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Starting with the Yak 52, cooling gill axles grew a countersunk head.

The earlier Yak 18-T and Yak 50 had the T-head axles that CJ owners will be familiar with.

These axles are never really in tension the way a bicycle wheel’s spokes are, more as a way to adjust the outer ring into a circle and prevent binding of the gills.

Those T-head axles required you to get busy at their inner ends with a 7mm wrench, in the very small gap between the nose case and the inner axle ring.. it’s a job to help you discover how patient you are. Oh- and you need to lock TWO of those M4 thin nuts together.

Got it?

Great. Only 26 more axles to go!

The 52 design team seized on the opportunity to ditch those T-heads axles, replacing them with countersunk ones with a slotted head.

To keep them from backing out, the new axles needed locking nutplates. To put it another way, the last few turns with the flat blade screwdriver require more and more torque, which, for axles made from softer materials, like stainless, will be hard on the slot.

This is why TYC’s axles are made from Chromoly, then clear-zinc plated for a bright finish. You’ll see less wear along the axle shaft from long-term vibration inside the gill too.

27 axles are needed for a complete Gills assembly- the removable vane to get access to the prop Governor has its own integral axle stubs.

You can only use countersunk axles on inner rings that have M4 nutplates, plus suitably countersunk fishplates for the axles’ heads, as on the Yak 52.

Stuck in a nightmare world of T-head axles you can’t obtain anymore? If you’d like to switch over to the freedom of countersunk axles , TYC can help with the parts you’ll need - get in touch!