Tailwheel upgrade

To: kolb-list(at)matronics.com

Date: Friday, September 14, 2012, 10:55 AM



--> Kolb-List message posted by: David Kulp <[url=/mc/compose?to=undoctor(at)ptd.net]undoctor(at)ptd.net[/url]>



Kolbers,



I'm looking to upgrade the tailwheel on my FlagFly.  Kolb has a very nice replacement, but the cost, over 300 clams, puts a strain on the "is it worth the price" equation.   Is anyone familiar with a less expensive alternative, or does anyone know of a used tailwheel appropriate for a FireFly for sale?



Gorgeous early fall weather here.  Spent much of the day in the sky yesterday as well as landing at paved airstrips so I can practice hard surface wheel and three point landings.  One of my stops was the Butter Valley  Golf Port, which is a combination of pilots and golfers and is very close to the twin cooling towers that mark Homer's strip.  Had a luscious hamburger, enjoyed the atmosphere for a while and left.  FlagFly is performing without flaw.  (Thanks Don!!!)



Dave Kulp

Bethlehem, Pr?Kolb-List" target="_blank">http://www.matronics.com/Navigator?Kolb-Listnbsp;       a href="http://forums.matronics.com" target="_blank">http://forums.matr            - List Contribution Web Site;                     &nb; http:========================





	
 [quote][b]

John Hauck

Joined: 09 Jan 2006
Posts: 4639
Location: Titus, Alabama (hauck's holler)

Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2012 7:57 am Post subject: Tailwheel upgrade

Kolb has a very nice replacement, but the cost, over 300

clams, puts a strain on the "is 

it worth the price" equation 

Dave Kulp

 

Kolb Aircraft tailwheel is a good quality tailwheel that

will provide many hours of service.  You usually get what

you pay for.  In addition, Kolb Aircraft needs our support

if it is to continue to support us.



Have made many landings at Butter Valley, back in 1991,

while flying off the 40 hours on the factory MKIII, and

building the fuselage and hardware for my MKIII, Miss P'fer

(P fer plane).



Dick Rahill showed me some neat airstrips in the local area

around Homer's, the Nuke Plant, and Butter Valley.

Beautiful place to fly.



john h

mkIII

Rock House, OR

_________________
John Hauck
MKIII/912ULS
hauck's holler
Titus, Alabama

Dennis Thate

Joined: 18 Nov 2010
Posts: 362

Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2012 10:34 am Post subject: Re: Tailwheel upgrade

"is it worth the price"? A resounding Yes, best money I ever spent on my Kolb !

Tail Wheel.jpg

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_________________
Both optimists and pessimists contribute to our society. The optimist invents the airplane and the pessimist the parachute. ~Gil Stern

undoctor

Joined: 21 Oct 2008
Posts: 212
Location: Bethelhem, PA

Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2012 5:32 pm Post subject: Tailwheel upgrade

Thanks for the responses to my tailwheel question.  As usual they     play an important part in making a decision on what to do.   Dennis'     testimony about the ground handling improvement nudged me to go with     the mod and John's point about supporting Kolb Aircraft was the     tie-breaker.  I've decided to go with the Kolb upgrade and feel good     about the whole situation.  Thanks again, guys.  As always I     appreciate the input.

     

     John, did you fly up to Blairstown, NJ?  They have a nice little     diner on the airport that has some fantastic home made zucchini     cake.  

     

     Dave Kulp

     Bethlehem, PA 

     FireFly 11DMK

     

      

     On 9/14/2012 11:28 AM, Phil wrote:

     

     [quote]                                        You might want to               try a less-than-$10 alternative, first. I recently taxied               the tailwheel into a small mud rut and lost an S hook (and               steering). I spent a few bucks at Ace and beefed up the               linkage. Here's how I did it. Ace has a huge selection of               springs and I didn't get the number of this spring, but by               the dimensions, you should be able to match it. I haven't               taxied with it yet. Hope to tomorrow (Sat).

               http://phactor.com/tailwheelLink.jpg

               http://phactor.com/tailwheelLink2.jpg

               http://phactor.com/tailwheelLink3.jpg

               

               Phil H

               FF11-4-76

                                             [b]

John Hauck

Joined: 09 Jan 2006
Posts: 4639
Location: Titus, Alabama (hauck's holler)

Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2012 6:14 pm Post subject: Tailwheel upgrade

Dave K/Kolbers:



Thanks for supporting Kolb Aircraft.



