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Alaska Bushwheels

jimpattensc

Registered User
Utah
I have a Cubcrafters Supercub, 180hp, extended wings and drooped tips, belly pod, 3 inch extended gear...currently with Goodyear 26's. I am thinking about 31 inch radial Alaska Bushwheels, and am wondering about how much speed I will lose. I am now getting 100mph at 2400, loaded to about 1900 lbs. I am also wondering about life on pavement since I land on pavement every day, but also do some really rough stuff often enough to worry about it. Also, I was told that I might have trouble picking the tail up with a full load. Any thoughts on that?
 
Jim, you were going faster than that when you came into Billings the other night.

A friend of mind went from 26 Goodyears to 31 Bushwheels and didnt notice any change. I flew next to him before and after and couldnt tell any difference either.
 
The guy tie up next to me did the same thing. We did not notice any real difference. The Bush Wheels are lighter for their size. AND a better tire. As soon as I find a bucket of money I am changing mine over.
 
At low cruise I didn't notice any speed change going from 26" Good Years to 31" BW's, maybe a couple knots at high cruise. Ron
 
kase.. Are you in Billings approach? When I came in to Billings I was making about 112 mph at 2650...looking forward to a cold beer and a big steak.

Thanks for the info. I am having trouble thinking about the price, but it sounds like the change over would be a very good idea.
 
Bushwheels

I would suggest you take the plunge and go with the Bushwheels.
Myself having gone from BRAND new 26 inchers and I have honestly have NEVER looked back.
Landing back on pavement would not be a factor in passing up the great engineering and developement of the Bushwheels.
Landing straight helps. 8) 8)
26 inchers still for sale, 30 landings at most never any pavemant.

Chris
 
alaska bushwheels

kase... Thanks, I will get in touch on this site when I am back through Billings. It may be late winter or early spring. Do you also know anyone who has the new tailwheel set up from Alaska Bushwheels? What do you think?
 
I recently purchased the 31" mains and converted my tailwheel from a Scott 3200. The 31" mains have made 3-point landings a thing of beauty.

The tailwheel makes ground handling a little challenging unless you pump it up. I find I use more differential braking with the new setup than my old 8.5X6 mains and scott TW.

I haven't had a chance to land in anything soft enough to notice a difference in the TW width.

Marc
 
Marc Olson said:
The tailwheel makes ground handling a little challenging unless you pump it up. I find I use more differential braking with the new setup than my old 8.5X6 mains and scott TW.

I haven't had a chance to land in anything soft enough to notice a difference in the TW width.

Marc

My experience pretty much mirrors Marc's. Taxiing on pavement with an under inflated Bushwheel TW is sorta entertaining. The cub waddles like a drunk at low speeds, although with sufficient air it handles just fine. On the cobbles and rough surfaces it works great. Pretty good floatation in soft sand and mud as well. I'm looking forward to seeing how it will perform in deep snow (with skis on the mains).

Even though the ground handling on pavement is different than with the 3200, I quickly adjusted to it, and the performance enhancements on the rough stuff more than make up for the down side on pavement.
 
Thanks all. I guess I will start setting the cash aside for the whole deal. I will have some 26" Goodyears in excellent shape and the Scott tailwheel, like new, for sale. Any interest?
 
My experience with 31" mains and the baby bushwheel tailwheel is that I have better taxiing authority than I did before. I run the manufacturer recommended air in it, but I can't remember what that is off hand.

sj
 
Actually that airplane was landed once (not by me) with the parking brakes on... on concrete... pretty exciting from what I hear...

sj
 
Jim, Ive flown a cub with the BW tailwheel but dont have enough experience with it to make a intelligent opinion. Since it wasn't my plane I just landed in the grass and on the runway a few times.
 
10 years ago I asked one of the most experienced bush pilots in Alaska what he thought of the big tailwheels. He said he didn't like them because of the reduced steering effect. Two of the best off airport pilots in Alaska that I know recommend the stock tailwheel. If you are going for looks get the BW tailwheel and tell stories. The guys I know don't tell stories, they tell TRUE LIFE ADVENTURES.
 
I purchased a Bushwheel tail wheel at the Alaska Airmans show last spring and flew it on my 180 hp PA-18 all over the state including the beaches up by Nome and Kotzebue this summer.

My observations:

With a heavy load in the plane it works 10 times better then a stock tail wheel in soft sand or mud. It took all four of us (two men and two 13 year old boys) to move the other Cub with a stock tail wheel around in the sand. Mine with the BW rolled easy enough that my son and I could push the plane around in the same sand.

When power turning the plane around on the end of a strange strip with grass, I worried less about the tail wheel dropping into a hole and twisting the fuselage. It just rolls along.

It provides a lot more cushion then the hard stock wheel. Like having a much softer tail spring. It also provides softer taxing over gravel and boulders, you can't feel the shock through the fuselage every time it rolls over a rock.

