Im stuck in SoCal for life and that means mostly pavement. At least at the home airport. I would like to go up in tire size, currently running 8.5's . Im working on getting my landings shorter and slower and hope to be hitting some dirt strips and some rough terrain soon
Would Goodyear 26's hold up to more pavement landings than dirt ? I know throwing a set of Alaskan Bushwheels on would be just throwing money out the window on every touchdown , besides being ridiculous
And if I run 26's will a single puck disc hold ?

Thanks.

I still have a Loooooooong way to go Right now Im chewing up runway length and cant hit the same spot twice

But Im working on it

Go read the tire guide:

https://backcountrypilot.org/knowledge- ... tire-guide

You will notice that the Goodyear 26's aren't that much bigger than the 8.50s. It's unlikely that you are going to hit strips in the GY26's that you wouldn't with your 8.50's. If you were running something smaller, I'd say they are worth the paperwork and cost, but in your case, it doesn't seem like it will matter that much.

Anyway, to answer your question, yes, they hold up to pavement just fine.

schu

The difference between 8.50’s and 26” Goodyear’s is pretty substantial, actually. I wouldn’t compare the two as being close, having run both. Whether you need them is a different story, but they are a lot more tire.

Goodyear 26’s wear fairly well on pavement, and they don’t throw rocks up like the grooved tires do.

Single-puck brakes will NOT hold them, though single-pucks hold 8.50s just fine.

There is a weight, drag and cost penalty over smaller tires.

On a 170 I can run them down to 7l psi, though I usually run them a bit higher. I glue the tires to the wheels so they don’t slip, and they never have in over 1,000 landings.

Here’s a good comparison of the size difference.

Hammer wrote:On a 170 I can run them down to 7l psi, though I usually run them a bit higher. I glue the tires to the wheels so they don’t slip, and they never have in over 1,000 landings.

What glue do you use? I've not run mine lower than around 9psi out of fear that I'll shear a stem. That said, I don't really work the brakes that hard either because I can land in 1/2 the distance I need to take off.

akschu wrote:

Hammer wrote:On a 170 I can run them down to 7l psi, though I usually run them a bit higher. I glue the tires to the wheels so they don’t slip, and they never have in over 1,000 landings.

What glue do you use? I've not run mine lower than around 9psi out of fear that I'll shear a stem. That said, I don't really work the brakes that hard either because I can land in 1/2 the distance I need to take off.

Barge all purpose cement. It’s a rubbery contact cement often used by cobblers. It makes flipping the tires to even out the wear more of a chore, but they sure don’t move on the wheel.

I did my tailwheel training with an instructor who runs 26" ABW on all his airplanes. I asked him about burning them up on pavement and he said it's not an issue. He ends up selling the tires with plenty of tread before they ever wear out.

It can be argued that gravel/dirt is actually more harsh on tires than pavement.

I run 26” GYs and operate primarily from an international airport. I haven’t noticed any wear on them since I put them on a few years and a couple hundred hours ago.

They wear like iron.

Hammer wrote:

akschu wrote:

Hammer wrote:On a 170 I can run them down to 7l psi, though I usually run them a bit higher. I glue the tires to the wheels so they don’t slip, and they never have in over 1,000 landings.

What glue do you use? I've not run mine lower than around 9psi out of fear that I'll shear a stem. That said, I don't really work the brakes that hard either because I can land in 1/2 the distance I need to take off.

Barge all purpose cement. It’s a rubbery contact cement often used by cobblers. It makes flipping the tires to even out the wear more of a chore, but they sure don’t move on the wheel.

I just ordered some. Thanks!

hamer wrote:I did my tailwheel training with an instructor who runs 26" ABW on all his airplanes. I asked him about burning them up on pavement and he said it's not an issue. He ends up selling the tires with plenty of tread before they ever wear out.

It can be argued that gravel/dirt is actually more harsh on tires than pavement.

Wrong on both counts.

MTV

mtv wrote:

hamer wrote:I did my tailwheel training with an instructor who runs 26" ABW on all his airplanes. I asked him about burning them up on pavement and he said it's not an issue. He ends up selling the tires with plenty of tread before they ever wear out.

It can be argued that gravel/dirt is actually more harsh on tires than pavement.

Wrong on both counts.

MTV

He has 3 airplanes running them with n00b pilots, mostly pavement with some dirt. It's his experience, not mine.

hamer wrote:

mtv wrote:

hamer wrote:I did my tailwheel training with an instructor who runs 26" ABW on all his airplanes. I asked him about burning them up on pavement and he said it's not an issue. He ends up selling the tires with plenty of tread before they ever wear out.

It can be argued that gravel/dirt is actually more harsh on tires than pavement.

Wrong on both counts.

MTV

He has 3 airplanes running them with n00b pilots, mostly pavement with some dirt. It's his experience, not mine.

What kind of airplanes is he running these 26 ABW’s on? How does he determine if he has plenty of tread left?