No, never landed at Blairstown, NJ.



john h

mkIII

Burns Junction, OR

_________________
John Hauck
MKIII/912ULS
hauck's holler
Titus, Alabama

russk50(at)gmail.com
Guest

Posted: Sat Sep 15, 2012 6:38 am Post subject: Tailwheel upgrade

LarryThanx from all of us for your advice on tailwheels. And I can appreciate your unintentional 360's. At Des Moines once, with an airshow scheduled to start shortly, the controller insisted I used the Xwind runway. I did, but on the taxiway I had to do a 360. With my 170, after a certain point, you canNOT bring it back, but have to gun it & do a 360. I had to do seven 360's. With of course a zillion people watching (the C5 was due in soon). Controller asked my intentions; I asked him if he'd ever flown a taildragger? He said no, and I said, when you do, you'll understand. They dint even scold me, end of story.

A Kolb woulda been lots better

Fair winds,

Russ K

do not archive



On Sep 14, 2012, at 11:18 PM, Larry Cottrell wrote:

[quote]Dave, Glad that you decided on getting it from Kolb. One thing that you might find is that it breaks free too soon. I found that on a cross wind landing the wheel would already be "broke loose" before I even touched down, and if there is a substantial amount of cross wind, be a bit hard to control at taxi speed. ( I once did two 360's in the middle of a 10000 foot controlled runway much to the consternation of said controller, who seemed intent on forcing me to declare an emergency) ( the brakes got hot and wouldn't hold it in a straight line anymore)

 



My fix was to take a dremel tool and hog out enough material that it kept the tail wheel from breaking loose at anything less than full rudder. If you are trying to spin the plane around, the rudder will be fully deflected anyway, and that way any 360's will be intentional.

 Your thoughts may differ,

Larry



On Fri, Sep 14, 2012 at 7:29 PM, David Kulp <undoctor(at)ptd.net (undoctor(at)ptd.net)> wrote:

  	  Quote: 	
		                     Thanks for the responses to my tailwheel question.  As usual they     play an important part in making a decision on what to do.   Dennis'     testimony about the ground handling improvement nudged me to go with     the mod and John's point about supporting Kolb Aircraft was the     tie-breaker.  I've decided to go with the Kolb upgrade and feel good     about the whole situation.  Thanks again, guys.  As always I     appreciate the input.

     

     John, did you fly up to Blairstown, NJ?  They have a nice little     diner on the airport that has some fantastic home made zucchini     cake.  

     

     Dave Kulp

     Bethlehem, PA 

     FireFly 11DMK

     







href="http://www.matronics.com/Navigator?Kolb-List">http://www.matronics.com/Navigator?Kolb-List

href="http://forums.matronics.com/">http://forums.matronics.com

href="http://www.matronics.com/contribution">http://www.matronics.com/contribution



	
[b]

byoungplumbing(at)gmail.c
Guest

Posted: Sat Sep 15, 2012 7:17 am Post subject: Tailwheel upgrade

Dave,   Glad that you decided on getting it from Kolb. One thing that you  might find is that it breaks free too soon. I found that on a cross wind landing  the wheel would already be "broke loose" before I even touched down, and if  there is a substantial amount of cross wind, be a bit hard to control at taxi  speed. ( I once did two 360's in the middle of a 10000 foot controlled runway  much to the consternation of said controller, who seemed intent on forcing me to  declare an emergency) ( the brakes got hot and wouldn't hold it in a straight  line anymore)

 



 My fix was to take a dremel tool and hog out enough material that it kept  the tail wheel from breaking loose at anything less than full rudder. If you are  trying to spin the plane around, the rudder will be fully deflected anyway, and  that way any 360's will be intentional.

 Your thoughts may differ,

 Larry

 	  Quote: 	
		  >>>>>>>>>>>>>

  
	


 dont know if my tailwheel was  modified....   but i am happy with it...  you may want to try it  before any mods.  then make corrections to your needs.

  

 boyd young



   [quote][b]

johngilpin

Joined: 23 Mar 2011
Posts: 93
Location: 004

Posted: Sat Sep 15, 2012 8:01 am Post subject: Tailwheel upgrade

Yes, the tailwheel upgrade is essential.  That pizza cutter is pathetic....



