My 180 has 850's, and an STC approving same from North Sound Aviation (Jim Hayton). Near as I can tell, they're Desser's monster retreads, and they are indeed pretty beefy. Eventually I might put bigger tires on, and for my purposes 26" Goodyear blimp tires make a lot of sense when I factor in size, cost, and longevity. Who holds an STC to put blimpies on a C180?

I don't know if one exists. All the guys running them on 180/185 over here are doing so with 337 approval, as far as I know.

Field approval is the route, unless you want to go 26" Alaska Bushwheels.

There's an outfit called Svenn's Aviation that holds a number f STC's for the Pacer-- including 26" GY's. I think all of them are a flat $250. Since the 26" GY is (or was, before ABW) such a popular choice for big tires, I'm kinda surprised that no one ever developed an STC for the 180/185.

Hotrod,
I have a field approval for the 26" Goodyears on my 185.
I'm not sure you could apply it to a 180 though, plus it uses the 6 Bolt Cleveland Wheels.
I was told by the folks in Sacramento it was the last field approval they were going to do and it's eight pages long! It's ridiculous i.e. using dye penetrant on the axles every annual.
The only reason I went trough all the BS to get it was I hate being told "No"!
I have a friend that had a copy of a field approval on a 180 (two pages). I'll try to get a copy for you.

Mark

Thanks, Mark, I'd appreciate it.
We had a really good FAA maintenance inspector around here, in fact before he went to work for the FAA I used to do my annuals with him. He was pretty good about doing field approvals if you have the required documentation and/or made a good case. But he was transferred to be a full-time on-site inspector at Boeing. I don't even know if they've assigned a new GA guy for our area- if they have, I don't think the local mechanics have ever met him or even know his name.

I recently went through this process for my 59 C180B. I have a field approval/337 for the GY26 combined with the Cleveland 3-bolt 199-62 kit. Other than a few minor questions from the FAA, the process was fairly painless. If you'd like to see a copy, PM your e-mail address and I'll send you the paperwork.

Alec

Hotrod,
Got the copy of the field approval,
PM me or let me know where to send it.

237

Thanks, guys. Can you both send it electronically? If so:
[email protected]
If you would rather mail a hard copy, email me for my address.
FWIW I checked & I also have the 199-62 Cleveland kit with 3 bolt wheels.
Not sure when or if I'm gonna go with the blimpies, but it's always nice to have your ducks in a row beforehand.

We are currently running 850x6 super hawks which have the squared shoulder on a 1954 180. The reason for this is because they can handle nasty crosswinds versus the airhawk counter part which are made of a way softer compound. Half of our flying is on pavement and the other half is unimproved, grass and dirt.

I have a few questons for the forum. How do the Goodyear tires handle nasty crosswinds on pavement? Is it a square shouldered tire?

Thanks in advance for your input!

Quickdraw1 wrote:We are currently running 850x6 super hawks which have the squared shoulder on a 1954 180. The reason for this is because they can handle nasty crosswinds versus the airhawk counter part which are made of a way softer compound. Half of our flying is on pavement and the other half is unimproved, grass and dirt.

I have a few questons for the forum. How do the Goodyear tires handle nasty crosswinds on pavement? Is it a square shouldered tire?

Thanks in advance for your input!

The Goodyear 26 x 11 x 6 tire is the tire used on the Goodyear blimp. It is a rounded profile tire with no tread. It is pretty stiff, because there's a LOT of rubber on it. On the blimps, it is used as a tubeless tire, but because of the two piece wheels on our aircraft it's used as a tube type tire with an 8.50 x 6.00 tube. That should tell you approximately how large the tire is, as well....just a little wider and a bit taller than a Goodyear 8.50 x 6.00 tire.

They are great tires, and wear like iron.

