J&J Tailwheels - Needs Your Help!!!!

[Propstriker]

	Quote: Originally Posted by The_Wreck
	We will definitely have decals a Huckfest. Anybody that bought a tailwheel from us before we had the decals gets one free, extras are $1 (this is what it cost us). We will have a booth setup and donated a tailwheel for the raffle. I can't wait. Are you going to be flying at the HFEST?

Looking forward to Meeting you guys at HFEST, Also have the spot on my YAK picked out to hang your stickers!

[The_Wreck]

	Quote: Originally Posted by Tired Old Man
	I had to pull both stickers from two tailwheel packages to keep the rudder lateral balance right. You mean I have to buy the next pair? Looks like the 46% Ultimate won't be able to do any advertising this year

The problem with stickers is that some people will put them on their planes and some will not. And a $1 a piece they are not cheap to give away relative to the amount of money we make on every tailwheel. Every batch of tailwheels we put together the price is creeping up and up and we are just trying to keep from raising our price to $80.

[The_Wreck]

	Quote: Originally Posted by Propstriker
	Looking forward to Meeting you guys at HFEST, Also have the spot on my YAK picked out to hang your stickers!

We are looking forward to putting faces with a lot of our customers. You will really like it at GMA, it is our home field and we are pumped. I will be out Thursday afternoon, finding a location for our booth, we will be hanging out all day Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

[CRUISER]

I just finished a big pitts and had one tail assembly of brand "x" and used it. then i saw your add, considered replaceing mine but its not feasable to do, If I had a use for one i'd certainly buy Yours as it is a beauty !

[Tired Old Man]

Up until he decided to fade away I had been using RC Blimp tailwheels. They worked out very well for the most part and were a lot lighter than anything else that had been available. I had a couple of problems with the steering tillar popping off the carbon fiber (aluminum fiberglass) wheel frames but was generally able to fix that when it happened. I kept thinking that as good as they were there had to be something better somewhere.

Well, there wasn't. At least not yet. The Ohio Superstar stuff was just too heavy for a large plane and added waaay too much weight to the tail of a smaller (50cc) plane. Most of the tailwheels that used a carbon flat spring eventually broke them at one point or another and the flat carbon spring style did not fit the sight picture of a composite Yaks or 260 fuselage.

So J & J comes along with a product that bore a fair resemblance to the ones I had been using. I just had to take the chance and get one (got two instead) and I'm glad I did. Well made, surprisingly lightweight for the materials used, extremely robust, easy to install, forward angled tillers that make tailwheel steering caster easier to modify, and just plain class in appearance. The "wow" factor is definately there. I think you'd have to hit the ground tail first, straight down, and at high speed to damage one.

First time I've ever looked at a tailwheel as something more than just a basic functional part of the aircraft equipment list. Good job J & J !!

[3D Meatshield]

I'd like to add that my J&J direct drive that I put on my 86" QQ Yak is the best tailwheel I've ever used. When I installed it, I didn't use the heavier-gauge piano wire that they sent me- I had already epoxied a ball link into the rudder for the smaller wire that comes with the stock tailwheel. After about a dozen flights on the plane (a few were definitely less than stellar landings), I lost that wire in the grass.

In retrospect I ought to have used the heavier wire they sent me with the gear, but that's something to contend with during the snowy months. Now (and until it gets too crappy out to bother) I am flying with no drive wire at all, and the smoothness of the J&J wheel makes steering a non-issue as long as I keep the throttle a couple of clicks above idle- the rudder does the steering, and the tailwheel acts as a caster. And as a caster, it is the smoothest- I have no issues whatsoever.

I haven't decided yet what my winter build project will be, but whatever it turns out to be it will have another J&J on it- but the next one will likely be the haigh style. Can't say enough good things about the J&J tailwheels.

[The_Wreck]

We have found that the best way to keep the wire from coming out is to get a good flat spot on the wire that is definitely in the right spot for the set screw to land on, and then to loctite the wire the wire as well as the set screw. Make sure it has time to setup.

John Has many flights on his yak with this and has not lost the wire.

Thanks for the kind words, good flying

[reyn3545]

I hear John's sporting a brand new bad-ass trailer!


Oh, by the way, I'd like to add that ever since I switched to J&J tailwheels on my giants.. I haven't lost a single plane. Coincedence? I don't think so!

[pepatrick]

The aerodynamics of the titanium gear and carraige cause the plane to fly more stable.

[John Blackwell]

Mike,
word sure travels fast .they will be delivering my tailer friday next week.
see you soon,John

[3D Meatshield]

	Quote: Originally Posted by The_Wreck
	We have found that the best way to keep the wire from coming out is to get a good flat spot on the wire that is definitely in the right spot for the set screw to land on, and then to loctite the wire the wire as well as the set screw. Make sure it has time to setup. John Has many flights on his yak with this and has not lost the wire. Thanks for the kind words, good flying

I'm certain that the reason I lost the wire was because I used the stock wire that came with the stock gear- and it was less than half the size of what you guys sent me. As I built the plane (and before I ordered your wheel) I installed the ball link in the rudder that came with the stock gear, and it was far too small for your wire. Since it was already epoxied in, I felt it would be less invasive to remove it and try to use the stock wire.

The set screw barely got any purchase at all on that skinny wire, and not only did I loctite the crap out of it, I filled the hole with medium CA too, to try and secure it. It worked okay for a couple of landings, then the CA fell out, and the wire just kinda hung in there. I would have switched after that, but when installing that skinny wire I stripped the set screw head, so I couldn't back it out to use the bigger wire (doh!).

So now that build season is here I am going to pull it apart, find a way to get that set screw out, drill out the ball link, and start over with the big wire. Once that is in I forsee absolutely no problems with it in the future.

Plus, that carriage spins as freely as a caster on bearings, so it steers without the wire just fine as long as there's some air flowing over the rudder. It got me through the end of the season, so I wasn't concerned at all.

[John Blackwell]

3D MEATSHIELD,
Put your small soldering iron on the set scew for a little bit just to soften up the loctite before you try to take the set srew out when you find an allen to grab it a little and it shouldhelp remove it.