For my FireFly, I bought the one from Aircraft Spruce because it was in stock for immediate shipment and Kolb had none in stock at that time.  Bad mistake.....  The mounting hole in the Spruce unit is 1/2" while the tail spring on the Kolb is 5/8".  It's a difficult machining job because there's a square boss so it won't fit in a lathe chuck normally.  I took it to a well equipped machine shop and they had to mount it the chuck from the driven end but then it was buried so deep in the chuck that a conventional boring bar wouldn't reach, so they had to fabricate an extension.....  Cost $130 for 1 1/2  work...  So get it from Kolb ready to use.

 



Then I found the same problem as Larry, that breakaway swivel feature is a pain, and totally useless if you don't have differential braking....  So I also had to machine it out so that it doesn't release.  So what's the point of paying so much for all that mechanism just to get a wider tailwheel......  Besides, that assembly is heavy and designed for a much heavier aircraft.  Another problem with this mechanism is that the steering levers are much longer, so there's even less steering deflection at full lock, making it even more difficult to turn around on a runway.....  The arm is very hard steel so I couldn't drill new holes.

 



The original tailwheel mechanism on the Kolb is quite adequate, it's only the pizza cutter wheel that's the problem.  I noticed that the new tailwheel bearings would fit on the original axle shaft, but the axle wasn't long enough to reach right through the new wheel.  To do it again I'd just weld a longer axle onto the original mechanism and fit a new wheel on it.  Surely the wheels must be available as a replacement.

 



Sure would be good if Kolb would source those wheels and manufacture a replacement mounting that would just bolt onto the original mechanism.  Be a lot simpler, lighter, and less costly.....

 



JG

  [quote][b]

John Hauck

Joined: 09 Jan 2006
Posts: 4639
Location: Titus, Alabama (hauck's holler)

Posted: Sat Sep 15, 2012 8:23 am Post subject: Tailwheel upgrade

Sure would be good if Kolb would source those wheels and

manufacture a replacement mounting that would just bolt onto

the original mechanism.  Be a lot simpler, lighter, and less

costly.....



JG

 

JG/Kolbers:



Good to see John G is still kicking and in the US.



I think your note above is enough to jog Travis Brown and

get some action going to upgrade the tail wheel.  After all,

the snowmobile bogie wheel tail wheel was same as what came

on my FS Kit in 1985 or 86.



john h

mkIII

Rock House

_________________
John Hauck
MKIII/912ULS
hauck's holler
Titus, Alabama

John Hauck

Joined: 09 Jan 2006
Posts: 4639
Location: Titus, Alabama (hauck's holler)

Posted: Sat Sep 15, 2012 8:46 am Post subject: Tailwheel upgrade

Kolbers:



I might add to my previous, the tail wheel in the 1984

Ultrastar Kit was a little tiny rubber tired steel "tea

cart" wheel.  Was embarrassing to taxi a few feet at the

local airport and have the little rubber tire come off the

wheel.  Have to unstrap, get out, and put it back on prior

to take off.



When the FS kit came along with a wheel with tire vulcanized

on it, plus a set of real ball bearings instead of a steel

bushing, I thought I was walking in tall cotton.



Kolb has come a very long ways since the good old days of

the early '80s.



john h

Rock House

_________________
John Hauck
MKIII/912ULS
hauck's holler
Titus, Alabama

jbhart(at)onlyinternet.ne
Guest

Posted: Sun Sep 16, 2012 7:34 am Post subject: Tailwheel upgrade

Date: Sun, 16 Sep 2012 01:59:02 +1000

From: JC Gilpin <j.gilpin(at)bigpond.com>

 	  Quote: 	

Yes, the tailwheel upgrade is essential.  That pizza cutter is pathetic.....

For my FireFly,.............

 	  Quote: 	

JC,

I have found the original tail wheel to be more than adequate.  With a tail 

weight of less than 60 pounds, it has held up very well.  Due to long 

taxiing on hard surfaces the tire wore away down to the plastic and I had to 

replace it after 634 flights.

The only problems I have had are with the tail wheel springs and pivot bolt. 

 The first spring broke upon landing after the 635 flight and resulted in a 

ground loop. Thinking that it was a fluke, I replaced it with a Kolb spring. 

 Fourteen flights later the opposite spring broke.  Luckily it did not 

result in a ground loop.  This made me think about it a little more and I 

decided to use clevis springs, but I could not find any that were small 

enough to fit on the FireFly.  So I resorted to making my own set up from 

bicycle spokes and compression die springs.    The advantage of this system, 

is that there is little if any chance of the spring breaking.  

During this refitting process, I discovered the steel on steel pivot bolt 

and holes were badly worn. To repair it I re drilled all the holes and 

inserted brass tube bushings and thrust washer and a new bolt.  This took 

all the slop out of the pivot.

