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Whirlwind RV-200 Prop Hub Failure

The Wizzard

Well Known Member
I dropped my Prop off for overhaul this week at Whirlwind aviation in Austinburg, Ohio. I received a call from them yesterday and much to my surprise I was told the Hub was junk. It appears from the photos and phone conversation that I had with them that the race and the bearings have welded themselves to the hub. The folks at whirlwind were just as surprised as I was and stated that they had not seen anything like this before. They plan on doing some research next week into what may have caused this. In the meantime I thought I would reach out to the "airforce" for any thoughts.

Here are the facts.

1. The prop operated normally
2. 850 on prop since new
3. 800 since it was last torn down ( I sent it back to Whirlwind to have the blades repainted after 50 hrs of use. I flew through rain and the finish got stripped off! This was when the prop was new, no problems since?)
4. A couple of small overspeeds in the last 100 hours, maybe 2950 rpm at the most and as a result I sent the govenor to MT for overhaul this past summer. No problems since.

The prop was acting normal. There had been traces of oil appearing on the windshield over the last couple hundred hours but nothing alarming. I mean really small specs of oil! There was evidence of it coming out of the hub on the backside of the blades. So, lets get the prop off, get new seals and have it's recommended inspection done!

That does not explain in my opinion why the bearings failed. Any thoughts

Im looking for a Serviceable Hub as well!
 

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Last edited:
Likely improper heat treating of the bearing races. If you could get them out the rockwell hardness can be tested on one of the other non-bearing surfaces.
 
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