The tires are looking a bit long in the tooth so I thought I would order a set of Desser monster retread 6 plys for the wagon. Holy cow, what happened to the price of tires??? Then I remembered I should replace the tubes. $150 for Michelin airstops (each!). Dyammmm.

Curious as to the price of the Desser retreads,
and whether you have to ship them a set of cores?
Or do they provide a (hopefully matching) set of cores?

Desser was recently bought out by some other company. Back in the day, you could call them up and ask for retreads on a flight Custom III core. Not sure one has a choice anymore.

FWIW Wilkerson does recapping, seems like I recall hearing they would do an 850x6 smoothie.
Don't see that on their website though.

https://www.wilkersonaircrafttires.com/

Please post the results (lead time, price, etc) if & when you order the desser monster recaps.
Thanks.

I’ve done my Goodyear 8.50 x 6 twice with Wilkerson. You choose grooved or smooth. Great service. Wish they did 26s

I checked with Wilkerson, 850-6 retreads with straight grooves cost $194 each, smoothies are $254.
Looking at the Desser website, i don't see them tagged as "monster retreads",
but the price for an 850-6 6 ply retread is $200. 4 ply is $276.
Apparently both outfits require the customer to provide the cores,
so you need to figure that shipping cost into the equation.
For comparison, Spruce lists Desser 850-6 4 ply smoothies at $359 and Airtrac 850-6 6 ply at $366.
FWIW my C180 was wearing Desser recap 860-6's on GY cores when I bought it,
and going through the logbooks this morning they had 718 hours on them when I had to replace them.
My current 850-6 Airtracs still have a little useful life left, with only 415 hours on them.
So I'm kinda leaning towards recaps next time around.

hotrod180 wrote:..... Apparently both outfits require the customer to provide the cores,....

I just heard back from Desser, their p/n's have a suffix code--
either RT which is using their core tire, or CRT which is using the customer's core.
The 850-6_6_PLY_RT uses Desser's core: $199.95
The 850-6_6_PLY_CRT uses the customer's core: $189.95.
So only $10 less using your cores, I'm sure shipping would be way more than that.
They also told me that shipping is not included,
unlike (what used to be the case anyways) buying their new tires.

The VSE (nee' Desser) uses -RTM in the p/n to denote monster retread. I just ordered two monster 6-plys from VSE and from Boeing/Aviall two Michelin tubes along with the new style Cleveland wheel seals.

C180_guy wrote:The VSE (nee' Desser) uses -RTM in the p/n to denote monster retread. I just ordered two monster 6-plys from VSE and from Boeing/Aviall two Michelin tubes along with the new style Cleveland wheel seals.

I can't get anything to come up using the 850-6_6_PLY_RTM p/n.
I did come up with an 850-6_6_PLY_AHT for $295, but dunno just what "AHT" might stand for.
Can you post a link for the monster retread? Or tell us the price?
Curious about the shipping costs too-- the Desser guy told me that they couldn't provide that until order was placed.
Thanks.

They have an 800 #. Give them a call. They have free shipping above $300 or $50 flat rate below that. Even with $50 shipping their price is cheaper than Spruce's for the same thing.

I remember Desser used to ship tires for free.
I thought I'd seen the free shipping over $300 on the VSE website somewhere also,
but the VSE guy I've emailed back n forth with talked about shipping charges.

C180_guy wrote:They have an 800 #. Give them a call. They have free shipping above $300 or $50 flat rate below that. Even with $50 shipping their price is cheaper than Spruce's for the same thing.

The guy I'm talking to says that they're apparently out of stock on the 850-6 monsters, so he can't quote me a price.
So like I said, I'm curious what you paid for yours.

Related: On my Maule I have run 35" ABW, 850s, mostly Air Hawk 29s. Good but heavy. I am in my 18th year with my Maule. I wore out a pair of 29s. They were shaved to start. When the tread was gone I ask myself, how much rubber is left? PAPER THIN!!! SCARY!

I bought a pair of almost, ALMOST, new 29s from a BCP member. Still running them. Year 8. One tube was Fuc$ed. I put in one of the old tubes. 17 years on it and it is still going strong. WTF hahahaha

47T!! Cheers Rob

The tubes are most certainly worth it. I can't remember the last time I put air in.