Opinions on Matco TW's?

[C5Engineer 1170]

I've got a Maule right now with the hard rubber wheel. I can't get it break loose and you can feel every crack in the pavement and it digs in pretty bad on dirt. Just the Pneumatic tire and wheel for the Maule costs about as much as the entire Matco assembly. I'm pretty sure the Matco would bolt right to my spring. Opinions?? Thoughts..6" or 8"? Calling Bandit....

[Bandit 286]

I started out with the Maule to. When rolling out after a landing with the ground speed where you need the tail wheel, I would ground loop. I thought maybe I lost my taildragger touch. Finally figured out that my tailwheel would release on rollout, which caused me to ground loop. Tried adjusting it,but had similar results. Called Matco and bought their 6" tail wheel. It made it a whole differant airplane. Haven't lost control since. I did switch to their pneumatic tire. No more fuselage noise when taxing over pavement cracks. The pneumatic tire did weather check fairly fast though, but the tube is still holding air. I do keep the tailwheel assemble wet with penetrating oil. During cold weather it does break loose a little harder if you don't do this. I would have liked to use the 8" wheel, but I think your angle of is a little better with the smaller wheel. I also installed the double leaf tail spring and cut it off as short as I could. Again to keep my tail as low to the ground as posible. The Matco will fit on the 1 1/4" tail spring.

[akflyer 1427]

I started out with the Maule to. When rolling out after a landing with the ground speed where you need the tail wheel, I would ground loop. I thought maybe I lost my taildragger touch. Finally figured out that my tailwheel would release on rollout, which caused me to ground loop. Tried adjusting it,but had similar results. Called Matco and bought their 6" tail wheel. It made it a whole differant airplane. Haven't lost control since. I did switch to their pneumatic tire. No more fuselage noise when taxing over pavement cracks. The pneumatic tire did weather check fairly fast though, but the tube is still holding air. I do keep the tailwheel assemble wet with penetrating oil. During cold weather it does break loose a little harder if you don't do this. I would have liked to use the 8" wheel, but I think your angle of is a little better with the smaller wheel. I also installed the double leaf tail spring and cut it off as short as I could. Again to keep my tail as low to the ground as posible. The Matco will fit on the 1 1/4" tail spring.

I have had both also and have the Matco 6" on mine.. like bandit said, the tire weather checks quick. I think it is fine for pavement pounding, but if you are gonna do some serious off airport stuff get the 8". Mine digs into the beach like an anchor. Rocks on a gravel run way go flying 50' on each side of me on roll out as soon as the tail touches.

[Av8r3400 1178]

I took the unlocking cam out of my Maul tailwheel due to the "unlocking too easy" issue. The problem with my setup isn't the tailwheel, it's the rudder stops. If your rudder throw is too excessive, like mine is, it will unlock the tailwheel too easy. When these stops are correct, these wheels work well.

Adjusting these stop tabs is very important and only a slight change 1/32" or less will make a huge difference. Additionally, it needs to be done with the tail elevated and the spring unloaded so that your adjustment is in the configuration the plane is in on approach, not on the ground.

I don't know for sure, but I would suspect the Matco wheels operate with a wider range of locked operation before tripping to full swiveling mode.

Size-wise, I too would like a bigger wheel for off airport operations.

Edited 16 Jan 2010 by Av8r3400

[C5Engineer 1170]

Thanks guys. See I have the opposite problem I cannot get my Maule to unlock. I replaced the lock ring, lock pins, and the steering arm when I did my rebuild. I have greased the crap out of it. With no weight on the tail it breaks loose easy and sitting on the ground if I put a side load on the tail on the handles it breaks loose fairly easy. When I'm taxiing though forget it. I've never actually measured the degree of throw on my rudder. I wonder if I'm not getting enough throw on the rudder itself.

Question... Are the stops a structural thing or for the tailwheel?? I can't imagine a situation where you have full rudder throw while airborn but I guess it could happen.. I would hate to snap my tail off from too much throw.

I'm wondering if I get the Matco if I'll have the same problem because of not enough throw. I guess I could always extend my arms like others have done. Either way I want a Pneumatic TW. The hard rubber one sucks. The full 8" Matco assembly is only like $215. Maybe I should just bite the bullet and order one.