The benefit from this effort has been that the FireFly ground turning radius 

is much smaller that it was before.  The compression spring setup is stiffer 

and so the FireFly is much less squirrelly when taking or landing in cross 

winds.

When I was building my FireFly I cut the tail wheel spring rod length in 

half.  I did this to save weight and to make sure I could make the 254 pound 

weight limit. 

If you would like to view these mod's, they can be seen at:

http://jackbhart.com/firefly/firefly133.html

and:

http://jackbhart.com/firefly/firefly41.html

Jack B. Hart FF004 

Winchester, IN

undoctor

Joined: 21 Oct 2008
Posts: 212
Location: Bethelhem, PA

Posted: Sun Sep 16, 2012 5:26 pm Post subject: Tailwheel upgrade

Jack, your website is great, not to mention the mods you do.  Thanks for 

so much info!



Dave Kulp



Do Not Archive

On 9/16/2012 11:36 AM, Jack B. Hart wrote:

 	  Quote: 	
		   



 Date: Sun, 16 Sep 2012 01:59:02 +1000

 From: JC Gilpin <j.gilpin(at)bigpond.com>

 Yes, the tailwheel upgrade is essential.  That pizza cutter is pathetic.....



 For my FireFly,.............

 JC,



 I have found the original tail wheel to be more than adequate.  With a tail

 weight of less than 60 pounds, it has held up very well.  Due to long

 taxiing on hard surfaces the tire wore away down to the plastic and I had to

 replace it after 634 flights.



 The only problems I have had are with the tail wheel springs and pivot bolt.

   The first spring broke upon landing after the 635 flight and resulted in a

 ground loop. Thinking that it was a fluke, I replaced it with a Kolb spring.

   Fourteen flights later the opposite spring broke.  Luckily it did not

 result in a ground loop.  This made me think about it a little more and I

 decided to use clevis springs, but I could not find any that were small

 enough to fit on the FireFly.  So I resorted to making my own set up from

 bicycle spokes and compression die springs.    The advantage of this system,

 is that there is little if any chance of the spring breaking.



 During this refitting process, I discovered the steel on steel pivot bolt

 and holes were badly worn. To repair it I re drilled all the holes and

 inserted brass tube bushings and thrust washer and a new bolt.  This took

 all the slop out of the pivot.



 The benefit from this effort has been that the FireFly ground turning radius

 is much smaller that it was before.  The compression spring setup is stiffer

 and so the FireFly is much less squirrelly when taking or landing in cross

 winds.



 When I was building my FireFly I cut the tail wheel spring rod length in

 half.  I did this to save weight and to make sure I could make the 254 pound

 weight limit.



 If you would like to view these mod's, they can be seen at:



 http://jackbhart.com/firefly/firefly133.html



 and:



 http://jackbhart.com/firefly/firefly41.html



 Jack B. Hart FF004

 Winchester, IN

Dana

Joined: 13 Dec 2007
Posts: 1047
Location: Connecticut, USA

Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2012 8:35 am Post subject: Tailwheel upgrade

I too have the original pizza cutter wheel on my Ultrastar.  I've thought about a full swivel, but I'd rather not add the extra weight.  One thing I may do is to modify it so it can turn 90° if pushed hard enough; that should reduce the side load on the tail post when swinging the tail around.



 -Dana

 

 --

 Clothes make the man.  Naked people have little or no influence on society. 

    [quote][b]

capedavis(at)yahoo.com
Guest

Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2012 8:53 am Post subject: Tailwheel upgrade

Anybody try using a Hockey puck to replace the pizza cutter? I got over three hundred hours out of my original pizza cutter 

 

  but the Hockey puck sounded like a good idea!

 Chris Davis

KXP 503 492 hrs

Glider Pilot

Disabled from crash building Firefly



    

From: Dana Hague <d-m-hague(at)comcast.net>

To: kolb-list(at)matronics.com 

Sent: Monday, September 17, 2012 12:26 PM

Subject: RE: Kolb-List: Tailwheel upgrade

 I too have the original pizza cutter wheel on my Ultrastar.  I've thought about a full swivel, but I'd rather not add the extra weight.  One thing I may do is to modify it so it can turn 90° if pushed hard enough; that should reduce the side load on the tail post when swinging the tail around.



-Dana



 --

 Clothes make the man.  Naked people have little or no influence on society. 

[quote]

[b]

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