Kurt

26" ABW, four years, 300 hours, based out of a paved airport, probably 60% of landings on pavement. Just found the first cord showing. Too bad ABW (or anyone else) can't recap. Hesitating on a new set with the heavy tread at $3300 for the pair when I've still got a pair of half-worn 8:50's that I could compromise down to.

If the cord hadn't showed I would have said they have plenty of thread left

47 hours now on the new Ultralight Airstreaks, and not one pavement landing yet. A personal best I think Still, the first thing I did when I got them mounted up was a coating of Herculiner bed liner. My other Airstreaks had 1600 hours on them and not even a hint of tread showing, they also were Herc'd. I'd put those tires with the thread showing back in service in a heartbeat, after a coating, to paraphrase a certain politician, "what do you have to lose?"

Had a set of GY26's on my first Cub for at least 5 years and sold them to a guy with a Citabria who ran them another 7 years and still very little signs of wear when he sold the airplane. 70% pavement.

I have a set on this Cub that have been on the airplane since '06. Very little wear, 40% landing pavement (95% taxi on pavement). I keep them above 10 lbs psi after having sheared a valve on my first set. But have not had slippage above 10 lbs.

Most of the off airport stuff around the north woods are hay fields, dirt roads and frozen lakes. You have to watch snow depth and consistency (is it crusty or powder?) but they get you most places.










This stuff was crunchy snow so was about max for comfort level...

This was fluffy powder, so easy...

hamer wrote:

mtv wrote:

hamer wrote:I did my tailwheel training with an instructor who runs 26" ABW on all his airplanes. I asked him about burning them up on pavement and he said it's not an issue. He ends up selling the tires with plenty of tread before they ever wear out.

It can be argued that gravel/dirt is actually more harsh on tires than pavement.

Wrong on both counts.

MTV

He has 3 airplanes running them with n00b pilots, mostly pavement with some dirt. It's his experience, not mine.

So, are you certain that those tires are in fact Alaska Bush Wheel tires, or could they be Goodyear 26 inch blimp tires? Your initial post says “26” ABW” which refers to Alaska Bush Wheels, but lots of folks confuse the two.

Even the company (ABW) will tell you that their tires don’t wear as well on mostly pavement use.

As to gravel/dirt, that stuff can be tough on horizontal tails, but doesn’t do much harm to tires, even fairly sharp gravels.

MTV

I’m running 26” Goodyear’s on my C180. 70% pavement 30% hard packed, rocky West Texas off airport. (I have a FA for them)
No appreciable wear in 200+ hours. They seem to wear better than the 8.50’s they replaced. They are bigger and I like the way they feel on off airport, much better than the 8.50’s. The round smooth profile is much more forgiving and doesn’t throw rocks, etc like the 8.50’s did.
They are my pick for what we do.

sierrasplitter wrote:Im stuck in SoCal for life and that means mostly pavement. At least at the home airport. I would like to go up in tire size, currently running 8.5's . Im working on getting my landings shorter and slower and hope to be hitting some dirt strips and some rough terrain soon Would Goodyear 26's hold up to more pavement landings than dirt ? I know throwing a set of Alaskan Bushwheels on would be just throwing money out the window on every touchdown , besides being ridiculous. And if I run 26's will a single puck disc hold ?...

Don't know if you already have an STC for the 850's or not,
but FWIW Svenn's Avation has an STC for the Pacer which includes both the 850 & the 26" GY.
As well as a lot of other Pacer STC's.

svennsaviation.com/stcs/

As far as being "stuck in SoCal for life"--
you're only as stuck as you let yourself be.
I got sick of the crowds etc in the LA area and moved to rural western Washington 27 years ago.
Best thing I ever did.
There's some significant tradeoffs but overall it was a big quality of life improvement.

I'd sure like to know how's he doing that. Wore out a pair of ABW 26's in 130 hours ($23/hr! ). Granted almost all pavement, and a lot of driving up and down the runway at high speed with the tail up and on one wheel or the other trying to get the rudder figured out. Yeah yeah smart I know. Anyway my answer is two sets of wheels, ABW 26's for summer dirt and 8.5's for winter on pavement.

courierguy wrote:47 hours now on the new Ultralight Airstreaks, and not one pavement landing yet. A personal best I think Still, the first thing I did when I got them mounted up was a coating of Herculiner bed liner. My other Airstreaks had 1600 hours on them and not even a hint of tread showing, they also were Herc'd. I'd put those tires with the thread showing back in service in a heartbeat, after a coating, to paraphrase a certain politician, "what do you have to lose?"

I forgot to add, that my removed 1600 hr TT Airstreaks sold the next day for $1000.00. They showed no real wear, and in fact i would guess another 1600 hours on them would show the same. All thanks to the Herculiner and little pavement landings, and those with a light plane at a slow speed.

ALMOST forgot to add, or subtract actually, I would need to take away my ski hours, when I'm on the 8:00's, so actually only about 1200 hours on the 'streaks.