[napierm 2]

You can get a pair of unlocking "wings" from Matco that will release earlier if you need them to. They can be ground down to release a little later if need be. So the wheel can be adjusted to release over a wide range of angles.

I wasn't wild about the angle the chains make down to the wings so I made a set of spacers on 3/16" bolts to jack the chain attachment points up a little. Not ideal but it does work and is much better than the Maule.

Question: Why do you like your tail very low? Is it to get the prop a little higher up?

[C5Engineer 1170]

You can get a pair of unlocking "wings" from Matco that will release earlier if you need them to. They can be ground down to release a little later if need be. So the wheel can be adjusted to release over a wide range of angles.

I wasn't wild about the angle the chains make down to the wings so I made a set of spacers on 3/16" bolts to jack the chain attachment points up a little. Not ideal but it does work and is much better than the Maule.

Question: Why do you like your tail very low? Is it to get the prop a little higher up?

The lower the tail is gives you a higher angle of attack on the wing which get's you off the ground quicker on take off.

I was just on the Matco site and came across their new 8" wide tire. It looks like the best bet for off airport stuff. Check this bad boy out... $247.

EDIT...Did some more research. The one pictures above weighs 8lbs and has a height of over 15"! That would almost double the height of my tail. I have a two blade prop and not a huge amount of prop clearance as it is. They make a 7" one that is only 10" tall and weighs 5lbs. This might be a good compromise between the 6" and 8". I only see the 7" one on the Matco site.

[eskflyer 1]

Here is some good advice from the tailwheel professionals .

http://www.akbushwheel.com/TailwheelTechnicalInfo.html

If your tail wheel is not set up right you will have problems. Handling, breakaway and shimmy.

FLy safe fly low fly slow

John

Edited 16 Jan 2010 by eskflyer

[horsepower 24]

Here is some good advice from the tailwhel professionals .

http://www.akbushwheel.com/TailwheelTechnicalInfo.html

If your tail wheel is not set up right you will have problems. Handling, breakaway and shimmy.

FLy safe fly low fly slow

John

Learn something everyday................

[SuberAvid 617]

I started with a 6" Maul rubber TW and thought there would not be much difference in our light planes. When I finally bought an 8" pnumatic Maul TW I couldn't believe the difference. If you land in rough rocks, bigger is better and pnumatice is better than solid. Use 26" mains and cut your TW spring as short as practical to get your prop clearance and angle of attack back; it is woth the tradeoff. If you don't land in the hard rough stuff, the smaller TW's are fine.

My Maul TW's both release just fine. I drilled my rudder arm holes the same width as the holes in the TW wings so the chains are parallel. You can over drive or under drive your TW by drilling the ruder arm holes wider or narrower. Also making sure the TW is running at the correct spring angle ( wing arms staying horizontal when the airplane weight is on them) is critical to ensure that it works right.

MATCO makes good stuff though; I love the tripple puck brakes I put on mine.

Randy

[C5Engineer 1170]

Here's my Maule TW. I can't get anymore throw without extending the arms out. The hard rubber wheel sucks too. You can feel and hear every crack in the pavement and it digs into the dirt really bad.

[SuberAvid 617]

Hi Joey,

I'm not sure my reply got through so I will put it on the post. It looks like your rudder arm width might be narrower than the arms on your TW. It is easy to extend your rudder arms; just cut a piece of good aircraft steel plate the same thickness and width as the rudder arm plate but make it 1/2" longer on each side (1" longer total). Bolt it under the rudder arm plate through the existing spring holes with 3/16" AC bolts (may need to drill them out) and then drill the new spring holes where you want them. It will let you drive the TW farther to disengage the cam and allow the TW to swivel. If it still doesn't disengage at the top of the cam, then the cam may be bent and not cause the disengage pin to ride out far enough to release. Hope that helps.

If you decide to go to an 8" pnumatic TW you will love it in the rough.

