 This year at Airventure 2010 Matco had
a very
impressive display featuring their aviation products. They
were introducing their latest tail wheel design, their
original design features a "classic cantilevered style",
which uses one arm going to the center of the tail wheel.
This year they have introduced a new dual
fork set up. This allows them to go to larger wheel
sizes. While in the original cantilevered style they could
only go up to an 8 inch wheel, the new fork style allows
them to offer an 8 inch, 10, and even an 11 inch tail wheel.
"Which is a real monster for high floatation."
Matco tailwheels have always been known
for their "geometric release," which basically means that a
pilot can kick the tailwheel lightly or quickly pull it to
one side or the other and it will release allowing the plane
to be pulled in reverse, or spun around easily, meaning it
is full castering.
Either tail wheel bolts right onto a 45
degree, 1.25 inch, 1.5 inch, or 1.75 inch mount. Matco has
also designed a setup for the VANS aircraft that allows the
7 inch tail wheel to be used.
Matco also offers two different styles of
brakes, an internal style caliper and an external caliper.
With an internal caliper half the caliper is inside the
wheel, which makes for a narrower brake installation.
While the external caliper grabs a disc located on the
outside of the wheel, thus is a wider installation but is
easier to work on for parts replacement.
Matco also designs their wheels and brakes
to fit specific weight ranges. They can go from a single
place part 103 legal ultralight right on up to a light sport
or experimental aircraft of 1860 lbs. All of the wheels
carry a 3 G overload limit. They are also available in both
tube and tubeless style.
It was very interesting to watch as the
factory demonstrated pedal geometry on a brake test stand.
Gauges were set up on two different pedal geometries, one
good and one bad. As foot pressure is applied you can see
just how much the difference the pressure delivered to the brakes
is reduced by the improper geometry! For the system to work
properly approximately 500 psi is required. This is easily
obtained with the proper geometry, while only about 250 psi
is reached with the improper geometry!
Matco also manufactures a variety of
cylinders and master cylinders for their braking systems in
various lengths and strokes.  They also have master cylinders
with built in reservoirs as well as remote reservoirs, and
hand operated cylinders. All Matco braking systems are self
adjusting, meaning as the pads wear they automatically
adjust to compensate.
Another new product they introduced at the
show was a remote parking brake valve, which has a straight
through connection, rather than 90 degrees it is also able to
pivot during installation and then move back into place for
easy of installation.
Wheels are available in axle sizes from
5/8's up to 1.5" with weights up to 1500 lbs.
Having used Matco systems for over 20
years I can attest to their ease of maintenance and repair.
Matco Manufacturing.
2361 South 1560 West
Woods Cross, UT 84087 USA
(801) 335-0582
(801) 335-0581 Fax
http://www.matcomfg.com
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