Tire mounting job

[tbm3fan]

Walked onboard today and back to see the FM-2 Wildcat restoration and got talked into mounting a tire onto a split rim for the A-4 Skyhawk main gear. Old tire falling apart and so a better one needed. The A-4 is not my plane but what the hell. I just love putting 80lbs. of pressure into a split rim. I noticed others where standing back while I was doing it with my arm as stretched out as possible. That done it was onto the plane.

There are two rotors for braking on the jet. You fit the hub over the rotors as the rotors have female slots that correspond male slots on the backside of the hub. I didn't take the wheel off and as soon as I saw all those slots I asked if one was marked so we could get alignment right. No, and it turns out I was right in that they may all look the same but there is a subtle 1/8" difference and so the rotors had to be rotated to find the correct position. With that the hub slid right on. With a 2 1/2" nut someone had to go find a wrench that would fit despite telling me it was only finger tight. I wanted to set preload and then back it off before putting in the Mil Spec version of a cotter pin.

 

[tbm3fan]

Was also helping a volunteer, who restores Model Ts, finish up the brake job on one of our tugs. Lack of care made one side seize up not to mention a shot muffler and almost falling apart fuel lines with no shut off. The only thing left is the muffler. The tug is powered by what seems to be a Chrysler flat head six. I left the tires to the other guy as a fellow from the Commemorative Air Force came by who happens to fly their TBM and wanted to see ours.

That I am the Plane Captain of so two of us showed him the plane. They have a nice flying one which unfortunately had an accident with a collapsed gear while taxing after landing. He is going to try and help us locate bomb bay door plans. His plane below which actually sustained more damage by those trying to move it than the collapse did. Someone tried to lift the 19,000 lb. plane with a less than capable lift and damaged the cowling area above the wing.

 

[commando1]

while I was doing it with my arm as stretched out as possible.

Oh, ya. That will get you all of 12" further away upon the explosion... lmao!

Reminds me how I used to shrug my head down when going under a 13-6 bridge with my 13-6 trailer.
Oh, yah. That will help! lmao!!!!

 

[68Bigred]

OMG I know the feeling I would help out in the tire shop and mount tires for the C-5 when I was at Dover AFB. Always made me pucker a bit! I was the landing gear guy doing ISO inspections. Talk about rotors and pads the C5 lol. I miss working on planes.

 

[patrick66]

Speaking of C-5s...

I was stationed at McChord AFB, WA in 1981. There was a C-5 that made a mayday call one afternoon, reporting the nose gear would not come down. The mains were fine. We were about an hour away from ending our shift, and the C-5 crew was in the process of dumping fuel, so we thought we'd go out and watch a C-5 crash...morbid, but the timing was right, I guess! Anyway, after work, we drove out to the flightline fence. The C-5 in question was about ten minutes out, with the nose gear still up. Back then, foaming the runway was a common practice for certain aircraft emergencies. The Galaxy made one low approach, went around, and lined up for an emergency landing. In case you've never seen a C-5 land, it looks like something in slow-motion, because of the sheer size of the jet! It came in, the main gear touched, and the pilot kept the nose up, up, up, until the last second. He sat that nose down so gently, that it barely scratched the nose gear doors! To say that was an impressive landing is an understatement! The maintainers went out, raised the nose up and fixed the problem in a very short time. The aircraft was towed back to the ramp for an inspection, then it took off the next afternoon back to Travis. The crew was flying a training sortie out of Travis, so they had instructors and students on board, with an empty cargo hold. Very cool landing!!!