Tires

[Bill Rusk]

To all

I have read the threads here as best I can but I'm still somewhat confused regarding tires. What are the CURRENTLY available bush tires out there?

1- Alaska Bushwheels I guess these are the best current production? Cost about 3000 a set, depending on size, 26, 31 or 33

2- McCreary- Listed in A/C Spruce catalog as 27 inch 10 ply at 348 each, is this a slick bush type tire?

3- Wag aero sells a 26" Tundra tire, no manufacturer given, for 348 each

4- Could not find a 26 inch Goodyear on the Desser web site

5- 8.5 x 6 avail in lots of places- I'm guessing that in this case we have switched from diameter (26 inch) to radius 8.5 inch which would be about 17 inch diameter? Not slick but ribbed also. Someone here suggested 8.5's with 4 ply. Can't find that... only 6 ply.

It will be experimental so I have some flexibility. What do ya'll recommend? I'm thinking 26 inch. Don't think I really need the monster tires but would like to be able to go off road some.
Thanks

Bill

 

[WIflier]

Bill.

The last I knew Wag was selling 26" Goodyears, a pair of 26" Goodyears weigh about 28 # more than a pair of 8.50 X 6's. If you want to look at the difference between the two stop over to the hangar we have a set of both there now.

Si

 

[Bill Rusk]

Stopped in to see Si and Matt. Great folks and VERY knowledgeable. The 8.5's are only about 2 or 3 inches smaller in Diameter and about the same width. Much cheaper and lighter. Sounds good to me. The radial bushwheels may be better than the Goodyears, according to Matt, but I'm choking on the cost a little. Si says he has been on sand bars with the 8.5"s and they were actually a little better than the 26 inch Goodyears. Lots to learn here. Thanks SI and Matt.

Bill

 

[S2D]

According to my records,
8.50 X 6 tire 13 lbs
26 X 10.5 tire 22 lbs
this would be 18 lbs for a pair.
not certified weights though.
Not quite sure how you got 28 lbs diff. si.
maybe my figures are wrong. I do have some Schnuit 8.50 X 6 tires that are real heavy. maybe thats what I weighed.

an 8.50 X 6 is almost identical dimension wise to a 22 X 8.00 X 8 except for the rim. so the 22 would probably be a close guess on the heighth for the 8.50 X 6. Although none are exactly what there height specifies.

 

[CubLite]

Bill Rusk

How come Si thought the 8.50's are better than the 26" Goodyears on the sand bar? I have Goodyear 8.00x4's on my J-3 and was thinking about going to Goodyears 25x11x4's for the purpose of landings on sand bars and rough fields. Am I making a mistake?

Pat Svoboda

 

[supercubc37]

J3m

The foot print on the 8.50 is a little wider when compared to the 26 Goodyears. The Goodyears have more of a crown when you compare them side by side. Granted the 8.50 we have are pretty worn.

S2D the weights of the wheel assemblies we have are as follows:

8.50's 20.5 lbs
26's 33.5 lbs.

Matt

 

[Jerry Burr]

Pat. Go with the 25"s. They haven't quoted you the difference in brake wt in addition to the tires. Jerry.

 

[S2D]

S2D the weights of the wheel assemblies we have are as follows:

8.50's 20.5 lbs
26's 33.5 lbs.

Matt

Is that each?? Don't know where you are getting the bigger difference if it is each. Just looked at the weight and balance in a CC Super Cub. they show one less pound for the 26 than me and the 8.50 the same. Since all you are changing is the tire. this should be the only difference.

 

[don d]

I run about 12# in my Goodyears and 22# in my 8:50's.. Goodyears can be ran with less but I can't stop them from turning on the wheel without adding screws through the rims. I can't move my plane out of the hanger with 12# in the 8:50's.

