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26" tire choice

I personally think, on a J3, anything but 8:00x4 is a crime against nature, and grounds for eternal damnation. I do use the Grove discs.

I think I am closing in on accurate info - the 26” Goodyear’s, mounted with discs, are 32 1/2 lbs each. The 8:00x4s with discs are 16 lbs. That is using a bathroom scale, good to about 2 lbs, I guess.

I brought the calipers and torque plates home to check on a good scale. Grove also publishes the weights. I am expecting the larger ones to be 2 lbs more each side. Gimme a minute . . .

So preliminary - I am adding 37 lbs total to a good J3. if we are careful with fuel loads I might still be able to legally do a half hour of dual after Covid relents. But I may go to Hell for this sin! Hopefully later rather than sooner.

And we found another set of Goodyears in the hangar! Plenty of big tires around here.
 
Dave Calkins said:
smooth tires are slippery on snow covered surfaces

One reason my Desser 31’s on the 185 are not as docile as the grooved Airhawk 29-11x10 were. But the sidewall flex of the Desser 31 is very nice on Tundra and rocks and such.

my preferences are becoming apparent.

I have a set of 26” Goodyear blimp tires and tubes I am offering. in Anchorage, Alaska.
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Dave,

Are your Desser 31's field approved on your Buck 85? I couldn't get mine approved as I've been told that the ABI 10" wheel doesn't list the Desser as an "approved" tire application. Have not confirmed this. Maybe Crash Jr. can explain. I heard that there were field approvals happening previously, how ever, not now.
 
That is correct, the 31" Desser isn't on the approved model list for the ABI-1010 which is why you would have to get a field approval in the first place. Technically the TSO for the Desser 31 is only for tubeless application which means that run on a tubed wheel like the 1010 is a no-go and STCing on that wheel is extremely difficult. You can get them field approved if you do the legwork though. Quite a few people have and have been enjoying them. They are a great fit on the 1010 with a 29x11-10 tube.
 
I saw a nice 185 about a month ago with a set of these Desser 31's on 10" Desser wheels & brakes.
Looked pretty skookum, dunno about approval paperwork or lack there of though.

Desser 31 with Grove brake.jpg

Desser 31 with Grove wheel.jpg
 

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Lack thereof being the key word. Grove did go ahead and make a very nice 10" tubeless wheel with a fantastic braking system and got that TSO'd as well but not STC'd. Seaplanes North was working on an STC that was supposed to be released a couple years ago but it sounds like that project went the same way as the Catto prop STC.
 
Got the STC

We (Seaplanes North) did get the STC for the tubeless grove 10" wheel with 8" brakes in the summer of 2019. They are approved on the Piper PA-18 series as well as the Cessna 180's and 185's, with the new smooth 8.50x10 or 29x11x10 tires. They are working out excellent, a very nice product, and are what we hoped and expected they would be.
We have been working on getting the new 31" smooth tire approved as a tire option, we are very committed to this, then we will go to work adding more aircraft models to the applicability list.
 
floatsalaska said:
We (Seaplanes North) did get the STC for the tubeless grove 10" wheel with 8" brakes in the summer of 2019. They are approved on the Piper PA-18 series as well as the Cessna 180's and 185's, with the new smooth 8.50x10 or 29x11x10 tires. They are working out excellent, a very nice product, and are what we hoped and expected they would be.
We have been working on getting the new 31" smooth tire approved as a tire option, we are very committed to this, then we will go to work adding more aircraft models to the applicability list.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the update I didn't know you had gotten the STC for the wheels themselves. What tires are approved on the 10" wheels under your STC?
 
Desser 31” were field approved on my silver 185 on the ABI 10-10 wheels.

My red 180 had them field approved on GarAero adapters.

I still love these tires muchly. A GREAT tire for tundra and rocky ops, as the noted sidewall flex takes the lumps better than Airhawk 29-11-10’s.

I have run them as low as 9 psi on the 180 (glued sidewalls on the GarAeros).

11 Psi on the ABI 10-10 wheels.

And NO, this is not only for empty/light operations. I often fly near gross/heavy to tundra and rocky LZ’s.
 
1934A said:
For what it's worth, I just weighed a tubeless Desser 27.5" on a Grove wheel, 28.7lbs
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Cool! I bet thats a pretty slick set-up.
Just so people know; the 27.5 Desser tire is for an 8" wheel. Grove does make a beautiful 8" wheel/brake kit, (very similar to the 10"). The only cons I can see are that it is not STC'd and there may not be lot of other appropriate tire options for 8" tires (although I haven't looked around much honestly). If you could get it field approved it would be very nice set-up. I believe Robbie Grove has a set field approved on his cub, so its a possibility.
 
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Crash said:
Thanks for the update I didn't know you had gotten the STC for the wheels themselves. What tires are approved on the 10" wheels under your STC?
Click to expand...
The Desser 8.50x10 and Desser 29x11x10 are the approved tires.
.....And working hard on adding the Desser 31x11x10.
 
floatsalaska said:
The STC alone is $300 but is included with wheel/brake kit purchase which is $3,195 and includes wheels, rotors, calipers, and torque plates.
Click to expand...

Cool, on the Grove site, they still say you'll need to find an approval process, such as field approval, or ?? They should update their website.

Or, do we buy the wheels/brakes through you folks??

