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26” Goodyear on A185F

Me, I'd be shy landing on a narrow mountain strip in the rain in a loaded 185 regardless of tire.:smile:
 
....it'd be nice if Desser came out with a smooth 6" tire somewhat larger than their 850.
A lightweight, true 26" tire would be just about right.

I emailed Desser about this.
Got a prompt response from them, telling me that they had no plans to introduce such a tire:
"right now, we're going to leave the 26" tundra tire market to Goodyear".
But they recommended I look into the new Grove 10" wheel & brake kits,
and their own 850x10 4 ply tire (roughly 25" OD)-- approx $4K for the whole works.
 
Mike I run my 185 with the Airframes 10x10 wheel with the 8:50x10 tires. They're fine for anything you want to do. Anything bigger is only going to take you to areas you don't really belong and or, appear to make you look even cooler. The only downside I see with these tires and rims is that with the larger bush wheel , your angle of incidence is less than on the bigger 31's. But then again, I'm faster than those big balloon boys...pick your poison...
I've used the Goodyear 26 inch tires on a few planes, including one 185. They are fine, considering what they are. I think sometimes we take something that was designed for a specific use and try to adapt it to a very different application.

The Goodyear blimp tires (that's what the 26 inch tires were developed for), as noted above, have stiff side walls, and are designed to be operated at relatively "normal" aircraft tire pressures....ie: 35 psi or so.

I've run these tires at 18 to 20 psi, and that's about as low in pressure as I'd be comfortable with, long term. We had a Cub with these tires on it, and I was going to fly it. Checked tire pressures, and they didn't even read on a gauge. Tires were essentially flat, yet to look at them, they looked "normal". Again, very stiff sidewalls.

So, is there a niche for these tires? They wear like iron, and on a heavier plane like a 185, that's a plus. Run them at a "reasonable" tire pressure, check pressures frequently, and they'll work fine.

Probably the feature that is most attractive about them, other than their wear characteristics, is the smooth surfaces. So, they don't throw AS MANY rocks at the tail of your airplane. Not none....every tire on the planet will throw some rocks at times.

The biggest disadvantage I see with these tires are two fold:

1. There are no approvals for them, so field approval is all you've got and we all know about those.
2. They are expensive. At around $700 a tire, plus a good quality tube at $150 plus, you're getting up there in price.

I've seen the Dessers on a few planes and they LOOK pretty small to me, but that's subjective.

I refuse to use Desser tires or especially tubes. Tubes often leak, and in my experience the wear characteristics are far worse than Goodyears. I'll stick with Goodyears, or Bushwheels....

I agree with Stewart that the Airframes 10 x 10 wheel with 8.50 x 10 tires might be a really nice setup for frequent asphalt, and occasional off airport or back country use.

Bring something over $3000. Still cheaper than Bushwheels, but.....

MTV
 
Mike I run my 185 with the Airframes 10x10 wheel with the 8:50x10 tires. They're fine for anything you want to do. Anything bigger is only going to take you to areas you don't really belong and or, appear to make you look even cooler. The only downside I see with these tires and rims is that with the larger bush wheel , your angle of incidence is less than on the bigger 31's. But then again, I'm faster than those big balloon boys...pick your poison...

Don't disagree at all. Price: $3100 plus shipping.

Like I said: The cheapest thing in an airplane is the pilot. In this case, Me.

MTV
 
Just checked online:
two ABI 10x10 wheels @ 1128 = $2256
two Desser 4 ply 850x10 tundra tires @ 465 = $930
two Desser 850x10 tubes @ 99 = $198
total $3,384

Airtrac 8 ply 850x10 are cheaper at 338 each,
Goodyear 8 ply are about the same at 452 each.
 
You might look at the Airtrac 29-11-10’s in 4 ply. I don’t think they make the 8.50-10’s in 4 ply. Also you can get them shaved for even lighter and less stone flying off the thread.
 
Airtrac 8 ply 850x10 are cheaper at 338 each,
Goodyear 8 ply are about the same at 452 each.

Unfortunately 8 ply tires are not legal per the STC. The 10" wheel STC spells out 29x11-10 tires 4 ply or 850x10 tires 6 ply specifically. Doesn't say a specific brand or line of tire so it's open ended otherwise. I saw Desser is putting out some smooth tread "tundra" tires that fit those size and ply types now that look interesting.
 
Mike I run my 185 with the Airframes 10x10 wheel with the 8:50x10 tires. They're fine for anything you want to do. Anything bigger is only going to take you to areas you don't really belong and or, appear to make you look even cooler. The only downside I see with these tires and rims is that with the larger bush wheel , your angle of incidence is less than on the bigger 31's. But then again, I'm faster than those big balloon boys...pick your poison...

I wouldnt want to be here on 8.50-10’s. should I not be here? ;)
 

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Perhaps optical delusion but the tires appear toed-out? Might be my eyes tho. Any fish nearby?

Gary
 
I wouldn’t land on a beach during the winter in my neck of the woods... sometimes it looks like nice smooth black sand.... step off the snow/ice onto the sand and sink in slush up to my knutz sack...


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro
 
Mike. that snow is slippery. On that sloping beach, at the end of my rollout, the uphill tire would “walk out”, then come back to center. Looks weird! not an issue, though yu can see I came to a stop kindof crabbed.

No fishin that time of year

Mark, I had been on and off that beach all winter serving a constuction crew. Have seen that beach bone dry and deep sand, frozen hard, and also with 6” of fresh wet snow.
 

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Mike. that snow is slippery. On that sloping beach, at the end of my rollout, the uphill tire would “walk out”, then come back to center. Looks weird! not an issue, though yu can see I came to a stop kindof crabbed.

No fishin that time of year

Mark, I had been on and off that beach all winter serving a constuction crew. Have seen that beach bone dry and deep sand, frozen hard, and also with 6” of fresh wet snow.


Thanks, the track just caught my eye, and I couldn't quite get my head around what caused it. Nice looking spot.

MTV
 
So, as far as i knew, the only source for shaved 29" (4Pply) Airhawks was Seaplanes North. And they were selling the old gar aero products. Seems they came to some kind of agreement/deal/settlement (???) With Desser. No more Airhawks, no more gar stuff. Only desser tires, and grove wheels and brakes.
Any body got any Intel on this? The gar/ airhawk thing looked pretty good for a 180, (to me).the grove wheel &brakes looked okay if not spendy. What happened ?
 
The Seaplanes system is a O-ring sealed 10" 2-piece wheel, and tubeless Dresser tires. I think the wheel is less width.
The Airframes is 10" wheel, slightly wider, tubes, tires. Total costs including tubes is higher than the Seaplanes system if needing to buy everything: wheels, brakes, tubes, tires.
Then it comes down to if tubeless is more or less reliable off airport or which is easier for a field repair. That is more my question than the difference in price and weight.
 
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