MTV

Subject change. Anyone have any experience with the Aero Classic 850x6 Backcountry LSA tundra tires form Aircraft Spruce. I have 850x6's on my S7 which measure 18" and the Aero Classic claims 22". Wonder if it pays to change and what advantages they would have. Might also wait until they offer the 26"

Quickdraw1 wrote:I have a few questons for the forum. How do the Goodyear tires handle nasty crosswinds on pavement? Is it a square shouldered tire?

Thanks in advance for your input!

Allow me to share my beautifully photoshopped (err-emm) tire comparison:


The side-walls are very soft, and they can flex side to side very easily. As Mike says, they have a lot of rubber on the wearing surface, so there's much less flex in the up / down direction - but you still get a noticeable cushion effect, it's just not bushwheel-soft, though.

Magnet wrote:Subject change. Anyone have any experience with the Aero Classic 850x6 Backcountry LSA tundra tires form Aircraft Spruce. I have 850x6's on my S7 which measure 18" and the Aero Classic claims 22". Wonder if it pays to change and what advantages they would have. Might also wait until they offer the 26"

We put a set of the smooth Aero Classic LSA 8.50 X 6's from Desser on for winter use just a couple of weeks ago. Havent measured them but I can. They are a nice tire, I like them. They have built and are now testing a 26" or 29" version according to George at Matco who built the wheels for them. They use 10" wheels instead of 6". All I can say is ABW better keep the QC and CS at stellar levels cause theres fixin to be a new player in the big rubber game.

gbflyer wrote:

Magnet wrote:Subject change. Anyone have any experience with the Aero Classic 850x6 Backcountry LSA tundra tires form Aircraft Spruce. I have 850x6's on my S7 which measure 18" and the Aero Classic claims 22". Wonder if it pays to change and what advantages they would have. Might also wait until they offer the 26"

We put a set of the smooth Aero Classic LSA 8.50 X 6's from Desser on for winter use just a couple of weeks ago. Havent measured them but I can. They are a nice tire, I like them. They have built and are now testing a 26" or 29" version according to George at Matco who built the wheels for them. They use 10" wheels instead of 6". All I can say is ABW better keep the QC and CS at stellar levels cause theres fixin to be a new player in the big rubber game.

Would be interested in measurement. Two reasons for me to switch from my 850's would be height and no tread. I believe they are also lighter than my 850's.

Lighter and no-tread might be enough to prompt a change, if I was due for new tires anyway. 1600# ratig on those however- I'm hoping when they come out with their certificated tire it'll be a bit stouter.

About 20-1/2" high with the s7 sitting on them at 12psi. You can get a gasket to run between the wheel halves for Matco and go tubeless if you want as I understand it. We are running 7.00 tubes.

gbflyer wrote:About 20-1/2" high with the s7 sitting on them at 12psi. You can get a gasket to run between the wheel halves for Matco and go tubeless if you want as I understand it. We are running 7.00 tubes.

Are Matco wheels already tapped for a tubeless valve, or do you make that modification yourself?

gbflyer wrote:About 20-1/2" high with the s7 sitting on them at 12psi. You can get a gasket to run between the wheel halves for Matco and go tubeless if you want as I understand it. We are running 7.00 tubes.

I can see the attraction for running tubeless if possible- no ripping the valve stem out if/when the tire spins on the wheel. But I'm curious why you would run 700 tubes with an 850 tire?

Battson wrote:

Quickdraw1 wrote:I have a few questons for the forum. How do the Goodyear tires handle nasty crosswinds on pavement? Is it a square shouldered tire?

Thanks in advance for your input!

Allow me to share my beautifully photoshopped (err-emm) tire comparison:


The side-walls are very soft, and they can flex side to side very easily. As Mike says, they have a lot of rubber on the wearing surface, so there's much less flex in the up / down direction - but you still get a noticeable cushion effect, it's just not bushwheel-soft, though.

Also, bear in mind there's a significant difference in diameter between the Goodyear 8.50 tires and the McReary 8.50 tire. The Goodyears are larger in diameter.

MTV