 

[Wayne Mackey]

tires

Everyone know that the larger the tire the bigger the rock it will roll over. The
distance in tire wall from the rim to the rock is what takes up the shock, or
exsorbs the size of the rock before the shock cords have to give. So to me
it's the largest tire with the smallest wheel size that I can afford.
Them big mash mellows are great! Wayne

 

[Steve Pierce]

I run 8# in the 26" Goodyears on the Husky. A bitch for my 140# butt to push out of the hanger. 14-16# in the 8.50s on the L18C.

 

[supercubc37]

S2D that is each for the whole wheel assembly. Tire,tube, rim as removed and thrown on the scale. Have the skis on now so that is how we weighed them. Same wheel assembly for each of the tires.

Matt

 

[green horn]

I have used 8.50s ,26 inch Goodyears, 29inch and 31inch alaskan bushwheels.The bushwheels are by far the best.The discussion here seems to be 26inch goodyears vs 8.50s personally i like the 26 inch goodyear over the 8.50 because i can run the tire pressure around 8 or 9 pounds. This works fine for light to moderate braking, If you are going to land very short and need heavy braking this is not the tire for you. If your strips are a bit rough but not overly short say 500ft+- the lower tire pressure gives a little better ride than the 8.50. If you elect to use the 26 inchers than make sure you put slip marks on the tire and hubcap and keep a spare tube. On the other hand, forget everything i just said. If your going to land off aiport than pony up the dough and buy the 29 inch bushwheel, its low cost insurance compared to the cost of replacing the plane.

 

[WIflier]

Hay guys.
Sorry if I mislead any of you on my post to Bill should have sent a pm instead. Both the 8.50 X 6's and the Goodyear 26 x 10.5 x 6's are mounted on Cleveland 40-60 wheels with 164-67 discs. The tube weights probably vary a little bit ( but I'm not taking them apart to check ) weighed each of them on a certified platform scale last night. 8.50 X 6 = 20.5 # 26 X 10.5 X 6 = 33.75 # difference is 26.5 #. at least Bill knows what I'm talking about :lol: .

S2D
Hope this answers your questions.

Pat.
On our aircraft the 8.50's just roll better on the sandbars were landing on. Wilbur has a set of 25 X 11 X 4 Goodyears on his SC and the profile is quite different than the 26" Goodyears. Jerry is right go with the 25 X 11 X 4's. In my opinion if your running 4" wheels I would NOT change to 6" wheels just to run 26" Goodyears also if your going to be landing on real rough stuff I'de go to the AK Bushwheels. I just don't need them at this time. :lol:

I think I did say ABOUT 28 # difference.

Si

 

[Frank T]

Here are weights for various tire sizes that I have gleaned from Aviat and CC Factory Weight and Balance Calcs. and Bushwheels Website. These are per pair, for tire and where applicable tire and tube, but DO NOT include the weight of rims.

8:50X6 32#
26X6 Goodyear Blimp 50#
26" Bushwheels 52#
29" Bushwheels 66#
31" Bushwheels (Old Style) 74#
31" Bushwheels (Radials) 66#

YOUR RESULTS MAY VARY!

Frank

 

[kase]

I got 850s, 26 goodyears. and 29 bushwheels all mounted on their own 40-60 wheel assy. I weighed them on a bathroom scale and came up with the following weights per tire/wheel assy.

850-24 lbs

26 goodyear-31 lbs

29 bw 38 lbs

Out of all 3 sets of tires I prefer the 850s with 3 in ext gear. I use the 26 on wheel skis and the 29 during hunting season, rest of the time 850s.

 

[Frank T]

Kase

Can I use that Scale? My wife will think I lost a TON of weight.

I would not put to much faith in that Bathroom scale.

Frank

 

[kase]

What does a Cleveland 40-60 wheel assy weigh? If its 7-9 lbs I would say im pretty close. My goodyears for example are 22 lbs and 2 lbs for the tube according to the book. The rubber is half gone, so 31 isnt to far off. I got McCreery 850s but the goodyears say 13.3 lbs according to the book, add 2 lbs for a tube and 24 isnt to far off. BW says 33 for the old 29s, they got some wear, so 38 lbs isnt to far off on them either.

