I have a 90hp 1942 j3 cub that I just purchased.
My grass field is 1700 feet with trees a consideration. My training and tailwheel experience has been a Cessna 140, takeoff at 55, clears trees barely fine at 500 fpm. Final has been the same. Power off short final. 60mph, 3 point landing, fine. Anything faster or a wheel needs perfection for my limited 20 hour tail time

I've had micro vortex generators on all my bonanza, and twins. I love the behavior. I'm thinking of the same in the cub. However, current j3 stall is 38mph. The "questionable" claim is 23 mph Per them. I'll believe 5 knots reduction, as that's my cumulative experience.

I'm concerned about floating forever over runway, but docile handling and better control with crosswinds may win me over. I can't see myself coming over the trees on final much slower than 50 with my minimal current cub time.

Is it money well spent? No other mission than 20-30 minute flights after work, and letting the kid get some fundamental stick time.

yeay! Love mine and anyone that flew mine and had a cub put them on theirs, mainly like the increased aileron control at lower speeds, when I come in at 45 I feel like I am going 60

You can get the cub n or out of a much smaller place than the 140. I never considered the 140 to be a short field plane. An instructor nosed mine over trying to make it one,

A90 J3 will go just about anywhere as is.

Is the goal to be able to take off and land in the 1700 ft, 4 times instead of only 3 ?

with 15 knots of wind, you should be able to get vertical take off and landing...

I like the low speed handling that the VGs give Cubs, but you really shouldn't need them to get a Cub in and out of 1700 feet.

You won't like them if you're landing on a windy/gusty day. Hard to stop flying. Also, not needed with a C90. Damn thing flies like a rocket without them.

jh

Not necessary at all on that field.

Love you guys. Thank you so much. Perfect input.

I have vg's on my Super Legend Cub. IAS at power off stall is somewhere around 20 mph. No real stall break, just mushes. I need power to get a proper stall break. VG's do aid low speed aileron authority. The negative is that they make the airplane more of a handful in gusty conditions.

I was landing last week in 11 knots of wind gusting 22 knots. I was landed and firmly on the ground maybe rolling at a jogging pace when I found myself 20 feet in the air from a gust. A bit of power got me back on the ground with no problem. My son in back was wide eyed after that adventure.

Fly the J-3 for a year and then decide.

You can land a Cub in winds that you can't taxi in. I think VG's would make the taxiing worse without doing much for the landing.

I want to qualify what I said before. I am absolutely in favor of VG's on heavier Super Cubs, PA-12's and PA-14's (1100-1250 lb empty weights). My Super Legend is 870 lbs empty and most J-3's weigh below 800 lbs empty.

I wonder if you can put VG's on the outer portion of the wing to energize the ailerons and leave the wing root stock. That would allow the wing root to stall first.

VG's? For a J-3 w/C90. Oh hell no.

Spend the VG money to buy the STC for wing tanks and eliminate the fuel tank on the firewall. Much safer configuration (avoid becoming a crispy critter if you happen to put it on its nose) ... and you can solo from the front seat if you wish.

join the j-3 cub club. Not sure if you can change to wing tanks once it is recovered, probably could be done but you would have to cut the fabric. When I bought mine from an old cub guru he didn't like the idea of wing tanks and thought if you went down in the trees they were more likely to rupture and cause a fire than the original header tank, that being said I still am a little nervous that close to the tank.