tailwheel

Hi,
My LS6b has a small roller skate tailwheel.
Is a retrofit of a regular tailwheel been done?
S6

There is no technical bulletin for it, but...YES!
Those small wheels, even upgraded to rollerblade quality, are pretty
useless.
What you'll be surprised with is that the wheel well for the
modification is already in your glider. It will handle a 210x60, but
for Experimental gliders the standard plastic 200x50 with a nice
fairing is preferrable. If you build a fairing, you may need to make a
small notch to access the valve.
Since you're in Canada, you may have a Standard Airworthiness glider
and need to use the parts (or similar parts) for the option that the
factory offered, ie 210x60 wheel and no fairing.
Jim

JS wrote:
There is no technical bulletin for it, but...YES!
Those small wheels, even upgraded to rollerblade quality, are pretty
useless.

My LS6 has a rollerblade wheel and works perfectly, so I don't quite
understand why you would think they are "useless".

Granted, I use the large street hockey wheels with sealed, replaceable
bearings. But in 6 years of constant use on all kinds of surfaces
(desert, grass, paved runways, etc) it has worked fine. On grass in
particular, it does a nice job of helping the weak (!) LS wheel brake,
and is very resistant to sideslip.

Plus - it never goes flat - a big consideration if you fly out west
(lots of thorns...)

The only downside is that it makes the glider hard to push on soft
surfaces without a tail dolly - especially backwards.

I do think that a regular, inflatable tailwheel is slightly preferable
if you mainly fly off paved runways - more directional stability and
smoother touchdown/ride.

This is sorta like the nose vs CG towhook discussion, isn't it?

Cheers!

66

kirk.stant wrote:
JS wrote:
There is no technical bulletin for it, but...YES!
Those small wheels, even upgraded to rollerblade quality, are pretty
useless.

My LS6 has a rollerblade wheel and works perfectly, so I don't quite
understand why you would think they are "useless".


66

I was gonna say the same thing - I had an LS4 which I upgraded to the
largest Rollerblade wheel I could fit (required a little field
modification to the tail skid, but nothing major). I operate mostly
from grass and/or gravel, and it worked great for takeoff and landing.
It was also fine for pushing short distances, though pushing backwards
isn't great.

My LS8 has the full pneumatic tailwheel, and it's certainly better, but
I'm not sure I'd spend big $$ for the mod.

My two cents.

P3

My two cents.

Which, compared to the cost of an LS-8, is what the tailwheel mod
costs. C'mon, support your local repair station!

Have converted three gliders (LS-4 #8, LS-6 #46, Nimbus 3 #18) to
real tailwheels with no regrets. Both LS were custom jobs, the N3 was
the factory kit. All were registered Experimental.

It's worth doing the mod!
But then I've been foolish enough to do about 1000 aero tows in high
position with a CG hook.
:-)
Jim

JS wrote:
My two cents.

Which, compared to the cost of an LS-8, is what the tailwheel mod
costs. C'mon, support your local repair station!

Have converted three gliders (LS-4 #8, LS-6 #46, Nimbus 3 #18) to
real tailwheels with no regrets. Both LS were custom jobs, the N3 was
the factory kit. All were registered Experimental.

It's worth doing the mod!
But then I've been foolish enough to do about 1000 aero tows in high
position with a CG hook.
:-)
Jim

Hi,
Pushing backward on grass and gravel is difficult no other reason.
About 200 euros from DG. Still have to find out if I can do the work.
S6