Tires

What type of tires do you guys have on your Cessna 180/185 and why? ... Asking for Bush Alaska and not looking airspeed records lol. 31' Bush wheel or 31' Desser? Right now I'm running 10x8 rims with shaved down air-hawks. I had 29' bush wheels for 5 or 6 years they were great but wore out. I do a lot of beach flying so what ones would you choose?

Curious about tires on C180/185's also, but not just Alaskans--
Lower 48 & elsewhere, pipe in please.
I've been running 850-6's but have a new set of 26" GY's, just waiting for a field approval.
10" t/w FWIW.

Airframes now produce the "heavy tread" 29's" for the Skywagon market. A few lbs. more for the set but they should last longer.
I'm running the shaved AirHawks as well and fly with buddies with the ABW's. They never complain, except for the price and wear factor.

If you want the 31inch Desser for now you are going to have to run it with a tube and that makes it pretty heavy. If we can every get the 10in grove rim and brake approved it will weight the same as a 31 bushwheel on 6 in rim (give or take a few lbs, for heavy tread, and wheel choice). I believe there is a field approval for the both 10 inch bushwheel rims and Gar Arrow rims, but you need a tube. IA out of Wolf lake got it done, I don't remember his name. If you do mount them on the Gar Arrow rims let us know the weight.
DENNY

Been discussed a lot in the past. Factors to consider- rolling resistance, flotation, sidewall flex, tread life, maximum load capacity, AOA. Size for size rolling resistance and flotation favor Bushwheels. Sidewall flex on a slope favors Air Hawks. Tread life favors Air Hawks. Maximum load? 3000# gross on 31 ABWs, 3600# with 29s. Don't recall what Air Hawks are but it isn't a limitation on a 185. AOA always favors bigger tires. I have no experience with the Dessers. ABW 31s have too much side wobble to be useful on my own 180. Air Hawks were prop killers. I'm a happy 29" ABW guy. I used to have 26" Goodyears, too, but they didn't offer what I wanted. If a guy was considering 26" ABWs? Goodyears may deserve a look. That would come down to the same durability vs softness issue that most of us struggle with between Air Hawks and Bushwheels.

Here's a thread that has some info, subjective as it may be. My evolution with big tires on my 180 has been reactive, not proactive. I didn't buy big tires so i could do something new. I bought big tires so I could do what I was always did and not have so much prop damage. It started with bigger tailwheels. That led to bigger mains. What's important to me may not matter to you. http://www.supercub.org/forum/showt...rHawks-on-a-180&highlight=bushwheels+Airhawks

If anyone was curious just removed a set of tubed Desser 31 tires with gar aero adaptors. The whole tire, wheel rim, disk and all was 48.4 pounds per tire.

I think the “extra tread” 29 inch ABW is near ideal on a 185. No experience with these tires on a 180.

Wear is a big deal, but alternatives have a way of costing as well.

Ive run 26 blimp tires on a 185, and wouldn’t recommend for soft beaches at least. No tread is good.

MTV

narrow deck said:

Airframes now produce the "heavy tread" 29's" for the Skywagon market. A few lbs. more for the set but they should last longer.
I'm running the shaved AirHawks as well and fly with buddies with the ABW's. They never complain, except for the price and wear factor.

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we always produced a HT option, it was a weight complaint issue

We would use gar aeros. We got tires free. They came of the airlines carivans??. When the tread got worn they’d give them to us. They were just getting in good shape for 185s.


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I thought the gar area got STC’d by floats Alaska??


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Wow! Thanks for the info, decided to buy another set of 29" bush wheels.

I decided to go with the 29" alaskan bush wheels again. Thank you for the input sounds like those Dessers are heavy... lol I'm already disappointed about my empty weight of my 180. I didn't know the 29" bush wheels were lighter then the air hawks. Thanks for the help

Rotating the bushwheel on the rim every 100 hours or so will add some life to them. Once the Grove wheel/brake/with Desser tire gets approved it will be a good option but for now it does come with a weight penalty.
DENNY

mike mcs repair said:

I thought the gar area got STC’d by floats Alaska??

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The Gar Aero 10" wheel adapters are STC'd now, and sold by Seaplanes North.
Here's a link, unfortunately it's not a very user friendly website, at least as finding info for the STC.
But the 180/185 is on the AML.

http://www.seaplanesnorth.com/tundra-tires/

I agree with you, Mike. The thicker tread 29’s are worth the extra few pounds, particularly if running at gross or commercially.

This is what I use on our 3190 gross 180, which is frequently flown at that weight on gravel and off airport. Also land on tarmac (about 40-50% of time).

200+ hours and one year on the extra treads and they do not have exposed threads. Quite a few cuts and chunks from sharp river rock, but still holding strong. Not sure if the regular thickness tires would still be usable due to the cut depths.

People complain of the tire wear on these types, but the savings in airframe maintenance and the added capability ( and comfort doing it) more than makes up for the accelerated wear and tire $$ spending.

mvivion said:

I think the “extra tread” 29 inch ABW is near ideal on a 185. No experience with these tires on a 180.

Wear is a big deal, but alternatives have a way of costing as well.

Ive run 26 blimp tires on a 185, and wouldn’t recommend for soft beaches at least. No tread is good.

MTV

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More specifically http://www.airframesalaska.com/v/vspfiles/pdf/Bushwheels Care Tips.pdf

DENNY said:

Rotating the bushwheel on the rim every 100 hours or so will add some life to them. Once the Grove wheel/brake/with Desser tire gets approved it will be a good option but for now it does come with a weight penalty.
DENNY

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