• If You Are Having Trouble Logging In with Your Old Username and Password, Please use this Forgot Your Password link to get re-established.
  • Hey! Be sure to login or register!

STC for 30" goodyear Airstreaks

gunnerhodgson

Registered User
palmer, ak
Trying to get the cub all ship shape, and really don't want to spend the dough on the 31 BW, even though it is probably worth it; so now I'm trying to find an STC for my 30" Goodyear Airstreaks. I've heard that you can't get it, that you can, that you can get a field approval, and that you can't. If someone could shed some light on the situation, or even better, find me a cheap pair of 31's, that would be great.
 
I have seen 26'' Goodyears & 30'' Airstreaks, but I am not familiar witha 30'' Goodyear Airstreak. I belive the 26'' Goodyears are STCed from Cubcrafters th eold Airstreaks were Field Aprroved pretty hard to find a Good pair the FAA would sign off. Used Bushwheels are around for Just have to get lucky Good Luck
 
Goodyear AirWHEELS? or something like that for 4" rims?

or AIRSTREAKS for 6" rims?

Goodyear 4" should be ok to put on, may be TCed.
 
Goodyear made 30 inch Airwheels. A different company made 30 inch Airstreaks. Goodyear currently makes 26 inch tires for their blimps.

None of these are stc'd. You'd need a field approval. I BELIEVE the only big tires stc'd are those made by Alaska Bushwheel.

You should be able to get the other tires field approved, though.
 
tires

Goodyear made 30” and 36” tires until the mid 1970’s. The tires had ridges at the point of contact with the wheel. The tires used a 7” wheel with ridges on the outside. The tire ridges fit into the ridges on the wheel, this was to keep the tire from spinning on the rim and tearing out the valve stem. Landis made adapters so 6” Cleveland wheels could be used with a field approval.
The 30” Goodyear tires worked OK on my C-185 and the 36” Goodyear worked well on my Helio Courier. The tires required a field approval and were very heavy. I tried a pair of the 30” on a PA-18 but they were too heavy to be practical and the side walls were so stiff it was hard on the plane.
Good luck trying to get a field approval for the old 30” or 36” Goodyear tires that are all over 30 years old.
Jerry Jacques
 
aktango58 said:
Goodyear AirWHEELS? or something like that for 4" rims?

........

were those the ones with the springs molded into tread of them for traction too? right...

one cub we leased had them, and a few others around back then had them...

and originally came with a ?? 5" rim... but rubber was cut out to fit a 6" Cleavland? or some scary mod like that..... (That red adapter that made a 4" wheel fit a 5" tire, think that whats refered to as made by landes.. before my time, only used/seen old cracked ones)...

know of someone with a set of the old 36" still on his shelf.....
 
Mike,

No the old Goodyear Airwheels came in, I believe both 25 and 30 inch diameter, and fit a 4 inch wheel. I had a set of 25 on my J 3 and we ran several sets of those and the 30 inch on SC. They were tubeless tires, I believe, though it's been a lonnnnggg time.

Great tires, but these were very old tires in the late 70's when I used them. None were stc'd. One thing I recall is that there wasn't even a hint of braking effectiveness with these things on the old 4 inch wheels and brakes....

MTV
 
stc for 30inch goodyear airstreaks

runnning 25x4 on my j-3, really like them, mike is right about the brakes, just don't land where you need to use much braking action, they have saved the bacon a time or two in soft mud and sand
 
gunner........if things don't work out for you and the Airleaks, oops, Airstreaks are in good shape then let me know........I'll buy them
 
Had a set of 36" Airwheels on a cub years ago, bought them from a Coyote hunter outta Roy, Mt
Early 1980s, looked coolest tire ever........ Shipping weight thru post office was 61 lbs on one tire and 62 lbs on the other one! Had the fiberglass spacers to run em on 6" rims, waaaaay to stiff for a Cub, had to skuff em lightly, before landing on pavement ,to get them spinning or they would bring the tail way up on a wheel landing. They would trash a set of bungees in short order! These are tubed tires, had problems with them spinning on the rims even pk screwed to the rims, so much inertia they would tear the screws out and cut valve stems off and leave you laying on the rims!!
 
They were "Goodyear 29" Air Wheels". No such thing as a 30" Air Wheel. They had a 4" center that you'd take a 6" hole saw and "hog out" to fit a 6" wheel. They always had a problem slipping on the rim and ripping the inner tube valve stem off. To fix this you would drill and tap 4 holes around the outer rim of each wheel and tread in a bolt with the tip ground to a point to dig into the "bead" to keep from slipping.

I had a set for a number of years. They were heavy and stiff as I recall. No getting them approved, or an old set of the original 30" Air Streaks (unless the plane had an old 337 somewhere in the logs approving them to be installed).

Take care,

Crash
 
123lbs of tires!

Here is a pic cira 1985 of the cub, with those monster
36" tires on it, certainly drew a crowd as at that time 35" bush wheels had not even been thought of ! IMG_20160116_152619487.jpg Guess were field approved out of the Farewell Lk " offices" long since closed.....lol
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20160116_152619487.jpg
    IMG_20160116_152619487.jpg
    253.7 KB · Views: 326
Last edited:
attachment.php

I have a set of Airwheels that might go on my Cub, if I ever get around to finishing it. Mine weigh about 40#, with tubes.
 

Attachments

  • Big Tire.jpg
    Big Tire.jpg
    285.1 KB · Views: 1,214
Last edited:
Why cant we get goodyear to make this tire again! With the grove tubeless wheels, these would be a hit. Desser missed the mark making the 29 and 31 use non standard wheels.
 
Why cant we get goodyear to make this tire again! With the grove tubeless wheels, these would be a hit. Desser missed the mark making the 29 and 31 use non standard wheels.

Simple answer: No market. At one point, Goodyear marketing suggested terminating production on the 26x10x6 current production tire, because of low demand. Then, the old timers in the company explained to them that the only reason they still produce those tires is that they are the tires used on their blimps.......

MTV
 
Why cant we get goodyear to make this tire again! With the grove tubeless wheels, these would be a hit. Desser missed the mark making the 29 and 31 use non standard wheels.

These bigger tires do better on a 10" wheel. The 10" wheel supports the bigger tire's sidewalls much better than the 6" does.
 
Hi Clay: I clicked on this link and there was a picture of an Legend Cub on a city street with two cops looking at it. Wonder how that happened. Reminded me of onetime I landed
attachment.php
on a state hwy for open house display at a HDWE store in Wisconsin. No problem landing but when I went to take off one local cop had a fit and Ihad to take wings off and trailer the airplane to a private strip 3 miles away, reassemble and fly home.
 

Attachments

  • C-152 at Lorleberg's Hdwe.jpg
    C-152 at Lorleberg's Hdwe.jpg
    71.5 KB · Views: 914
I think they quit making those in the 70s, doubt they are “just like brand new”... tires tend to dry out over time.
 
Here's a quasi-related question. What's the advantage of a 35" tire (ABW) on a 10" wheel over a 31"/ 6" combination? They both have the same sidewall height, which is where the flexibility comes from. It doesn't seem like the slightly greater radius would make much difference, unless you're in some airplane killing sized rocks.
 
When I went from 29 to 31 the positive difference was immediately evident. Noticeable increase in aoa, smoother ground handling and more even 3 pointers without the tail hitting first. That was only a 1 inch axel height increase.
 
Back
Top