P-51 - Tailwheel Tire Blowouts / Replacements

[51fixer]

So, T-6's seeing the same failure? Split rims or solids?

There is no solid tail wheel rim.
They are all 2 piece rims. The tire stiffness makes it so it can't stretch over the edge of a rim.
The 2 halves enter from each side of the tire and bolt together in the middle.
Bolt patterns vary from 4 -6 bolts.
Rich

[Ken]

Maybe you guys can help - where did I recently see photos of how some operators carry a spare tailwheel in the back of a T-6 or P-51?

Ken

[r1830]

In the P51, there is a hell hole just behind the Radiator. Mount a tail wheel axle on the aft bulkhead of the hell hole. The spare tail wheel with spare wheel bearings can be stored on it.

[Matt Gunsch]

On the T-6 I carried a spare tail wheel completed with packed wheel bearings and a cotterpin, mounted under the rear seat, on the underside of the truss structure, it was accessed by removing the belly panel. With P-51 style tailwheels, it is easier to carry a spare tube, Carl's T-6 had a Harvard tailwheel that was a PIA to replace the tube as it had a snap ring and required a lot of effort to compress the tire enough to get the ring seated.

[Lynn Allen]

Maybe Chuck Gardner will chime in on this. You, if you are lucky get one shot in tugging the Mustang around with him watching. He usually does it himself for this very reason...

[Ken]

Who is the best source for a T-6 tailwheel tube & tire these days?

Ken

[Chuck Gardner]

Desser Tire is the go to company.
The most amount of side load is turning the tailwheel around from towing one direction to another. Best to do it as slow as possible.

[mlenoch]

Ken wrote: " Maybe you guys can help - where did I recently see photos of how some operators carry a spare tailwheel in the back of a T-6 or P-51? "


For the P-51, in the empty gun bay. Get an old helmet bag. The mounted - and with pressure - and with greased bearings, tailwheel fits perfectly inside the old helmet bag.
Be sure to wrap it in plastic and remember to pack a new COTTER pin!!

For the T-6....in the baggage compartment. With the same packing as above. ...........But, I've not seen a T-6 tailwheel go flat out on the road. They have lower loading stress, I imagine.


VL

[Taylor Stevenson]

Whoops, just noticed this was from years back...
We just had to replace a tailwheel tire on our T-6 for the same reasons...

[Matt Gunsch]

Vlado,
I had 2 tailwheels go flat while on the road, one was Chuck Hall's in Las Vegas, NM he had the P-51 style tail wheel, the other was Carl's in Toas, NM, he had the Harvard style, it was soooooo much fun trying to cram a P-51 style tail wheel tube in that little doughnut of a tire. At least the 6 is light enough to lift the tail up with a couple of guys under the horizontals.
Chuck's was fun in that he cleared the runway but could not go any further, the airport brought out a truck with a compressor, we could air up the tire and it would hold air long enough to go 3 or 400ft, we did that all the way onto the ramp.
Maybe it was just NM, I knew it just sucked, but sucking the air out of tailwheels ? hmmm

[Stoney]

I heard someone say one time that you fill a T-6 tailwheel tire with rubber and it never goes flat, I think they did it at a folklift tire place and it weight #5 more.

[Matt Gunsch]

I heard someone say one time that you fill a T-6 tailwheel tire with rubber and it never goes flat, I think they did it at a folklift tire place and it weight #5 more.

and it feels like a forklift tire, you feel every pebble and it makes the tail cone act as a noise amplifier.

They tried that on Sentimental Journey in the 80s, it did not stay on long enough to scuff up the tread as it was so hated.