Ok, I'm turning to you guys for first-hand or otherwise bulletproof testimony on the PPonk gear box reinforcement kit. I've heard plenty of opinions, but never from anybody with the unassailable credibility of the BCP peanut gallery.

Here's the site: http://www.pponk.com/HTML%20PAGES/gldr.html

On the plus side, most folks seem to agree that they do add considerable strength to the structural attachment of Cessna gear.

On the negative side, the detractors will say that when you do manage to shear a PPonk kit, it takes half the airframe with it. Also, the extra weight, of course.

I have a '52 170B with the stock O-300A in front. It's on 180 gear legs. I run 8.50s, and take it into rocky and hummocky landing sites in summer, but not 'Big Rocks and Long Props' stuff by any means. In the winter I like to play on snow, where the torsional loads on the gear get increased from the arm of the skis whenever you make a turn in heavy or deep snow. I run Aero 3000 skis with oversized UHMW bases. I run an Aero tail ski too. I think the Aeros are better about torsion than some other skis, because they are generally shorter and wider, and they curve up on the back and sides a little bit, as well as in the front. This plane had already been upgraded to solid aluminum axles, and I upgraded again to hollow AN steel axles when I got the skis.

So, anybody ever had problems with their stock Cessna gear boxes? Anybody ever had a PPonk kit eat their plane in a botched landing? Any ski-fliers consider this a must-have mod? Anybody out there have no idea, but want to mouth off anyway...?

Thanks in advance,

-DP

Anybody out there have no idea, but want to mouth off anyway...?

Isn't that why were here?

I don't see any reason to install the pponk kit if your current gear box is ok. You could go through the expense and wreck the plane on a botched landing any way. Pponk or not.

If your having trouble with the landing gear, maybe that's a reason for the pponk kit.

$0.02 of mouthing off.

Bill

The Ponk kit won't fix a bad gearbox. Its a supplement, not a repair item.

I held off (and agonized over it) for a lot of years with my airplane. At the time, my plane went on floats all summer, and that was the majority of utilization.

Then, one annual, a sharp eyed young A & P discovered that the big rivets that hold the main gear castings in place had their heads sheared off on the inboard sides, where it is REALLY tough to see them. A mirror and flashlight got him there.

So, after fixing that, which wasn't a real big deal, I had them install the Ponk kit. The other bit of logic here was that I was moving, and the plane would be on wheels and skis all the time. I have AWB retractable wheel skis and 180 gear.

You pretty much stated the pros and cons of the Ponk kit. If you know how bad your accident is going to be, that will tell you whether you need the Ponk kit or not. Unfortunately, none of us really knows when we're going to induce a side load on the gear bad enough to rip a gear leg out of the castings. If you get to that point, barely, the Ponk kit will save the day.

Go a little further, and the Ponk kit will rip out most of the gearbox.

Don't sweat weight. The whole kit weighs MAYBE a couple of pounds.

I think on skis, it's worthwhile. On wheels.......maybe.

I have it, and I'd do it again.

MTV

This is reason enough for me. Quote from PPonk:

"As the wheel end of the gear leg folds under the fuselage, the inboard end of the gear leg tears up through the floorboard and continues out through the side of the fuselage. This severely alters the forward door post as it happens. Serious personal injury can result here because the gear leg comes up through the floor right where people in the front seats could have their feet resting."

I 2nd ShamuPilot's post. Ponk mod. will save a broken leg.

gb

I have it in mine, for those marginal cases. also if you plan on running larger tires, you will be increasing sideload from time to time, so a little ree nforcement can't hurt.
Gary

I deliberated over installing the kit on our 185 for about five years. I finally did it two years ago. MTV said it all. When you think about it, strength is good.

The kit may prevent a gear leg from ripping out and if not, the gear would have ripped out anyway. Either way you're going to have damage. I figure I can easily keep the airplane sideloads well within the limit strength of the stock gearbox. The Pponk kit will give me an increased margin.

BTW, membership in the Int'l 180/185 Club netted a good discount. I suspect you could get the same deal if a member of the 170 Int'l Club.

I highly recommend it. IMHO it saved me from significant damage during at least two "oopsies" that should have damaged a stock gear box.

DP,
So did you put the pponk kit in?

AKclimber wrote:DP,
So did you put the pponk kit in?

Yes, I did, some years ago. I've been particularly thankful for it ski flying, which is at least half of my flying. It's not rocket science to know that the torque and side-load from my straight skis (or occasionally 29" ABWs and off-airport) is a lot more than on regular wheel gear.
-DP

Cool,
Do you remember what the weight gain was?

AKclimber wrote:Cool,
Do you remember what the weight gain was?

Frankly, no. But there's not that much to it. Flying in your sneakers instead of your boots probably equates to a bigger difference. If you still have an overhead cabin speaker, rip that out and you'll be ahead.
-DP

Desert185 wrote:...membership in the Int'l 180/185 Club netted a good discount. I suspect you could get the same deal if a member of the 170 Int'l Club.

Ponk's beef-up kit is only $275, so I doubt any discount would amount to much.
But a set of their replacement inboard & outboard brackets are over a grand per side, so a discount there would be a good thing.