I believe the 2 blade MT, spinner, and backing plate assy is about 14lbs lighter.

Soy,

If memory serves, The 2 Blade MT 41 Lbs. No spinner or backplate. And the 88" mac 203 is 52 Lbs. No spinner or backplate.

According to Bigrenna the MT spinner and backplate is actually a little heavier than the Mac assembly.

82.7" MT with spinner assy 45 lbs.

Regarding 2700 vs 2850 RPM on prop performance:
We have on several occasions measured static thrust on the same plane, same day, recording values from 2850 down to 2500 with a wide array of props, 2 and 3-blade Hartzell, Mac and MT. In every single case (including the metal props), the resulting thrust was greatest at 2700 RPM and on the MT it peaked at 2650.

Then we take the same plane, same day, same weight, same pilot and do timed climb tests holding IAS the same for all props from 1000MSL up to 10,500MSL.

On the way down, cruise speed is tested at 8000 at 2700, 2600, 2500 and 2400 RPM; full power, leaned for best power.

The results are posted on this data sheet. http://flight-resource.com/PTD/Cessna185.pdf

The 83" 2-blade MT prop is approved for all -470, -520 and -550 engines. It is clearly the fastest prop. The 83" MT 3-blade provides the best climb performance. Both MT props use exactly the same blade, so the difference is purely locked to 2 vs 3-blade operation.

On the Lycoming 4 cyl props, there is 3 different blade designs used for each of the 3 different props available for that engine application...so it is not as simple.

Leading Edges: We are now ordering all our props with the Nickel-Cobalt leading edges. It brought the price up a bit, but the resulting increase in leading edge protection is worth it. Here is a pic of a commercial steel tow bar cut clean through by a nickel edged MT prop on a SR22. The damage to the prop was so limited, the factory approved the owner to fly it back to his home field over a 100 miles away for repair. https://www.backcountrypilot.org/images/originalphotos/1046/5369/8d4a315369105b4fec9003d5.jpg

And yes, we now stock exchange blade sets for the rare event where that provides a quick solution to getting in the air fast.

Thank you all for your support and great dialog.

John

John to get the new leading edge , any MT authorized shop can do it? Or has to be sent somewhere else?
Loving mine and using it a lot in the back country, its taking the abuse real well. (knock on wood)

john54724 wrote:Thank you all for your support and great dialog.

John

Thanks John! I can't say enough about my experience. I love mine...

John,

Thanks for the detailed response and specifically addressing the RPM issue. My take from that is that yes, at higher RPM the engine is making more horsepower....but at that RPM its unrealistic for the prop to convert it to thrust. Good enough for me.

I really like the idea of having a slick two blade on my 185 for weight and speed reasons. I do a lot of long cross countries, my normal cruise is 142 knots. It would be great to see another 5 out of it.

With the weight of the prop/inertia...is there a recommend starter and adapter that would be a good upgrade for the MT at the time or is my stock stuff sufficient?

Thanks again,
59SC.

fiftynineSC wrote:With the weight of the prop/inertia...is there a recommend starter and adapter that would be a good upgrade for the MT at the time or is my stock stuff sufficient?

There are many opinions on starters/adapters and will be interested to hear what John/FR has to say... In my limited experience and research, it really comes down to making sure you correctly time the engine so there is no kickback. Its easy to be lazy and be a degree off on these turn of the century style machines. Although heavy, the stock stuff is bomber and a good choice. Some say early style adapters are the way to go, but for reasons that have been discussed here as well as in the Cessna SB (ingestion of broken spring parts in case of breakage) should be avoided. (good reading here: https://www.backcountrypilot.org/forum/ ... ptor-10039)
Personally, I wanted to be as light as possible so run the Skytec ST5 (avoid the ST3 as it is not as robust and uses a clutch from a chainsaw )

Time will tell, but to date I have had geat luck with the FW battery/ST5/MT 2 blade combo.

Thanks Bigrenna...appreciate the info. Very informative link/thread. Along with timing, seems as though having a good strong battery and system to spin it initially would keep you out of trouble.

To answer the question if the MT Nickel edges can be added to current stainless blades: Yes, but it is not a low cost option. Nickel edges add $750 per blade to the price of a MT prop. Flight Resource now stocks a 2-blade and a 3-blade set of replacement blades with Nickel edges. This is to be able to quickly get an owner back in action when blade repair is required. We exchange the blades for the damaged ones and only charge the owner the actual cost to us to have the core blades O/H and made into nickel that are then put back into stock.

A good time to do this would be when you want to have the prop inspected and resealed or O/H, since the blades will be out for that anyway.

Call us to discuss it if you want to consider that option.

Keep the great questions coming.

John

John,

If those nickel leading edges get much bigger, you won't have a composite prop anymore!

Chris

Im pretty sure they are the same size as the stock leading edges or close to them.
John can confirm this.

Im pretty sure they are the same size as the stock leading edges or close to them.

And I think they're quite a bit bigger than the itty bitty leading edge on my 2010 MT. Looks more like a Catto.

Hey John, is there a weight difference in the stainless vs nickel LE? Are you offering any discounts to those of us subject to the service bulletin that may want to upgrade to the nickel LE while down for the service?

Love my MT.......

Old leading edge


New nickle leading edge

Nickle leading edge looks bigger for sure.

The stainless edges are painted with all but the last 3/8" or so exposed. The nickel edges are not painted.
Overall the sizes are the same....at least from what I have seen with a stainless edge completely exposed.

Re: Nickel edges. They are about 1" deeper into the blade chord than the stainless steel. The apex of the nickel-cobalt edge is about .045 thick and tapers to a razor sharp edge aft. They are replaceable and owner repairable with common 2-part epoxy, just like the steel ones. The nickel is about 60% stronger than the steel. No difference in weight.

Re: Exchange for Nickel. We keep one each set of 2- and 3-blade blades with nickel in stock for use in quick exchange situations. The customer pays for the cost to have his core blades O/H and have nickel added. For a 3-blade set, this is about $5000 plus shipping plus the costs of blade removal/installation. That is a good time to have the hub inspected, and possibly O/H so you begin life again like new. We only stock one set at at time, so, a rush to have this done by many will result in a wait period of up to 8 weeks.

Keep the questions coming.

John

Why would I want to change out my SS blades? I have had NO erosion issues on both my 2 blade and 3 blade props.

Kurt

Thank you for pointing out my error John. I thought for sure the display you had at the Airmen's Show a couple years ago, showed them being equal. My bad.