Last night I wrote: > I just checked both Spruce and Wicks websites, but could no longer find a > distinction between the bearing without grease and the "heavy duty" > bearing that actually has grease...
This morning I checked the 2012-2013 hard-copy version of the AS&S catalog, and on page 276, under the heading of "Replacement Wheels for Homebuilder's Special Tailwheels", they list both 4" and 6" "replacement wheels with tires and bearings. These look like the dry-bearing wheels I received back in 2009 and 2010 from AS&S. Underneath these tailwheels is the heading "Longlife Sealed Ball Bearings", which are now up to $9.75, with the description "These high quality bearings are superior to standard bearings furnished with homebuilder tailwheels", which says something about the replacement tailwheels they sell. You be the judge. Given that I can't prove something said three years ago on the phone, I've removed the sentence "I also learned that Aircraft Spruce orders the assembly from Aviation Products MINUS the wheel for some reason!", and added "as their replacement" to the sentence "Although I didn't hear it from Aviation Products, one must assume that AS&S substitutes the less expensive R&K caster with the ungreased and unprotected bearings as their replacement wheels and saves a few bucks." Other than those two edits to clarify things, I stand behind every word in that web page, and still think it's important that folks use a greased-bearing replacement wheel in their Aircraft Products tailwheels, like they came from the manufacturer. I spent the time to do the research and to create that webpage to shed some light on a situation that needs to be exposed and corrected, not just to vent. Hopefully I didn't waste my time with that effort... Mark Langford ML at N56ML.com website at http://www.N56ML.com --------------------------------------------------------
