Larger wheels/tires for the Super Cub

[scarface26]

A couple of months ago, I saw a photo of a HobbyZone Super Cub with the Du-Bro diamond pattern tires mounted on it. I thought it looked really great, and so I installed a set in 2 3/4". (They come in 2 1/2", 2 3/4", & 3") After putting them on, I was very pleased with the looks, but since the wheel was wider than the stock wheels, I had a problem getting the plastic hub nuts to stay on. I finally had some success using CA glue to hold them on, but had to be really careful to prevent gluing the wheels to the axles. I added a 1" tail wheel and it now looks somewhat like an Alaska Bush plane. It also has the advantage of not nosing over onto the prop as much as with the 2" stock wheels. I still wasn't happy with the weak attachment of the hub nuts, and then ran across a thread on "Super Cub Club" from a fellow who calls himself "Skivet48". His idea of using Du-Bro 4-40 Threaded Couplers with Du-Bro 4-40 nylon nuts is a near perfect solution to solidly mounting the wheels to the stock wire landing gear frame, and is easy to do. I re-did my plane yesterday, and am completely satisfied with the results. I got a cutting disk for my Dremel tool to cut down the wire frame and to cut off the excess threaded section after mounting the wheels and lock nuts. Do use JB Weld to glue the couplers to the wire landing gear. Changes to COG & weight are not a problem. I'll attach a link to the thread which shows all the details:

supercubclub.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=whls&thread=2945&page=1

Two things that I did differently from the linked article is to add a small flat washer between the wheel and the locknut to take out wheel shimmy, and I bent the wire frame where the wheels mount on, because I don't like all the "angled in" appearance of the wheels that HobbyZone puts on them during manufacture. I wanted vertical wheels with no camber.

[Gabe]

Scarface, that's a great idea! I go through a prop every two sessions on my T-28 since I'm using 12x6's. When I land on the asphalt, even if I really grease the landing, I still nick the prop a little. After a few nicks she's down to a 10x6 prop!

I tried the 4" Lite Flite wheels too, but I had the same problem on the nose gear - not enough thread for the lock nut.

This looks really promising.

[19000rpm]

Very nice mod scar.