Facebook Marketplace Scott/ABI Tailwheel Refurb

[ADK-Flyer]

So I?ve been looking around for a tailwheel as my kit was ordered by the original owner as a Tri gear. I was originally just going to order whatever Kitfox sells with their kits but figured maybe if I shop around I could end up with a bit of an upgrade for less money. While looking on Facebook marketplace of all places I came across an ABI tailwheel listed at $875.00 which was less than what I was seeing them go for used elsewhere. I ended up offering $700.00 and he agreed and I just received it. I got what appears to be an ABI 3224 tailwheel, a second tailwheel fork, the wheel, 3 tires, and 2 tubes both holding air. Not sure if I got a deal or not but I'm going to disassemble and clean everything up powder coat what I can and see what I end up with.


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[ADK-Flyer]

Got it all disassembled and found only a few things I needed to replace. The wheel had the old style metal seals with felt in them so I ordered new rubber seals from Alaska Airframes. I also ordered bolts, nuts and washers to join to wheel halves as they were missing but cheap. Next I disassembled the tailwheel assembly where I found the same old metal seal which I'll be replacing again with rubber. I then found that one of the brass thrust washers was not in place properly when it was last assembled so the pin on the pawl had left a mark in it. The thrust washers were cheap so I ordered 2 to replace both. The only other thing I found was that for some reason the lower dust cap was completely missing for some reason so I ordered that as well. It ended costing under 100 dollars so not too bad so far. while I was ordering I decided to throw a T3 tailwheel suspension in my cart to go with it when it's done. I do my own powder coating and I've decided to powder coat the wheel flat black I also ended up purchasing the gray that was used on my fuselage and I'm contemplating powder coating the tailwheel assembly that color or the flat black as well just not sure yet. I also discovered the Head is a Scott 3200 and the fork is a ABI 3224. If everything works out I should be into the tailwheel assembly with the T3 for 1,600 to 1,700.

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[ADK-Flyer]

Sandblasted and almost ready for powder coating just have to give them a good washing. Apparently the flat black I have on hand is textured which seems like a bad idea as it will be hard to wash. I have high glass black and the gray that Kitfox powder coated my fuselage and parts with. I looked at Cardinal where they get it from and it seemed they wouldn?t sell less than 5 pounds of powder which is a lot. I found the color at Prismatic powders and ordered some but not sure how well it will match. So I have to decide between these colors or order flat black and wait for it to come in.

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[bbs428]

Here's a 2-part epoxy spray-can that comes in a satin black. It might be a good choice, although once mixed left-overs are trash!

Buy 2K AeroSpray Chassis Black Satin Spray Paint | Eastwood Auto

[avidflyer]

Dont want to hijack this thread, but I have a scott 3200 tailwheel up for sale as well. A flying friend of mine passed away, and I'm helping his widow sell off the stuff he accumulated. Should be able to find it on barnstormers. JImChuk

[bbs428]

I found a used Scott 3200 tailwheel on Barnstormers, cleaned it up and rebuilt it like you did.
I painted mine with the same Insignia white Aero-thane polyurethane as the plane.
The paint sure is tough! Holds up well to the abuse!

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[ADK-Flyer]

This is where I'm at so far. I tried powder coating at first but I was having trouble with powder sticking to the wheels and also getting the powder evenly inside the wheel. I also had issues with old grease leaking out of the tailwheel head into the powder no matter how much cleaning I did. I ended up trying a 2 part epoxy paint I had on hand that I purchased to use on chassis parts for my classic car. It is Summit Racing satin black chassis shield paint and I had real good luck when I originally used it. I will say it is a few years old and it has taken over a week to cure so we'll see how it holds up. It wasn't tacky but if you pushed a fingernail into it hard it would make a mark for a while. I took a few pictures of it on the T3 tailwheel spring it is not fully assembled as I'm waiting to hear back from Airframes Alaska about the lower dust cover I purchased from them. Mine was missing when I disassembled it so I ordered one with my other parts. The lower cover is supposed to fit inside the upper I believe and it doesn't. I'll add more pictures once it's fully assembled but I'm liking how it's coming out so far.
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[bbs428]

That is looking a lot better!
Worst case if the paint doesn't harden up is another blast of media and another go with something different.
The black does look good!

Hope you get the dust cover issue sorted out.

[ADK-Flyer]

That is looking a lot better!
Worst case if the paint doesn't harden up is another blast of media and another go with something different.
The black does look good!

Hope you get the dust cover issue sorted out.

Spoke with Airframes Alaska and it appears the upper Scott 3200 dust cover I had and the new lower I purchased from them are not compatible. The person I spoke to wasn't aware of the incompatibility but they checked their upper cover and it was flat inside and not stepped like the one I removed from mine. I ordered a new upper dust cover from them and we'll see how it goes when it arrives. I assembled the wheel with the used tire and tube that came with it but it was flat by morning. I'm going to remove the tube and try to find the leak if it isn't just the valve it did come with a second tube which I'll also check.

[ADK-Flyer]

The first tube I tried did end up having a pin hole in it so I took the wheel back apart again and removed it. I submerged both tubes I got with the tailwheel in water and I confirmed that one had a hole but the second tube was good. I reassembled everything with the new tube and the wheel is good to go. I see no reason unless somebody can think of one to not run the tire it came with. It looks fine and has no cracking or strange wear that I can see. I?m just waiting on the new upper dust cover to assemble everything. I did replace the hardware on the wheel as I was missing some and it was cheap.

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