MTV
 
hotrod180 said:
I saw a nice 185 about a month ago with a set of these Desser 31's on 10" Desser wheels & brakes.
Looked pretty skookum, dunno about approval paperwork or lack there of though.

Those look very much like the 8.50x10 tires, not the 31" tires. So that would be a fully STC approved tire/wheel Installation there, utilizing the smallest tire that's approved/available. If that's the aircraft i think it is, (I sold it to him, with those new wheels and tires, in summer 2020) then the owner chose the 8.50x10's to save weight, and gain speed for the trip from AK to WA and also to have the smallest tire to pound the pavement with for the time he would spend learning his new aircraft. It sounds like he is progressing quickly now and thinking of larger Rubber to move toward his off-airport goals.
Here are a couple shots of our 185 test ship with the Groves and 31's on it.
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mvivion said:
Cool, on the Grove site, they still say you'll need to find an approval process, such as field approval, or ?? They should update their website.

Or, do we buy the wheels/brakes through you folks??

MTV
Click to expand...
Thanks for pointing that out. It definitely needs updated and my own web page as well.
You would/could buy from either source or from Desser as well in fact. I prefer from Seaplanes (same price and with drop ship if necessary) but again, all 3 options are good.
The back story:
We have all (Desser, Grove, and Seaplanes) been "slow" with our advertising because everyone (including us) seemed to be mostly excited about the 31" tire. But we are still fighting for that (seemingly simple) approval 1.5 years later........but as committed as ever to the fight.
 
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Unrelated to that - we put the Grove 6" wheels and discs, with 26" Goodyears inflated, on digital scales today. Only 30 lbs. per wheel. Likewise the 8:00x4 with disc mounted. 15 lbs.

But related - sometimes an STC holder will restrict parts to those that go through their own QC program. That is apparently not true here, and while it may not be a good decision for re-couping development costs, it certainly inures to the benefit of the end user.
 
floatsalaska said:
hotrod180 said:
I saw a nice 185 about a month ago with a set of these Desser 31's on 10" Desser wheels & brakes.
Looked pretty skookum, dunno about approval paperwork or lack there of though.]

Those look very much like the 8.50x10 tires, not the 31" tires. So that would be a fully STC approved tire/wheel Installation there, utilizing the smallest tire that's approved/available. If that's the aircraft i think it is, (I sold it to him, with those new wheels and tires, in summer 2020) then the owner chose the 8.50x10's to save weight, and gain speed for the trip from AK to WA and also to have the smallest tire to pound the pavement with for the time he would spend learning his new aircraft. ...
Click to expand...

Looking at a pic I took of the airplane, I think you must be right.
For some reason, I had it in mind that they were 31's.
They did look like a very nice set-up, and nicely sized for something like a skywagon.

I just looked on the Desser website, couldn't find the 850x10 smoothies.
That doesn't mean they don't make them though--
in the past I've also been unable to find tires that I knew they make.
Click to expand...
 
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floatsalaska said:
We (Seaplanes North) did get the STC for the tubeless grove 10" wheel with 8" brakes in the summer of 2019. They are approved on the Piper PA-18 series as well as the Cessna 180's and 185's, with the new smooth 8.50x10 or 29x11x10 tires. They are working out excellent, a very nice product, and are what we hoped and expected they would be.
We have been working on getting the new 31" smooth tire approved as a tire option, we are very committed to this, then we will go to work adding more aircraft models to the applicability list.
Click to expand...

Any chance you are working on a Husky STC?
 
hotrod180 said:
floatsalaska said:
Looking at a pic I took of the airplane, I think you must be right.
For some reason, I had it in mind that they were 31's.
They did look like a very nice set-up, and nicely sized for something like a skywagon.

I just looked on the Desser website, couldn't find the 850x10 smoothies.
That doesn't mean they don't make them though--
in the past I've also been unable to find tires that I knew they make.
Click to expand...

Yes it should be a great tire for a large percentage of typical skywagon missions.
I was able to find the tire here after a couple attempts: https://shop.desser.com/8.50-10-6-p...ndra-lightweight/ecomm-product-detail/323340/
(I don't think the photo they used is accurate though. Yours is better!!! Theirs look more a 6 or 8" wheel)
Click to expand...
 
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G44 said:
Any chance you are working on a Husky STC?
Click to expand...
Once we get the 31" tire approved then the other popular taildraggers like Husky, PA-12, Scout, and 170B will be high on our list of models to add to the applicability list.
 
by the way. my seat of the pants feeling of braking performance of the C185 pictured in “floats alaska”’s post #108 above is that the Grove product with the Desser 31’s had exceptional braking power. The tail came up when I braked hard. And it had an MT prop on it. (light nose)
 
Speaking of out of stock, anybody know where I can get new 8:00x4s at or around Desser's price? Last I heard they were $340 each. Univairs are over $400 each.
 
Final note - with 18 psi the airplane taxis just like it did with the 8:00s. You can feel the dramatic difference on touchdown (pavement). Robbie’s STC kit goes on quickly and easily.

I converted back to 5606. Can no longer afford the Dot 5. Now I am a bit sorry - got a few drops on the Goodyears, and it attacks the rubber within minutes. I am going to test an old 6:00x6 today - never noticed this before.

For pavement, this is strictly for appearance. And man, is it ugly now. Also harder to get in, and way harder to fuel from portable cans.
 
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