tail wheel and Tube replacement in the "Bush"

[n3437d]

I would be interested in knowing what would do in this type of situation. On a camping trip or sightseeing trip to a remote field or for that matter any primitive field that does not have repair equipment availabile. You discover tail wheel has been split along with tube - No AAS or cell service - How would you fix, mend utilize what may be left and be able to take off and return to a paved stip?

Joel
N3437D

[n3833v]

I carry tools enough to change tire and tube. Need helper or something to lift and block tail.

John

[hilltop170]

Remove the tube and fill the tire with your tiedown rope nicely coiled as full as possible. It will ruin the rope but will get you home.

No rope? Shame on you, fill with lichen or moss and pack well.

[Robert Eilers]

I carry a spare tire and tube.

[jrenwick]

I carry a spare tire and tube.

...and some means of inflation, like a small, lightweight bicycle pump?

John

[pdb]

I had a friend who was flying a Cub in a remote section of the Alaska Peninsula who lost a big main gear tire landing on a beach. He may have twisted the valve stem off as well ...I no longer remember. This was in a pretty remote area and my buddy concluded that he would either a) be there for a long, long time, or b) be eaten by a bear or c) go broke paying for a helicopter evac.

Since he was already broke and found the other alternatives equally undesireable, he looked in his plane to see what he had which wasn't much other than the usual sort of survival gear taken on a bear hunt.. sleeping bags, tent, rifle, etc.

He used driftwood to lift the fuselage to get the weight off the tire and then proceeded to use the rifle barrel as a tire iron to pry the tire half way off. He then stuffed the sleeping bag into the tire and used the rifle again to get the tire back on the rim. It wsn't pretty but no one else was looking either and it did enough for the tire to let him take off from the beach.

[bsdunek]

I too, carry a tail wheel tire and tube. Even down her in the 'lower 48', tail wheel tires can be pretty hard to come by. If I can find a milk crate, cement block, or such, I can lift the tail on that and make the change. I always carry a small tool kit and a foot pump for such occasions.

[GAHorn]

Cleo Bickford, Wendell Wyborny, Jamie, and myself all piled onto N146YS and flew down to Galveston back in 2000 for an airshow. I was the last plane to land before the field was closed to incoming traffic, so the airport could be opened for the airshow.
Unfortunately, as I taxied off the runway I felt the tailwheel go flat. There we were out in the middle of the intersecting main runways, holding up an airshow in front of a thousand people (included in the crowd was our own member Rudy Mantel whom I met later that day.) The local mechanic got a four-wheeled flat dolly and got my plane off to the ramp, and while we spent the day enjoying the airshow (it was a Sunday) he was tasked with repairing my tailwheel.
Now, my tire was virtually new,... but ruined by taxying on it while it was flat....which also ruined the tube beyond repair. But by 4 PM my airplane was ready for flight, and the bill was $35, which he allowed me to mail a check to him when I returned home! A quick walkaround, and we loaded up for takeoff to return to Dry Creek airport where Cleo and Wendell lived to drop them off. As we taxied by the small shops open hangar I waved at the mechanic....and he waved back... It was later that I realized his flat dolly was lying upon it's side with a wheel completely removed. The image didn't come to me until I had arrived back home and pushed N146YS back into the hangar and noticed the "Shin" brand of chinese tire on the tailwheel. (Being a Sunday the mechanic got creative in finding an appropriately sized tire/tube and had robbed his Harbor-Freight flat-dolly for a tire/tube.)
Now I carry a spare tire, tube, and cheap foot-pump in my go-bag. (A complete list of my go-bag contents can be found at another thread in these forums: http://www.cessna170.org/forums/viewtop ... rgency+kit )

[blueldr]

I bought a pneumatic wheel with a tire and tube for about seven dollars from Harbor Freight. While certainly not certified for aircraft use, by installing a short length of 1/2" copper pipe to bush the axle size down from 5/8" to 1/2" and providing large 5/8" centering washers, it makes an inexpensive alternative emergency "get home on" spare tail wheel.

[Larry Holtz]

On the way to the 170 convention in Tahachipi I stopped in Redding for fuel. I felt the thumping of a flat tail wheel tire as I got out on the taxiway. I pulled into the grass and found an old piece of steel plate rolled up in a ball against the bob wire fence. It was one of those plates that was used for temperary runways. I lifted the tail onto the thing and pulled the wheel off. Valve stem was broke off. The place was deserted, 110 degree heat, but the sign on the locked door had an emergency number. Since it was the sunday, the 3rd of July, he told me "I'll be out to take a look at it on tuesday." I started walking downtown but got a ride with a nice couple that dropped me of at Walmart, the only place open in town. Couldnt find a tube so bought a plastic lawnmower wheel that had the same center hole size. Spent the night in town, put it on the next morning and took off with the yoke full forward. When I got to Tahachipi I was lucky enough to have a good headwind to keep the tail up until I slowed to a crawl. I now carry a tire, tube, and that lawnmower tire.

Larry

[Larry Holtz]

Oops! I said I had the flat in Redding. It was Red Bluff. Just down the road a piece.

Larry