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Thank you all; Bought my 185 today

Tom3holer

Tom3holer

MEMBER
Cape Cod
Let me start by saying thanks to all of you that have helped in answering my many questions.
After a year looking and traveling all over the country I settled on a unadvertised 73 185 that I looked at last Fall.
It will need a few things. It has a well maintained hi time airframe holding 100gal and a 6 year old FRMAN with 138hrs, 3 bladed McCauley,
Sportsman, and VG's. Gave the owner a deposit and plan to pick it up Friday, fortunately its only about 100 miles away.
IMG_0224.jpg

Looking forward to flying it and determining what upgrades I really need.
Will now have many more questions as time goes by.
 

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Excellent news! But, now you're going to have to start a downwind turn thread so we'll still have somewhere to post opinions.....:lol:

She's a beauty!

MTV
 
You need to upgrade those 6:00-6s to at least 8:50-6s. It will roll over the grass at the Mills, push into the hangar easier and won't make a bit of difference in the cruise speed.
 
skywagon8a said:
You need to upgrade those 6:00-6s to at least 8:50-6s. It will roll over the grass at the Mills, push into the hangar easier and won't make a bit of difference in the cruise speed.
Click to expand...
I'll second the 8.50's besides, you'll wear those 6's out pretty quick anyway :p
 
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Yes, Its the one that had corrosion at the rear float fitting area. I have a shop that is a Cessna dealer and is very well respected and got a quote in replacing the entire strap, if necessary, and negotiated that into the final price. The IA was very surprised after a rather extensive interior inspection and commented it was in remarkably corrosion free in all the places one would expect to find it.
 
Very nice, love the paint job. Don't rush the mods, a stock 185 is about as good as it gets, wait we can run this thread into cant do without mods! Lol I'm bad, I love to upgrade stuff. That is the same as mine, a 1973 185 f, if I can help with anything just pm me.
 
Congrats, looks good.
Funny that after going all over the country, you found your Skywagon 100 miles from home.
I've bought four airplanes-- three were from right here in Puget Sound, the other was all of 175 miles away.
 
It was strange.
Had not been listed but I posted on the 180/185 club I was looking and the owner contacted me.
 
Glad the club changed to allow non-owners to have memberships, you're proof it was worth it to the naysayers.
 
Trying to do one thing at a time.
It does have 800x6's on it now and one large XP tailwheel which it very difficult to taxi on my sod strip so I need to exhange for a regular tailwheel.
My wife is going to get check out in it and its going to be a real bear for her I know.

T
 
I looked at the talwheel today and its actually a Scott 3425 as best as I can tell.
Does anyone know If I can put a smaller/standard fork and tailwheel in this head?

Tom
 
You should call ABW (now Airframes Alaska) and/or "Tailwheel Tom" Anderson of the Landing Gear Works (and former owner of XP Mods) to see about buying the pieces you need to replace your t/w fork & wheel. Be advised that as far as I know a 3200 fork will not fit the 3400-series head. If you no longer want them, you might be able to trade in your 14" t/w parts, or at least sell them off after you make the switch.
 
Tom3holer said:
I looked at the talwheel today and its actually a Scott 3425 as best as I can tell.
Does anyone know If I can put a smaller/standard fork and tailwheel in this head?

Tom
Click to expand...

The 3425 is a 10" tail wheel. You should be able to install an 8" fork or it may be easier to find another Skywagon owner that would trade his 8" fork or complete assembly for your 10". That could make two owners happy.

http://www.airframesalaska.com/ABI-3400-00-p/abi-3400-00.htm
 
Tom, put a pic of the head on , they came with a McCaully and they don't interchange with Scott. That's why I have the stinger and t/w left over. There are also several diferent dia. Spring/ stingers and the one that was on mine was a 1 1/8" and the ABW's head fits that. The whole assembly was a little over $4000.00. You can get a shim for the large head but not the best idea, the 1 1/8" is the best one. I have both a Scott and McCaully small yoke and wheel assembly I'd trade either.
 
Its definately a Scott 3425-15.
SCOTT tailwheel.jpg
tailwheel1.jpg
The problem is that my wife is going to get checked out in it and its a bear compared to our 180 to taxi around with this tailwheel.
I would like to have the standard TW but do need to see what size stinger is on it.
What is the standard TW size on the 185?

Tom
 

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You will need to measure to be sure since your airplane went on floats early in it's life and was there for years. That landing gear could have come from who knows where?
 
Yup, Stinger sizes are different, and the hub for the 3400 will not accept the cub 3200.

For some reason I have forks from both, including a complete built up 3200 tailwheel with tail ski!

Skywagon makes a valid point, planes on floats often lose pieces, and gain pieces... not always the same ones.
 
That tail spring is most likely 1". Put a caliper on it and check. It won't be 7/8 and it's probably not 1 1/8 and them's all the choices there are. Floats on, floats off, the tail spring stays.

Check your steering cable tension. It makes a difference. That 10" wheel is what most 185 guys want. It shouldn't be causing such grief.
 
Tom3holer said:
....It does have 800x6's on it now and one large XP tailwheel which it very difficult to taxi on my sod strip so I need to exhange for a regular tailwheel. .....
Click to expand...

I took it from this post that it had the 14" XP Mods tailwheel with the 500x5 tire.
Hard to tell from the pics just what's on there, for me anyway.
My 180 has 850x6 mains & a 10" tailwheel & it handles fine on the ground.
I see this combination on a lot of Skywagons, so obviously I'm not the only one who thinks this..
Tom, what size tire is on the tail of your new airplane?
Maybe all the t/w assembly needs to handle better is a good cleaning & regreasing, and to have the kingpin nut tension set correctly.
All easily accomplished by you or your mechanic.
 
Thanks for all the thoughts, Its a 500x5 tire on a Scott 3425-15 as beast as I can read the ID tag.
The stinger is 1 1/8.

T
 
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I'm sure if you want to go with a "standard size" tailwheel, you can just buy everything from the fork down from either Airframes Alaska or The Landing Gear Works. Most 180/185's I see have the 10" t/w.
 
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