Tailwheels

10 posts in this topic

Posted

My Fox has a maule tailwheel on it and I dont like it. I like the looks of Matco's dual arm 8" tailwheel, is anyone using one? https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/lgpages/matcom.php  

What are you guys using?

Thanks in advance

 

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Posted

I removed my Maule and put on the Matco single arm wheel, it is lighter and less expensive, and I am not sure the dual arm has any great advantage.

The pneumatic wheel is terrific, and is also so much quieter! It took a bit to get it to not shimmy, just follow the directions.

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Posted

If your into off airport flying don't get anything less than the 8" wide.  Does not dig into the loose sand / gravel as much.  If you are pounding pavement and grass strips, the 6" pneumatic works just fine.  

I have had both and I prefer the 8" wide.  I use the 6" with my tail ski in the winter on the rare occasion that we actually get enough snow to put the ski's on... Its almost Christmas and we don't have any snow on the ground now.. in Alaska.. WTF.

:BC:

 

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Posted


I got the wide dual arm and love it. I would buy another.

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Posted

Thanks for the input. I am in to off airport flying but I do land on quite a bit of pavement. 

I did notice that the dual arm 8"TW is lighter than the single arm 8"TW 

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Posted

Thanks for the input. I am in to off airport flying but I do land on quite a bit of pavement. 

I did notice that the dual arm 8"TW is lighter than the single arm 8"TW 

Looks better too. But you gotta pay for it.

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Posted

Is 8.5lbs kinda heavy for a tailwheel?

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Posted

Not really.  Most KF will benefit greatly from having a bit of weight in the tail anyway.

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Posted (edited)

I don't know about other Kitfoxes and can only speak about the one that I have but I've also been thinking about going to a larger tailwheel on my Kitfox IV. This thread prompted me to do a little W&B check. I currently have the 6" Matco solid wheel tailwheel that matco says weighs 4.75 lbs. The 8" wide pneumatic dual fork is 8.3 lbs for a difference of 3.55 lbs.  Running some W&B scenarios, adding 3.55 lbs at the tail would basically reduce the amount of weight I can carry in the baggage area by about 20 pounds. Now this is for a Rotax 582 powered Kitfox IV so probably one of the lightest engines and most tail heavy configurations. To get the full baggage carrying capacity back I could relocate the battery from its current spot behind the seat to the firewall. That would get it back to being able to carry full baggage and load up pilot and fuel to max gross.  So for me that would be what is needed. 

Edited by 109jb

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Posted

The maule TW that I have weighs 6 lb and my battery is behind the firewall so I think another 2 lb in the tail would help me out quite a bit, I do have a 912

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