Fitting wheels to axel

[JBC]

I have a Patrol kit from Avipro. I am trying to fit a set of Grove wheels on the axles The axle on my gear is 3 3/4" long; the Grove wheel is 3 3/4" wide at the axle hole which means the end of the axle is flush with the outside of the wheel. Can't get an axle nut on.

Do Cleveland wheels fit differently? Are my axles too short by mistake? Anyone have any ideas how to correct this problem?

Thanks

John Ciolino
Patrol

[Mark Goldberg]

Hi John. If you look at the drawing the length of the axle outboard from the spacer is 3 13/16". So your L/G are right in there like they are supposed to be. Maybe there is something about how you are placing the brake calipers or something else that is pushing the wheel outboard further than it is supposed to be. Mark

[marcusofcotton]

The Grove drawing shows bearing face to bearing face to be 3.25". The wheel face includes the seal cavity which looks to be about the 3.75" that you're seeing. Should be good!

http://www.groveaircraft.com/60-162dwg.html

[spinningwrench]

My axle nut just threads on with no additional thread showing using Grove wheels. I can try to measure later today. I also have a detailed drawing showing how I mounted my Grove brakes if you want to send me a PM I’ll send you a .pdf

[spinningwrench]

Wheel Castle Nut-S.jpg I measured my axle today. The 3 13/16" dimension is short by about .058" Normally this should not be a problem if the Grove published dimension of 3 3/4" was correct but apparently it is not as my axle nut is slightly proud of the axle when snugged up to final torque. This may be a problem at final inspection as it is not the usual 1 to 3 threads showing.

[zkelley2]

Wheel Castle Nut-S.jpg I measured my axle today. The 3 13/16" dimension is short by about .058" Normally this should not be a problem if the Grove published dimension of 3 3/4" was correct but apparently it is not as my axle nut is slightly proud of the axle when snugged up to final torque. This may be a problem at final inspection as it is not the usual 1 to 3 threads showing.

You dont need or even nessessarily want threads showing on a castlated nut. Flush is more than fine.
What you have looks fine provided it's not overtorqued and you can fit a correctly sized cotter pin in there(that'll tell you right away if you need more or less thread). It's a much bigger problem if you torque that too much. Your bearings will go quick.

If you're using a castle nut on something it's just to hold the bolt or whatever its attached to in place. It is not to apply clamping force. A good example that few follow is the gear to fuselage bolts. That load is 100% in shear and they need to be able to move, further when they do they can back out a nyloc. No clamping force required to make that bolt do it's job. It just needs to stay there.

[spinningwrench]

Thanks for the feedback zkelly2. I built a custom cotter key drilling jig for the axle and getting a cotter key in should not be a problem.

[Rollie]

I tried that type of axle nut on my Matco wheels and it wasn't right. It required the Piper style nut like PN 11726 at ACS, the ACS homebuilders main axle nut. It seats further in, not against the back of the bearing like the bug nuts you are using. Not sure if this is what you need but its worth a look.