Wheel / tire size

[DONC]

I am considering replacing the standard 4'' wheel / tire and drum
brake on my Discus B, ser.#77 with a disc brake. The only disc brake
replacements seem to be 5". Does anyone know if a 5" wheel / tire will
fit and if any modification is required? Thanks

[Greg Arnold]

Look on the Wings & wheels webpage. They have a 4" wheel there with a
disc brake that is designed for the Discus:

http://wingsandwheels.com/page32.htm

I installed it on my Discus A. Very expensive. At that time (and
perhaps still now) you had to engineer the installation yourself (not
even any directions for mounting the reservoir, getting the cable to the
reservoir, etc). And the brake still doesn't stop the glider very well.

A big mistake on my part. Instead, I should have sent my original wheel
to Vintage Brake for an overhaul.

[DONC]

Greg, Thanks for the info. The lack of stopping power is a problem I
have been hearing about since I started looking into the disc brake.
There seems to be two different answers when brake stopping power is
questioned. First is it's great, will put the ship on it's nose, the
other is hardley works, nothing in between. I was hoping someone was
able to tell if the 5" wheel/ tire would fit with out mods. DONC

> > fit and if any modification is required? Thanks- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

[Greg Arnold]

I believe the brake disc on the 4" wheel is the same size as the disc on
the 5" wheel. Just the wheel/tire size is bigger.

I really doubt if the 5" wheel would fit on a Discus. Just not enough room.

On 2/9/2012 6:53 AM, DONC wrote:
> Greg, Thanks for the info. The lack of stopping power is a problem I
> have been hearing about since I started looking into the disc brake.
> There seems to be two different answers when brake stopping power is
> questioned. First is it's great, will put the ship on it's nose, the
> other is hardley works, nothing in between. I was hoping someone was
> able to tell if the 5" wheel/ tire would fit with out mods. DONC
>
> On Feb 5, 12:49 pm, Greg Arnold<soa...@gmail.com> wrote:

>> Look on the Wings& wheels webpage. They have a 4" wheel there with a

[Yankee47]

Don,
I know #77 very well.
FYI the brake has undergone the Vintage Break treatment. This did make
an improvement which gradually faded overtime. I seem to recall that
an occasional roughing up of the brake-pads to remove the glazing
would improve things.

Cheers

Colin