Actually, George, The
RWS drive was not just a redevelopment of the Ross drive.
Tracy basically started
from scratch and engineered a redrive that was designed to meet certain
objectives while achieving a reasonable cost. There is no other
redrive I am familiar with that has anywhere near the number of flying hours
that the RWS redrive has with none of the problems associated with the
Ross.
While there is a
superficial similarly to the Ross (Prop on one end and rotary on the other,
planetary gears in the middle {:>)) in appearance, the internals are
considerably ahead of anything Ross had. Pressure lubrication of the
prop shaft for one thing, an integral thrust bearing for another, a removable
propeller shaft for yet another, full oil pressure lubrication. The Ross
drive required a restrictor in the oil line to (can you believe this) reduce
oil pressure – otherwise the thing leaked like crazy – even with the
restrictor, the rear seal frequently was a leaky mess. But, reducing the
oil pressure was one reason the Ross had marginal lubrication in my opinion.
Even then, the oil distribution inside the Ross was also not well designed.
Don’t get me wrong, I
was glad to get a Ross – because it was the only thing around at the
time. Had old man, Lou Ross, lived longer he may have eventually fixed a
lot of these issues, but unfortunately he did not and I won’t go into the
situation with his son, Chris. But, we are fortunate that Tracy took on this
challenge and did it right.
One thing I really
appreciate about the RWS design is that it has a considerably different
internal set up with easily replaceable parts – which was not the case with
the Ross. If you wanted to completely disassembly a Ross unit you most
likely had to take it to a machine shop.
Just wanted to make
it clear that in my opinion the RWS should not be associated with the Ross
unit which many have found shortcomings in.
From:
Rotary motors in aircraft
[mailto:flyrotary@lancaironline.net] On
Behalf Of George Lendich
Sent: Friday, July 31, 2009 5:20
PM
To: Rotary motors in aircraft
Subject: [FlyRotary] Re: EC2 and Ed's
EFISM - a great combination
The Ross drive was redeveloped
by Tracy Crook of Real World Solutions (RWS). Tracy now uses the 6 planet planetary (Ford
Unit) and is about the best you will get weight wise and value for
money.
There are other similar units
- all have slightly different construction, however Tracy's is well
proven. I will probably make my own, but only because of the tyranny of
distance and associated costs.
Steve,
I went with
the RD-1B PSRU from RWS.
T
Mann
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