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C185 Empty Weight

Cardiff Kook

Cardiff Kook

PATRON
Sisters, OR
I am looking at a 1979 C185. It has an empty weight of 2060# which seems very excessive to me- as I am seeing maybe 1800# on the high side for most other planes. Inside is a ton of very old avionics.

Am I going to be able to lighten this thing up or should I look elsewhere? I don't need this to be super light (that's what the cub is for) but don't want something hundreds of pounds heavier than the next heaviest plane- may as well get a light 180 with the same useful load at that point.
 
Cardiff Kook said:
I am looking at a 1979 C185. It has an empty weight of 2060# which seems very excessive to me- as I am seeing maybe 1800# on the high side for most other planes. Inside is a ton of very old avionics.

Am I going to be able to lighten this thing up or should I look elsewhere? I don't need this to be super light (that's what the cub is for) but don't want something hundreds of pounds heavier than the next heaviest plane- may as well get a light 180 with the same useful load at that point.
Click to expand...
I have 77 180 k big tail 14 tail wheel 520 seaplanes west mount battery firewall leather interior was 1835 removed 70 lbs on scales added bigger motor and other hard ware cleaned panel with Garmin heavy coin flooring now wt 1805 on certified scales moved c of g forward added blr ygs 6 to 7 kts lower stall . Have owned plane 25 yrs had a 185f 76 before this one like180 better.
 
I recall the guy that weighed my 180 after it’s interior. With ski pump and plumbing installed I’m right at 1830#. He commented that I had a light one. I said anything but. He said the most of the 185s he weighed were 2000#. I told him it was a 180. He said it’s still lighter than most.He referred to it as a 184 1/2.

A 185 has a 160# gross advantage and approx 160# empty disadvantage. And 25 more HP. If that 185 weighs 2000# you’d have a good useful and good performance. Would lighter be better? Strip 50# and you probably couldn’t notice it. If it’s a good 185 at a reasonable price? Decide quickly. They don’t last long.
 
My 185 has a io-550, 3 blade prop, stec a/p, 26” Goodyears, 80 gal tanks, flint aux tanks, etc. Empty weight is 1850lbs.
 
Our stripped down 180J with the big tail has no interior, no vac system, O-470S, Atlee Dodge rear jump seats, and 29" Bushwheels.
Weighs 1787.5
Gross 3190 (Kenmore upgross)
Our stripped down 180B with small tail, no interior, vac system with giant gyro, no back seat and 31" Bushwheels. Weighs 1620
Gross 2650
Cessna packed some pounds on the later models, but have a higher gross.
Earlier models are lighter in handling.
 
Repost of "Mountain wagon" off BackCountry site: read it and weep.........
I have a cessna w/b for a 180. It does show a empty weight with no equipment. no paint or unusable fuel 1506 then they show the weight delivered with equipment paint and unusable fuel of 1563.
That's his story.
I had a 1961/180 model striped down about all you could but it did have LR tanks. It weighed 1661 on 8:50's, easy to remember as it was a 61! Think I still have the original owners manual!
It's in Newfoundland now and the boys up there luv it.
CF-BJX I think.
 
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At one point I operated a 1985 Cessna 185, mounted on PK 3500 floats. I had recently sold a 66 C-180H on EDO 2870 floats.

That 180 had six pounds greater useful load than that 185. Both were bone stock. That said, thos PK floats are heavy.

Sorry, but I don’t have the empty weight of that 185 out of the factory. It was one of the last (production ended that model year) built, but useful load was pretty comparable to a couple other, earlier model 185s I flew.

I did some float training in a friends really light 67 model 185. That plane didn’t have ANYthing that wasn’t required…..as in NO fuel selector, which was an option. He’d ordered the thing new, and kept it light. Was on EDO 2960 floats, and it was a blaster.

But, frankly, comparing 180 weights with 185 weights is a waste of time.

MTV
 
You have to really watch these weights. Some are calculated from the original as-delivered weight plus changes. Those are always much less than what the plane weighs when it actually gets on the scales.

I had a '74 185 that weighed 1980. It had a 550, 3-blade, heavy mount, back-up vacuum system (40 lbs), autopilot with all the older avionics. I previously had a '79 180 with TXskyways 520 and autopilot that was heavy too.

I dream of an early 180 with basic instruments only.
 
Is it hard to lighten them up?

I know when I was cub shopping it seemed best to just buy light. Ended up w a 1950 -135 at 1033# scale.

Again- this is going to be my pickup truck so I dont need it to be nimble like a cub.
 
It depends on what makes it heavy. Can you strip the interior and gut-rebuild the panel? Sure. It may cost north of $100K but guys do it every day if I’m to believe Facebook.
 
eskimo77 said:
....
Cessna packed some pounds on the later models, but have a higher gross.
Earlier models are lighter in handling.
Click to expand...

Early 180: 2550 gross -1650 empty = 900 useful.
Later 180: 2800 gross - 1800 empty = 1000 useful.

Higher useful load sounds good at first blush,
but no matter how much you have aboard
you're still trying to fly more weight with the same amount of horsepower & wing.
I prefer to start off with the lighter (earlier model) airplane.
 
Cardiff Kook said:
Is it hard to lighten them up?
I know when I was cub shopping it seemed best to just buy light. Ended up w a 1950 -135 at 1033# scale.
Again- this is going to be my pickup truck so I dont need it to be nimble like a cub.
Click to expand...

Yeah, but you don't want it to fly like a pig either.

Read some threads about guys lightening up their skywagons,
and make note of the $ cost per pound shed.
Way better to start with a light one IMHO.
 
A 2000# Skywagon won't fly like a pig. A 3350# one will. If 1350# is your standard load you may appreciate a 100# lighter airplane, because you can feel the difference in 100# on the gross end of the scale. I'm not much of a fan of any Skywagon over 3000-3100#.
 
A Cessna 185 at 3350 is about as far from being a "Pig" performance wise, as I can imagine. Those airplanes are hard working load haulers, and that's what they were designed to do: Carry a load, get airborne short, and work all year.

While a 180 may have a higher useful load than a 185, by a few pounds, that 185 is going to out perform the 180 most days. Granted, adding a bigger engine to the 180 decreases the performance differential, but the point is, these airplanes were designed to WORK, and they do that quite well, actually.

MTV
 
BC12D-4-85 said:
Here's a good overall view of the C-185: https://disciplesofflight.com/the-cessna-185-skywagon/

Gary
Click to expand...

I don’t know where that guy learned to fly a 185, but he’s got quite a few bits of mis information in there. METO Power is 2700 rpm and Wide Open Throttle, not 2500 rpm and 25 inches….that’s max cruise. And there are others.

Also, I just looked at a 1985 185 POH in the weight and balance section. Apparently, you could order the airplane with bladder fuel tank wings instead of the wet wings....the bladder tank wings weighed 13.6 pounds MORE than the wet wings, and of course, hold less fuel.

Other notable weights: seaplane kit, option A weighs 32.9 pounds, paint weighs 12.4 pounds, corrosion proofing weighs 13.3 pounds, articulating seats weigh 7 pounds more than the fore and aft adjustable seats, rear bench seat weighs between 16 and 24 pounds, depending on which seat, and a bunch of much smaller items. It'd be hard to pull a LOT of weight out of one of these machines, but I'd bet 100 pounds would be doable. As noted earlier, modern avionics MIGHT save some weight.

MTV
 
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Yes there's mistakes but the overall tone is positive. I noted your comments at the end. I guess after 5400 hrs in one (actually 2) I should reread the Flight Manual.

Gary
 
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