Randy

[jackak 20]

Hi Joey,

I'm not sure my reply got through so I will put it on the post. It looks like your rudder arm width might be narrower than the arms on your TW. It is easy to extend your rudder arms; just cut a piece of good aircraft steel plate the same thickness and width as the rudder arm plate but make it 1/2" longer on each side (1" longer total). Bolt it under the rudder arm plate through the existing spring holes with 3/16" AC bolts (may need to drill them out) and then drill the new spring holes where you want them. It will let you drive the TW farther to disengage the cam and allow the TW to swivel. If it still doesn't disengage at the top of the cam, then the cam may be bent and not cause the disengage pin to ride out far enough to release. Hope that helps.

If you decide to go to an 8" pnumatic TW you will love it in the rough.

Randy

Joey,

An interesting file on the maintenance of Maule tailwheels,

http://www.bowersflybaby.com/tech/Maule_Tailwheel.pdf .

This gives a pretty thorough explanation of the checks and other maint. on Maule tw's. There might be some useful info in there that you can use in making your decission on the tw you have or end up with.

Jack

[C5Engineer 1170]

Thanks Jack that's the article I used when I rebuilt the one I have. I think I just need to extend my arms. My brakes are the crappy drum ones too so that doesn't help. If I do go with the Matco I think I'll go with their 7" one. The 8" one uses a much beefier fork and wheel. The 8" wheel has an overall height of 15" and weighs in at 8lb. The 7" one is more for lightweight operations and is only 10" tall and weighs 5lbs. While I could use a little more weight on my tail the extra 5" in height would kill me.

[Av8r3400 1178]

Can we get to your plane today, Joey or is the weather going to cause an issue?

[C5Engineer 1170]

Can we get to your plane today, Joey or is the weather going to cause an issue?

I installed the alternate arms on my Matco today. I'm going to try and install the whole assembly tomorrow possibly. It depends on the weather. If it's super nice out I'd rather go flying that working on my plane.

[84KF 4]

"....I'd rather go flying than working on my plane. "

Now if that was really true you would be a renter, not an owner.

And another one is...."if it was easy, everyone would do it.

[C5Engineer 1170]

Love the rubber tire but STILL having issues with getting it to release even with the 25 degree arms. I'm extending out my rudder arms. The old steering arms will work perfect to extend my current rudder horns. As far as a review goes the Matco slowed down my twitchy ground handling and it's 10X smoother taxing with a rubber tire. I just need 1/16th inch more throw to make it work right. Having real brakes shortly should help alot.

[Av8r3400 1178]

Love the rubber tire but STILL having issues with getting it to release even with the 25 degree arms. I'm extending out my rudder arms. The old steering arms will work perfect to extend my current rudder horns. As far as a review goes the Matco slowed down my twitchy ground handling and it's 10X smoother taxing with a rubber tire. I just need 1/16th inch more throw to make it work right. Having real brakes shortly should help alot.

Looks sweet, Joey! That's the 8" tire, right?

Can I borrow it for a little while??

Edited 15 Feb 2010 by Av8r3400

[C5Engineer 1170]

No Larry this is the 7" wheel. The 8" wheel is 15" tall because of the different mount. The 7" is only 10" tall. I was trying to keep my tail down. The difference between the 7 and 8 inch wheel is 3 lbs too.

[akflyer 1427]

try compression springs.. they will give you alot better ground handling and will help with the release.

[C5Engineer 1170]

try compression springs.. they will give you alot better ground handling and will help with the release.

Fo sho...Tension springs do not get along with the way a Matco releases

[SuberAvid 617]

It looks good Joey!. Once you get it to disengage when you want it to, you will really love it. Nothing better than being able to step on a brake an pivot on one tire.

[C5Engineer 1170]

It looks good Joey!. Once you get it to disengage when you want it to, you will really love it. Nothing better than being able to step on a brake an pivot on one tire.

To do that you need brakes that work. That's next on the mods list. I extended my arms out an inch and put compression springs on it today and it works great now. Can't wait to get my brake project done and my 21's on there.

[Bandit 286]

Before I flew tonight I was looking at my Matco tailwheel. To me it looks like they would release easier if the rudder control arm was lowered 2" To 3". The way it is set up now most of our pressure is pulling the tailwheel arms upward. If the rudder control arms were lowered so the pull would be at less of an angle I would think it would release easier. Take a look at Joey's tailwheel picture and see what you guys think.