Skip to main content

Fingers crossed, Part Deux

I called BAS Part Sales this morning and told them about the cracked wheel that they'd sent. When I ordered it a couple weeks ago, they had two in stock. Unfortunately, the second one was sold last week. Gah. However, the sales rep (who I'll call 'M' for brevity) said they'd just received a wheel with part number 40-113C. As noted earlier, the 'B' and 'C' wheels are the same except that the C wheel is used on the main gear and includes a brake rotor. Interestingly, none of the C wheels I've seen pictures of during my search include a brake rotor.

M said they'd just gotten this wheel in so he would check it for cracks, take pictures of it, and send them to me. It didn't take long for the pictures to show up in my inbox. As with all the other C wheels, there's no brake rotor. However, from what I could see in the photos, it is absolutely identical with the B wheel that they'd sent earlier, right down to every number and letter imprinted on the two halves. So I replied to the email asking him to call me back so we could work out the exchange.

He did so, and that wheel should be on its way shortly. He offered to ship it two-day at no additional charge so, hopefully, it will arrive on Friday. I doubt very strongly that the plane can still be ready this weekend, given the fuel pump and carburetor work that still needs to be done but, maybe, just maybe, the weekend after? One can only hope.

An interesting addendum to this is that M told me this wheel came off of a 172N where it was on one of the main gear. They got the mate to it as well and it's cracked. If these were the factory wheels, that would put the manufacture date somewhere in the late 70s. Three wheels from that era cracked makes me think this is going to be an increasingly common issue with these wheels approaching 50 years in age. It might be time for Cleveland to ramp up production and make a batch.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Approaching the annual

I know I haven't been posting much, but that's mainly because nothing much of note has been happening. I've been flying, but not really going anywhere in particular. The engine continues to run very well, and the plane is still solid. I was hoping to do more "destination" flying this year but, for whatever reason(s), it didn't really happen. Next year, hopefully.... On the horizon, though, is the annual inspection. It's already scheduled for mid-December, since the last annual is good to the end of that month. I've also arranged for it to be an owner-assisted annual. I'm told that every airplane owner should do this at least once and I can certainly understand why that is the case, even before I do it. I will be learning about my airplane in a way that nothing else will match and, incidentally, save some money at the same time. I'm looking forward to it. Leading up to the annual, I have been compiling a list of squawks that I want to take care ...

April showers....

I haven't been flying in a few weeks due to the weather. It has been a rather wet April and the alignment of rain showers with the weekend has been exquisite. I have nineteen hours on the engine so far. The plan is to run it to 25 hours, then do the first oil change. At that point we'll most likely switch to regular oil. I do have Camguard that I intend to use but my understanding is that, with a new or overhauled engine, you should run at least one oil change interval on regular oil without Camguard before starting to use it. If the weather is nice at some point during this next week, I may just take a half day off from work and go flying, then make up the time later.

Precipitation

The weather was rather nice yesterday and I was able to get up in the air in the afternoon. The flight was pretty uneventful, essentially another jaunt up to the north and back. There were two things that were a bit different from the norm. First, on the way back to Harvey Field, I ran at full power. I've done full power runs before; it's a part of the break-in process for an overhauled engine. And I did another good long one yesterday. I was doing a bit better than 110 knots on the airspeed indicator, and that's with the built-in calibrator for true airspeed set for the temperature and altitude so it should be pretty close to what I was actually doing. Yep, still not a fast plane, but I still think the roomy cabin and large fuel capacity make up for that. Second, as I was flying back to Harvey, I decided not to straight back but rather to take a quick detour off to the east to prolong my full-power run. I turned east, then headed back north for a bit. I saw a couple of clo...