jcarleto
Aluminum Supporter
- Joined
- Jun 5, 2007
- Messages
- 3,571
- Location
- Taylorsville, GA
- Aircraft
- Beech Bonanza G-35 N4638D/"The Bulldozer" 2-Place Gyroplane N575EE
- Total Flight Time
- Several
This is a quote from another thread, but the answer belongs here:
Yes. I flew the Bulldozer to RMG last weekend. It now has 2.6 hours with the longest flight being .7 and the last flight .5 to RMG. It is now parked and apart in the PRA #56 hangar. All the flights were excellent, including the one to RMG...right up to the point that Lewis asked me, "what's that dust on the starter there." It was dust from Gates belt wear.
The muffler system worked out fine.
I have modified or rebuilt almost all of the machine from the original kit. The one thing I didn't touch was the reduction drive. I have been checking it religiously before every flight, and it had been looking fine. After landing at RMG, it was clear something had changed. The pulleys were out of line and it was wearing the belt at the edges.
My first thought was that the bearings in the prop side had failed. It uses a trailer hub and axle shaft to connect the prop hub. After a complete rebuild and fairly exhaustive examination of the prop hub assembly, it was clear that wasn't the issue...but that's now rebuilt and what is inside is solid and correct.
It took only a second of spinning the motor over to locate the real problem. The lower Gates pulley was off. The root cause is a combination of 3/8 bolts instead of 10mm securing the pulley to the crankshaft...close but not close enough....and some aluminum spacers for the ring gear that should have been made to tighter tolerances.
This is all being replaced/repaired. I'm really pretty satisfied with the trailer hub mechanism, even if it is a bit "hardware-ish." If the crankshaft Gates pulley had been stable, I wouldn't have had a problem. I didn't expect that, and should have taken it apart and checked as I did with everything else.
On a positive note, I have found a pretty good source for Gates belts. I had a very good experience with http://vbeltsupply.com in getting a replacement belt. Prices on Gates poly-chain belts are never good, but theirs was better than most and their service was excellent.
The belt I removed was only slightly damaged, but I cut it up so it could not be used by me or anyone else by accident.
animal said:Did you fly the Bulldozer? how many hours do ya have on it now?
how did the new muffler system turn out?
Yes. I flew the Bulldozer to RMG last weekend. It now has 2.6 hours with the longest flight being .7 and the last flight .5 to RMG. It is now parked and apart in the PRA #56 hangar. All the flights were excellent, including the one to RMG...right up to the point that Lewis asked me, "what's that dust on the starter there." It was dust from Gates belt wear.
The muffler system worked out fine.
I have modified or rebuilt almost all of the machine from the original kit. The one thing I didn't touch was the reduction drive. I have been checking it religiously before every flight, and it had been looking fine. After landing at RMG, it was clear something had changed. The pulleys were out of line and it was wearing the belt at the edges.
My first thought was that the bearings in the prop side had failed. It uses a trailer hub and axle shaft to connect the prop hub. After a complete rebuild and fairly exhaustive examination of the prop hub assembly, it was clear that wasn't the issue...but that's now rebuilt and what is inside is solid and correct.
It took only a second of spinning the motor over to locate the real problem. The lower Gates pulley was off. The root cause is a combination of 3/8 bolts instead of 10mm securing the pulley to the crankshaft...close but not close enough....and some aluminum spacers for the ring gear that should have been made to tighter tolerances.
This is all being replaced/repaired. I'm really pretty satisfied with the trailer hub mechanism, even if it is a bit "hardware-ish." If the crankshaft Gates pulley had been stable, I wouldn't have had a problem. I didn't expect that, and should have taken it apart and checked as I did with everything else.
On a positive note, I have found a pretty good source for Gates belts. I had a very good experience with http://vbeltsupply.com in getting a replacement belt. Prices on Gates poly-chain belts are never good, but theirs was better than most and their service was excellent.
The belt I removed was only slightly damaged, but I cut it up so it could not be used by me or anyone else by accident.