Wheel Bearing Maintenance Question

[Dave S]

Hi All,

Curious what others have found is a reasonable service interval for wheel bearing maintenance/repacking?

I am still kind of stuck with my old car and trailer bearing thoughts which isn't necessarily applicable to kitfox wheel bearings.

How long do you folks go between cleaning and repacking wheelbearings on the Mains?

Sincerely,

Dave S

KF 7 Trigear
912ULS Warp Drive
St Paul, MN

[airlina]

Dave, I do mine yearly when I pull the mains and tailwheel to put on the skis. Been 10 years flying my Series 5 and never had any wheel issues so I guess I 'll keep on this schedule. Bruce

[DesertFox4]

At every conditional inspection Dave. :)

[Av8r3400]

Agreed. It should be part of your annual condition inspection.

[Dave F]

Hi All,

Curious what others have found is a reasonable service interval for wheel bearing maintenance/repacking?

I am still kind of stuck with my old car and trailer bearing thoughts which isn't necessarily applicable to kitfox wheel bearings.

How long do you folks go between cleaning and repacking wheelbearings on the Mains?

Sincerely,

Dave S

KF 7 Trigear
912ULS Warp Drive
St Paul, MN

Do it anytime wheel is off -- eg skis, or float install and removal.
Simple to do - no excuse ............

Also my wheels spin more inair after take off then they actual travel on the ground. But I am spoiled having 3 runways at home.

don't forget teh tail wheel too....... surely you see my underwater videos.........
Grease will help push out the water.

Cheers,

[jtpitkin06]

This brings up a good subject of scheduled or progressive maintenance.
One of my hangar neighbors has a white board up on the wall with all the expiration dates and time limited items for his airplane listed. He identifies items that expire in 30 days with a big red dot next to them as do items that expire in the next 10 hours.

You’ll be surprised just how many items expire. True, his list is for a Cessna but I think the concept is good for homebuilts, too.

The Kitfox has annual condition inspections but a lot happens in between.

Annual
Oil change
Filters
Transponder
Pitot static
Registration
Main wheels lube
Tailwheel lube
Spark plugs
bungees
ELT battery
Weight and balance
GPS data base
Nav data base
Chart expiration
FAA medical
CFI expires
IFR currency approaches
VOR check
Tailwheel landings 90 days
Night landing experience


With all this to remember, the chart on the wall is not a bad idea.

John

[Dave S]

Thanks all for the input.

I think the idea of a schedule checklist is great......

Sincerely,

Dave S
KF7 Trigear
912ULS

St Paul, MN

[mr bill]

I used to pull the bearings apart, clean and re-grease them every annual inspection. One day I noticed that as usual, the grease was nice and clean (flying about 40 hours a year). I went to the Cessna service manual and it said to perform this maintenance every 500 hours. I have done that ever since with no problems.

[Slyfox]

you can go further than the standard wheels on aircraft(felt seals). if you have the matco setup with the atv wheels. the wheel seals are these.

axle seals
cr8763 carquest no.
7/8ID 1.57OD ¼ thick

[Dorsal]

Interesting thread, I am at 360 hrs and have not done mine since original build. Are there others going longer intervals than annuals? I was thinking 500 hrs seemed like a good idea. I have had no issues with my wheels (not that that is a good measure given we want to find thing before they happen).

[WISDAN]

I believe wheel bearing service yearly would be fine, maybe a little over kill but a good opportunity to clean and inspect for wear or damage and also gives a chance to check the main gear with the weight off the wheels.

[DesertFox4]

I remember way back in 1998 when I purchased my model 3. The previous owner supplied along with all the other paperwork, a Denney Aerocraft conditional inspection checklist that included main wheel bearings to be inspected and re-greased at each conditional. I've always followed that recommendation. You also get to check your axles and brakes at the same time.:)

[n85ae]

I do mine almost every year, and they never need it. I never do my trailer
wheels and they always need it, yet I've never killed a bearing ... :)

Regards,
Jeff

[DesertFox4]

Those "big rocks and bent props" guys that land on the water with the big tires then roll up on a sand bars, may need to inspect and grease more often.:eek:

[Av8r3400]

...or if you run wheel skis in the snow.

IMO, I still think an annual inspection (at least) is easy and prudent.

[akarmy]

Interesting thread, I am at 360 hrs and have not done mine since original build. Are there others going longer intervals than annuals? I was thinking 500 hrs seemed like a good idea. I have had no issues with my wheels (not that that is a good measure given we want to find thing before they happen).

I do every other year for a repack. Worked fine on my RV for 5 years and has worked fine on the Kitfox. I keep my plane in a hanger out of the weather as well if that matters (to wheel bearings). Even after two years the grease is not very dark.

[Dorsal]

Thanks for the input, I will repack next annual and see what I find :)

[Slyfox]

I use the stalube marine grease. you know the blue stuff. works great.