These numbers are for one tire and one wheel assy. Not a pair. What was the actual weights of your tire/wheel assy?

 

[Frank T]

Woops

I missed the "Per".

Your probably about right then.

Frank

 

[Bill Rusk]

Rumor has it the new radial bushwheels are much MUCH better than the older ones. Much less rolling resistance.

Bill

 

[CptKelly]

Bill.........

One thing everyone needs to remember is that radial tires have very weak sidewalls in comparison to bias belted tires. What this means to a Supercubber, is that when you land in scrub, you might punch a hole in your sidewall, and be stuck. On the positive side, radials can be much lighter than bias tires.

Mike in NC

 

[Bill Rusk]

Thanks Mike.

So what I'm getting here is that there are basically three options for bush tires.

1--Alaska Bushwheels in 3 sizes. The best but very expensive.

2-- 26 Inch Goodyears

3-- 8.5x6 whatever, lightest and cheep.

Is that all there is? (other than out of production stuff)

Bill

 

[Jon B.]

I though I'd seen photos of Cubs with 10-inch, DC-3 tailwheels & tires used as main gear. Probably expensive, rare, and experimental...

Jon B.

 

[hottshot]

radial tires have very weak sidewalls in comparison to bias belted tires.

More flexible but not weaker, Radial construction is actually stronger in comparison to Bias construction.




Wup

 

[Ursa Major]

Thanks Mike.

So what I'm getting here is that there are basically three options for bush tires.

1--Alaska Bushwheels in 3 sizes. The best but very expensive.

2-- 26 Inch Goodyears

3-- 8.5x6 whatever, lightest and cheep.

Is that all there is? (other than out of production stuff)

Bill

There is the Gar Aero option. Put their adapter on 6" wheels and run either 8.50 x 10 or 29 x 11 x 10. Tires seem kinda heavy and stiff though.

 

[FlipFlop]

I though I'd seen photos of Cubs with 10-inch, DC-3 tailwheels & tires used as main gear. Probably expensive, rare, and experimental...

Jon B.

I had 900x6s (DC-3 TW) on a Champ once, they were 8 or 10 ply and weighed a ton...

 

[AkPA/18]

Yep Cuby

Those were some tires. They were cheap up here. Hard as a rock. One good thing is they really didn't need any air. They were so hard you could have a flat and hardly even notice!

Mark

 

[Dave Calkins]

I don't know about the weights you guys are quoting for the 26" good Year. Frank T.s quote of weights from ".....various Aviat and CC factory weight and balances" are probably just that, "factory" and "qoutes". The last set of 26" GYears that I removed (and hopefully the last I ever remove, I think I finally have my last customer convinced that the 26" GY is not a very well-rounded compromise for a Cub) from a Husky weighed 36.5 w/the wheel, per side. After installing new 31" BW radials, the weight with wheel, per side was 39.5. That's a gain of only 3 pounds per side......for the trade-off of gettting Bushwheels and trashing a heavy-stiff-ugly.........okay, the GY is just heavy and too stiff and not hardly any larger than a 8.50.

This was on a certified deck scale with a recent calibration.

Some people have different opinions, but I can't understand why one would install a 26" GY when they could put an 8.50 on and lose weight, gain a nicer-flexing tire, and save money........ Okay, you can install the 26" with a CC STC and save a bit of hassle.

....the never-ending debate. Good luck with it.

 

[cubdrvr]

.........and don't forget the wee bit of airspeed increase..... :lol:

 

[pak]

My gar aeros 29" with the 3ply tire are 38#s mounted. These are a good setup. The tires are tough and haven't weather checked at all. I run them around 5# air pressure. I would rather have a set of Bushys but for most of what I do the gar aeros work very well.pak