Some very interesting responses - thanks guys. I have also found a US web site called r22bigwheels.com where the guy is selling exactly that - big ones. When I first got the R22, the tyres on the wheels were fairly soft and it was a real struggle to move. Now I have pumped them up as much as I dare and it is a lot better. The problem is more one of skid height clearance than ruts, as the allowable angular movement between the skid and the ground is very small with the standard Robbo wheels. Pushing is worse than pulling.

A friend told me that the solid thinner ones made moving it a breeze, and I have now located a UK manufacturer of these. I will go and look at some next week and try them out. I am almost always on my own when I need to move it so want a simple solution.

Robbo Rider - a question. How do you get the front wheels off when you are in position? I understand that you can pull them on using the rope, but once it is sitting on them and you are at the tail, you can't push on the rope!

why not just use a trolley to land on ?? we used to use an old glof cart and a 6 foot wide trolley and it worked a treat. good fun landing on them too.

The Big Wheels are great, but big and heavy - although you can take them apart and they will fit under the seat. They roll well on grass as well as pavement and gravel, and make it super easy for one person to push the R22 around.

We also built a slightly more substantial version of the dolly that RobboRider posted, which you can pull by hand or with a lawn tractor - it works for both the R22 and the Schweizers, and is darned handy in the snow and ice come January or so.

Muffin,

Dead easy. Once you have the wheels in place and jacked up - do up the velcro then push/pull the R22 to the spot you want it.

Walk around to the front of the R22 and undo the velcro.

Then:

The more elegant method.

Walk back to the tail - pull down so the skids are now just clear of the wooden shaped blocks and move the R22 backward until the skid toes are no longer over the cross bar. Drop the skid toes back down to the ground and remove the proper wheels from the brackets. Walk back to the front and remove the cross bar.

The lazy boy method.

When the R22 is where you want it. Walk round to the front, bend down and undo the velcro and lift the skids just till the weight is off the crossbar. Pull the crossbar forward manually and out from under the skids. Lower the skid toes down manually.

Then go back and remove the proper wheels.

You might think the helicopter would be too heavy to lift from the toe skids. You will be surprised how easy it is to lift once the proper wheels are in place. In fact you have to be careful not to tip it back onto the stinger. The back wheels are at the ideal pivot point for an easy lift.

Robinson R55 or R66?
 

Has anyone heard that Robinson are developing a turbine variant of the R44....slightly bigger with a boot??

I just hope he gets rid of that bloody t-bar cyclic.
When you are flying around with a passenger up the front taking photo's they are forever bumping the vertical riser of the cyclic, it's just out there to grab or bump..
I wish you could at least have a choice of a traditional cyclic.

starflex: I've seen a mod with a "traditional" stick for robinson but I can't remember where :rolleyes:

Turbine OR diesel????

They could name it "The Jet Robbie". :}

I read they are going to use the Rolls Royce light turbine and add an extra seat in he back . . but it will be 3 years.

I see they have aircon for the R44 now. . if you want to spend another $18,000 ish. .

:cool:

... or take the doors off (no extra charge ...)

h-r:) :ok:

I just hope it's not any uglier than the R44. I actually asked Frank Robinson about the "looks" of a larger Robbie at the safety class and he acted as if it would look very much like the 44. UGH!!!

sniff ... sniff ... I smell an Enstrom salesman!

R22 and engine power.
 

Hi
Just a question you guy´s probably can answer.
Everyone is talking about how underpowered the R22 is. Why not give the Robbie a turbocharger?

I don´t know if a turbocharger has ever been used succesfully in aviation before, but the weight of a turbocharger is low. And it would give you a pretty good gain in HP just by using exhaust.

I can´t see any major downsides with it.

Anyone got something to say about it?


Tnx..

If my memory serves me correctly the engins in a 22 is capable of producing more power than it does (it's derated). The limit is a transmission limit. So the question is probably why not a better transmission ??. Almost like a chicken and an egg ??

Sure you could put a turbocharger on an R22 to increase the power output at the flywheel. The problem then becomes where you are going to put that extra power.

The R22 was designed to be light, so every component was matched at the design stage to be strong enough plus x%, where x is the design contingency.

In this case think of the transmission system and the rotors. Every moving part in that system would have to be re-assessed as to whether it can take the extra torque or thrust or stress, and as the system was designed for minimum mass in the first place, most would have to be replaced.

So a new belt system, new gearbox, tail rotor shaft and tail rotor, rotor head and blades, would be required, just for starters.

Its cheaper to buy an R44 and fly it two up.

New R-22´s now have a 180 Hp engine and are derated to 124 (131) hp! So the engine is plenty powerful for the aircraft.

I have about 1600 hrs in R-22 Standard with the 150 hp engine and I newer really found it to be underpowered so as to be unsafe.

It doesn´t really matter in which type helicopter you fly you´re always flying close to the edge powerwise, they just load more stuff into the bigger helicopters so they get so heavy that you are again on the power limits.

There is a Enstrom version with turbocharger and also I believe a version of the Bell-47!

I think that the TBO (Time Between Overhaul) is much less with a turbo fitted. It´s certainly so in fixed wing aircraft with turbo. Usually the TBO times on the engines are decreased by 400 to 500 hours and they rarely make it to TBO.

there was a mod for the cyclic where the bar went under your left knee then came up between the legs but it wasn't a certified mod as far as I know Only ever saw a photo of it , so don't know if it actually worked.

That doesn't sound like it'd work, as the sideways cyclic movement wouldn't be symetrical with the cyclic's pivot where it is in the middle of the cockpit. At least not without a flopping t-bar pivot like the R22 already has, and I don't know if that'd work under the leg, rather than over it. It'd likely either foul on the floor, or on the underside of your leg.

Perhaps a better option is to be able to remove the passenger half of the t-bar?

Si

There are plenty of Turbo's in Fixed wing , Cessna 210 were pretty popular too.

HF