With the plane heavy it provides a quicker dead stop to roll take off in soft sand and mud.

My one dis-like is it weighs 4lbs more then a stock tail wheel and this really bugged me at first (the mental thought of it) but I can honestly say the plane didn't fly any different before or after with the extra weight that I could notice.

The safety aspect of it, is thing that makes me really like it. If you twist your new fuselage turning the plane around on a rough strip, you will kick yourself for not having one. My 2 cents. Crash
 
BW tailwheel

My experience is pretty similar to Crash's.

I too bought one at the Trade Fair, and used it this summer. It is IMHO a vast improvement and must have. It is so much easier on the fuselage in rough stuff. I land in lots of tundra tussucks, rocks on river bars up to 5" and it is amazing how much better the ride and steering is. I also had it in sand where my feet made 3" prints, and the plane (bushweels all the way around) didn't even have a 1/4" print. The only thing I notice is that it takes allot more rudder pressure (and spring tension) to turn on pavement. If feels more like taxiing a 185 than a cub. Off airport, this difference is not very noticeable.

I know this, I have 5 stock Scott 3200 tailwheels all busted up in my garage, mostly wheel halves and some forks.

In the end, a person will have to assess how and where they fly, and if it is useful for them. If you land in really rough terrain, I would bet anyone who would try one would like it.
 
I'll put my two cents worth in also. I ran a baby bush wheel this fall and feel that it really comes down to the load and terrain you are working with. If the conditions are real soft or rough the baby bushwheel really shines. Otherwise you don't really need it. Crash and 779H are spot on. Access your needs before purchasing. Of course tweaking your fuselage may be way more expensive than the expense of the bigger tailwheel.
 
If you have a 180HP supercub, the 4lbs at station 200 is actually a CG bonus - especially with a constant speed prop.

sj
 
So far I put about 300 hours on my baby bushwheel, About 1500 landings. in my opinion the advantages are: better shock absobtion,Better floation, No need for a tail ski in many snow conditions,No saturday morning flats, Well worth the money. :eek:
 
bushwheels

I've heard the 3" gear is too tall with the 31" tires--too much angle of incidence, I think is the complaint. Maybe the big tailwheel would alleviate that??
 
Dick: I run 3" extended HD Atlee gear and BW 29" on my PA-12, which has longer nose than 18. I didn't notice any real attitude change, as Baby bush axel height height change from a Scott 3200 is negligible (my guess less than 1") to effect the long arm to the main gear axel location. I didn't perceive much of a change in visibility or AOA availability caused by loss of relative AOA caused by wing incidence and gear height.
 
Dick

I heard the same story about not running 3" ext. gear and 31" tires. After about 2000 hours of using them, I can't imagine where the story got started. I have wore out a set of 31" Airstreaks and now have 31" BW. On my 12, they are the best combination. The baby bushwheel doesn't change the AOA enough to really notice the difference, but it cushions you some if you drag your tail in hard.
 
Bushwheels

For what it is worth to you, I am on my second set of 31 bw, and I use the 6 inch gear with heavy tail spring and the big garaero tail wheel. It was out long ago but comparable to the bw tailwheel. My plane is used often on soft areas and the large wheel makes turning easier when ground is ruff or soft. My opinion is its better that small one. Only time you really use the tailwheel is when you are out of the plane and pushing it around which is much easiier with the big one. Only draw back I have seen was the large yoke can collect alot more mud than the small one could. The extra weight back there might make it fly better to. I have nothing neg. to say about the big wheels front are rear, there just pricy but they are cheap insurance if you fly off field. Bayne Horne
 
Thanks to all the discussion and experience from you SC guys, I ordered both the 31's and the tailwheel kit, and they arrived today. WOW!!! I will get them mounted up over the Christmas holiday and play. In the process, I weighed my tailwheel load at 1750 lbs, and that was with full fuel in 43 gal wing tanks. It came in at around 180 lbs. This is what persuaded me, in the end, to go with the big tailwheel. The cub I had before, empty, had about 80 lbs on the tailwheel. I sometimes pick the tail up to move it, and this one seems heavy, but I had no idea that it was that heavy. In soft sand or mud, my notion was that this large wheel would make a real difference, as some of you reported. Any of you in tha habit of weighing your tailwheel load? What do you find?

I now have some excellent 26 in Goodyears w tubes availabel. Anyone interested at $400?
 
I flew the Cub on skis this weekend with the Baby Bushwheel tail wheel. The tail wheel really works good on skis. Even in deeper loose snow the plane will turn with a little rudder input and the big tailwheel turned. You will like it. Crash
 
I've got over two years on my 31" BW and am based here at Gallatin Fld but don't land on the asphalt. The tower lets me land on the side of the runway in the grass. As long as I own a SC i'll fly with BW I think SC look anemic without big tires
 
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