17" Wheels

[Kenm4187]

Morris,

I like those wheels. Who did you get them through. It looks like 345 on the back, any fit/rub problems, what offset? What size did you get for the front, offset? Cand you safety wire the nuts?

Thanks,

Ken

[Morris]

Ken

They are 345X30X18"........ like this.....

They cost approx $5,000 for the wheels......

9.5" on the front and 12" on the rear.....

And the offset and back spacing is based on the king pin inclination so the scrub radius is at a minum.......

Everything fits very close...... but no rub on a Kirkham..... not sure about any other chassis....

And the nuts are torqued to 400 ft lbs..... with a big 3/4" torque wrench......no safety wire needed.........

Morris

[What'saCobra?]

Without doubt 400 lbft is enough to hold the wheel nut on it's center shaft.

Much of the reason for clips, wires and safety pins is to ensure some safety and retention if the nut does NOT get the 400 lbft required.

i would suggest cross drilling a single hole in the center shaft, outboard of the installed nut, either in the threads or just outside them (although the closer the better to the nut) and install a single safety pin or clip. Cheap, easy and effective.

Just in case things aren't quite perfect when you leave the pits...

[Morris]

Obviously you don't have much experience with single SS nuts on the axil....

Just so you know...... when we come off of the track.......

It takes over 550#lbs to take the nuts off........

Morris

[What'saCobra?]

Ten years of driving the big red car with a single nut and a safety-pin clip on each wheel isn't visible in my pix. Your graceless assumption is also erroneous.

The M8F requires a rather big & fancy 2 1/2" or so Snap-On socket wrench with a 3 foot bar to install and remove the single wheel nut. But, the nut does have a clip to retain the nut in case it wasn't correctly torqued.

But, how good it holds when properly torqued isn't my point at all. i wouldn't care if it is 5000 lbft when it is removed, if it was torqued correctly when it went out. My point was what happens when the wheel isn't torqued correctly when mounted? What keeps it from falling off at speed when an error is made? Perhaps your crew/you don't ever make errors?

How does a 150 mph tricicle handle in a turn? From experience, i can say not very well at all.

Take a look at all the castelated nuts on aircraft cable systems and multiple safety wire looms all over the aircraft. Some things (like control cable pulleys and wheels) ought not fall off and ought to be properly tightened, i am sure we agree; but things are frequently forgotten with stressfull circumstances, new crew members, hurried practice prep, equipment changes, weather changes, another weather change, etc.

Just a suggestion given in good faith, friend.

Here's a picture of an AN416 Retainer Pin: