I got to looking around for tundra tires today as well. Good year makes a 26 inch tundra with kevlar and sells them for $350.00 each, a good deal less. I am going to try and find out about these tires. Will up date when I find out.

This is what they look like. 26X10.5 6 ply.

I have uploaded an imiage as I do not know how to put it here yet.

Dane

Hell yes they are worth it!
IF you want to have a margin of safety when going off-airport. The main question is how much of that do you do? You don't need BW's at Johnson Creek or any other grass strips that get mowed. You do need them in mud and rock where no one else has landed and on strips with three foot tall weeds.
My only suggestion is don't stop at 26's. Like I said in another post when we got the 31's I thought that 35's were overkill. Now about 50 hours later I can see my way to the 35's easy. So my advice, at least 31's. When you get 'em call, and we'll go break them in!

The 26" Goodyears weigh more than the 26" Bushwheels and you don't have to worry about spinning the Bushwheels on the rim (however, the Goodyears do cost a lot less). For a weight comparison 8.50's weigh about 23-25 lbs on the rim, 31" Bushwheels are 36 lbs on the rim, and G3's right, you may as well go with the 31's if your thinkin' about it at all. The 31's actually weigh a couple of pounds less than the 29's. As G3 also said, look carefully at the type of flying you're doing and decide if they're really what you need for the weight penalty tradeoff. I think they are cheap insurance for off airport flying and they have performance benefits beyond the obvious rough field ones. If we get the chance we'll go flying both before and after I hang em' on so you really get a feel for the difference. I was sold on the idea long ago for numerous reasons. Don't forget that the double puck brakes are required with the Bushwheel STC.

I'm planning on doing a little lightening here and there to offset the weight increase. Anybody lookin' for a King ADF?

Doug,

So your going with the 31" BW's? What tailwheel are you running? Will you change? Have you gone to the double pucks yet? Are you on 8.50's now?

Reason for all the questions. My 8.50's are about all done and I'm thinking about upgrading. I figure I can offset the weight of the BW's by the amount it'll lighten my wallet.

Mark

I have the double pucks sitting in my hangar and I'll probably put em on in March. I'm using 8.50's right now and I'm thinking of leaving them on a set of spare rims for when I'm flying frequently off the asphalt or grooved runways. With the speed hub nuts swapping the wheels takes about thirty minutes.

I'm currently running a Scott 3200 tailwheel and it's going to have to stay for a while longer because I can't afford to buy the Baby Bushwheel tailwheel right now - really can't afford the Bushwheels right now either but I'm hoping I will by summer.

My wallets already as light as I can get it - too many expensive hobbies.

JR,
Another thing to think about that I forgot to mention again, if you are flying with guys that have BW's you probably don't need them. Just don't be the first of your group to land a new place. Let them go first and sort out the safe line for you. I'll admit that 90% of my off-airport hasn't neeeded them in the end. However, I did need them to give me the balls to land in a spot with tall grass the first time, and a place where I couldn't see the best line and ended up rolling into some large rock, and a place that didn't look as muddy as it was. All of those places had better lines or spots to roll out with 8.50's, once I could step out and walk them. That's the key though, you have to land first to walk it! The other ten percent I was glad to have them, mud, rocks, rolling terrain, mostly when I made a bad call and got surprised they bailed me out.
Keep in mind as well that you are splitting hair over 25 lbs. While not nothing you could (If you don't have an old ADF to throw out!) off set that by leaving out three gallons of fuel and taking a crap BEFORE you leave. How often do you really land with three gallons in the tanks? If you normally land with six now you'll land with three. I also don't think I feel 25 lbs. difference where I'm going. At 12,000 msl Desert Rat has to think about that, skiing into the water off of a 100' gravel bar Greg and Lonnie have to think about that. At between 2500 and 6,000 msl in the desert, the occasional 600-800' gravel bar, reservoir beach, road stretch, and hay field I have yet to circle and say to myself "better not land there, I won't make it with that extra 25 pounds". As far as the gross weight issue when going on a trip I wouldn't worry about 25 pounds on that either.

Are the 35" BW's certified?? According to their website, 31's were the biggest tires for "blessed" ships.

At the moment 35" Bushwheels are for experimental use only.

Hi guys,

Hmm.. thanks for the input. At this point I have stock tires. I have found an STC for my 108-3 for 8.50 tires.

BW has the ok for my plane in their tires so I can go as large as I want there.

I would think that 26 goodyears would be fairly easy to get a sign off for as they are basically the same size as one of the bw's.

I have Bodell brakes which are a full diameter friction surface. I do not know if they would pass the test, all though they have huge friction.

Dane

The other day at harvey Field in Snohomish I saw a DeHavilland Beaver on Bushwheels. Wow! They looked big even mounted on a Beaver. Size was 35 X 15 X 10, as i recall.

Eric

The bushwheels are stc'd and the goodyears are not. How is it that you think you will be able to get the goodyears approved? If it is field approval, think again. Here is the deal, don't buy 26" when you can have 31" for a small amount more. You will regret not buying the 31" and if you ever want to sell the 31" they will be sold before you even need to put an add up (for pretty good money I might add). This advice is only based on "really" using them for off airport, My 2 cents.

Greg

Very well said Gerg....

I have a set of 31" Bushwheels on my 56 CA-180. The cushioning effect is amazing and I love the tires. The only downside to them is the sidewall sway with spring gear. It's much more pronounced than on Cubs which have a much more rigid gear than 180/185s. You will never have a problem unless you land on steep beaches.

I lost about 5-7mph at low altitude and only 3-5mph at 7500 MSL vs. 8.50x6s.

See this link:

http://www.akbushwheel.com/Cessna180185sPg3.html

Mine is the red and white one on the right.

I have a set of 31" BW on my Stinson 108-3 along with a big tailwheel. I cant believe how much I like them. For those of you wanting the "other, cheaper" brand, all I can say is that you might just want to save your money a bit longer and get the real deal, because "You Get What You Pay For". And if you are gonna get some and stay certified, get the 31ers.

All I can say is:



I love my 31s!

Gene

geneswan,
Been busy getting the work plane ready for the season lately but I've been meaning to tell you that I think that picture is great! Keep up the real fun! If you get towards ID. let me know, if I can get away we'll shred the backyard (it's real big!).
G3

Geneswan,
That is truly one cool picture, although I can only do that ONCE with my C150...Hmmm 31 bw on a 150, now there is a thought.

N3110V

bonth123 wrote: Hmmm 31 bw on a 150, now there is a thought.
N3110V

Visualize the dream!:shock:

Gene

Geneswan,
I am trying to visualize how I can get enough horsepower to lift those huge tires. Although, if I had the dough, I would probably figure out how to stuff them on my C150 just for the shock value on a ramp. It would look like a Yugo with 42" swampers and a lift kit.

N3110V

I have no idea if it has been approved but a cheap big tire for the 150 would be 8.50X6. I swear the McCrearys I have set aside for the occasional Looooong x-country are darn near as big as the Goodyear 26s. Think about it, that would be plenty of tire for you.

Gene