Need Yokes

[clear_prop1961]

Re: Need Yokes

Hank- Are you sure that Aeronca made the banjo yokes for Taylorcraft? If you look carefully the Aeronca yokes are not the same as the Taylorcraft yokes... similar but not the same.
Jerry

[Hank Jarrett]

Re: Need Yokes

I think there was more than one Banjo wheel type. There is a simpler version I have one of and I need to post a picture of it. Could be that Aeronca switched the the simpler one when Taylor went to the Pretzels.
I'm sure open to anyone who knows for sure.
Hank

[NC36061]

Re: Need Yokes

I have never heard of Taylorcraft buying yokes from Aeronca. While the Deluxe banjo style is similar to the Chief yoke, they are somewhat different.



This yoke is the one you are referring to Hank, its basically a modified original type round wheel reshaped to the banjo style but retaining the original spokes, only used on a few 41s. I've only ever seen one in person, quite rare, but a nice look.



Dave

[wingwalkers]

Re: Need Yokes

Hank, I have my wings and tail group from my 46 BC 12-D ready for painting so I am now starting to strip the fuse down. My yokes are like your picture on the left. The shafts are in good shape but I would like to chrome them or replace them with polished stainless steel. I took the bolts out of the center hub but don't have a clue how to take them apart. I figured that the shafts would have to be separate to chrome them.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Keith Walker

[Hank Jarrett]

Re: Need Yokes

I have posted several pictures so I'm not sure which one on the left from which picture. The following photos are labeled with the wheel type, and yes, I now have a useless Chief wheel (OK useless for us, the shaft is way too long to even fit in a Taylorcraft).
If your plane is a post war it should have either the Pretzel or if later one like Jim's. There was another cast wheel later but I don't have a photo of it and well before WW-II there was a round wheel but it wasn't used in post war planes.
Hank

[M Towsley]

Re: Need Yokes

Hey Hank,

I had in my '46 the ones on the far right, which were incorrect for the plane. Forrest told me what year they were from but it was from the 'newer' T-Crafts from the 70's-80's. If you remove the plastic piece in the center then you have cast ones which were in the post-war planes, along with the second from the right pretzel yokes.

[Hank Jarrett]

Re: Need Yokes

Just to round things out (sorry for the bad pun) I found pictures of the really early wheel in the picture of all three. In that picture the top left is the late model cast one, the top right is a pretzel (early post war) and the bottom one is an early pre war round wheel. The first picture is my pretzel before I restored it (in the prior post of the pretzel wheel). They CAN be cleaned up really nice, but it isn't cheap to do the plating. The addition of the Pretzel ball and Taylorcraft button really sets them off. The plastic ball tended to shrink and warp over the years and a lot of guys took the ball off and put the button in the center of the pretzel without the warped up ball. I don't think the factory ever used pretzel wheels without the ball, they just fell apart and people threw them away.
If the wheel you need is the pretzel, I think I have at least one (and maybe a few) in the parts pile. There is a place here that does a magnificent job of plating the shaft if you want it rebuilt, but take your nitro pill before I tell you the cost. I also cut the rubber off mine and replaced it as well as generally cleaning up the whole thing. If you are interested I will figure up the total cost of redoing one including new pretzel balls (my labor and the balls are very reasonable, but the rest is ridiculous). My set of pretzel wheels have been a decoration on top of my TV for several years now waiting for the 45 to need them. My wife thinks I am watching her wedding shows, I'm staring at those wheels and dreaming of flying. ;-)
Hank

Just as an aside, yesterday I finally hung the wings on the 41!!! I got to roll her out to the wash rack and clean all the dust off and make her pretty again. Engine is next and then I MIGHT ACTUALLY GET TO FLY HER AGAIN! You can't believe the number of people who stopped to tell me my engine was missing.

[Pearson]

Re: Need Yokes

I have a 1946 BC12D project that has the cast yokes, like the one on the left side of Hank's picture above that shows three yokes. Does anyone have, or know of a source for, the plastic pad looking thing that goes across the lower part of the middle? Or, if someone has a pair of pretzel type yokes for sale I would be interested.

[M Towsley]

Re: Need Yokes

Richard,

I have not seen anyone reproduce the plastic piece in the center. I have two of those right now with the black plastic pieces on the yokes. I was planning on selling them someday when I got around to it, but they are attached to the cast yoke.

[M Towsley]

Re: Need Yokes

Here is a link to a thread on the yokes I 'restored'. http://vb.taylorcraft.org/showthread...=pretzel+yokes

I preferred the pretzel to the cast, I had them in my first plane and I like the look and feel better.

Hank, How in the heck did you restore the rubbler on the pretzel yokes? I'm curious...

[Hank Jarrett]

Re: Need Yokes

If I tell you, then you will know too!
Well, OK, if it's just between the two of us. ;-)
I started by completely taking the wheel and shaft apart and cut the old rubber off with an X-acto knife. Then I cleaned up the tubing (just a BIT corroded!) and got the shaft plated. Check the shaft for worn cross holes before you plate it since they may need to be welded up and re-drilled. If you let them plate the shaft remember that the plating will change the hole diameter. If you drill the holes after plating the plating will flake off. REALLY good plating shops will tell you the starting hole diameter to use so after it is plated the bolts will be tight. If you don't have a first class plating shop, just end the plating before the holes and paint the end of the tube and overlapped the plating. (by the way, the original plating on mine was Nickel, not Chrome, but Chrome wears much better). I restored the little "nibs" or bumps on the wheel that keep your fingers from slipping (If I remember right they were little screws into the tube) then painted the unplated steel parts.
Now for the trick. I took the loop part of the wheel and slid heat shrink tube over it. Make it EXTRA LONG! I had to cut the first try back off because the length shrank too much. When you heat it it comes out just like the original rubber.
The center balls are the best part really. They really make the whole wheel "pop".
Hank

[N95334]

Re: Need Yokes

I see you had yokes back in 2011. Any chance you still have them for sale?
Rebuilding 1946 BC-12D and it has cessna yokes(UGH!)
Trying to return her back to 1946 look.
Dennis McGuire
Jacksonville Fla
[email protected]

[Hank Jarrett]

Re: Need Yokes

I have some pretzel yokes but they need restoration. No idea what they are worth, but would love a trade for some early pre-war round ones for the Josh Brehem 1940 restoration.

Hank

[Ragwing nut]

Re: Need Yokes

I have never heard of Taylorcraft buying yokes from Aeronca. While the Deluxe banjo style is similar to the Chief yoke, they are somewhat different.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]6586[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]6587[/ATTACH]

This yoke is the one you are referring to Hank, its basically a modified original type round wheel reshaped to the banjo style but retaining the original spokes, only used on a few 41s. I've only ever seen one in person, quite rare, but a nice look.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]6585[/ATTACH]

Dave

My 42 deluxe originally had the yoke in the last pic, but I changed them to banjos.

[Ragwing nut]

Re: Need Yokes

I have posted several pictures so I'm not sure which one on the left from which picture. The following photos are labeled with the wheel type, and yes, I now have a useless Chief wheel (OK useless for us, the shaft is way too long to even fit in a Taylorcraft).
If your plane is a post war it should have either the Pretzel or if later one like Jim's. There was another cast wheel later but I don't have a photo of it and well before WW-II there was a round wheel but it wasn't used in post war planes.
Hank

the yokes in your second pic have been cut.