Landing Gears, Wheels and Brakes Details

The B17L has the highest landing gear of any of the Staggerwings.

There are two wheels listed in the specification sheet for the B17L. The first is a Autofan (Automotive Fan & Bearing Co, Jackson Michigan), wheel for 24 inch Streamline tires (the right pair shown in this photo). FAA records indicate that my Staggerwing initially had these wheels and tires. The other is listed as a Warner 6.50 X 10 wheel with a 7.50 X 10 tire (like the left pair shown in this photo). At some point in the history of my aircraft, the wheels were changed to the 6.50 X 10. The wheels on my Staggerwing are Autofan (built by Hayes Industries, Jackson Michigan) 6.50 X 10. The relationship between Autofan, Warner, and Hayes is not clear to me. These sizes, with the "X", are as they are written in the aircraft specification. Using the modern Type III sizing, the "X" should be replaced with a "-" between the section width and rim diameter.

I do not intend to use either of these wheels on my Staggerwing. I plan on installing Cleveland wheels and brakes.

Here are some photos of the Autofan wheels for the 24" Streamlines. Note the 24" Streamline is an example of a Type 1 sizing, giving only the outer "normal" diameter of the tire. Rim diameter for this wheel is 12.5" and the rim width is about 7".

These photos are of 24 inch Streamline tires on Benbix wheels.

I am not sure why a retractable gear aircraft needs streamline tires.

I was lucky to get to talk to a person who flew my Staggerwing in 1939 when it had 24" Streamlines on it. Charlie Hickman flew it when it was owned by Island Airport Inc, Knoxville, TN. Charlie said the streamline tires didn't like paved runways and were prone to ground loop.

Here are some photos of the Autofan 6.50-10 wheels. The Brake drums are 9" X 1 5/8". The rims are 10" X 4 3/4". These are the wheels that were on my project when I got it.

This pair of 24" Streamlines are not on the proper wheels for the Staggerwing. This is not a split rim wheel and it would be next to impossible to get these old petrified tires off of these wheels without tearing them up. So to see what they would look like, I made some spacers and bushings out of plywood and PVC pipe.

Here the gears are fully retracted.

The point where the tires are the closest is a little down from fully retracted. At this point there is only about 1/4" inch between the tires.

There is an 1/8" cable which takes up the slack in the gear shock strut as the gear retracts. The manual states that this cable should compress the landing gear spring about 1/32" in the fully retracted position.

There is 4 1/4" inches of vertical travel in the gear between the fully extended strut to the point at which the springs come into play, and a total of 6 11/16" inches of travel from fully extended to fully compressed.

My floor boards have two rectangle holes in the floorboard just in front of the pilot and the copilot. Hub Johnson told me that some owners carried a broomstick in the cockpit to help push down the gears if they got stuck in the up position. The question here is: could these holes be there to provide access the gears in case they get stuck? Alternate explanations are: (1) aerial camera ports for the pilot and copilot or (2) Carbon monoxide supply ports for the cockpit for those times where you really don't want to be conscious of what is going on.