I know I've seen pictures of this before, but would love to talk with someone who has done it. Any one on here done it or know someone that has. Mostly curious about what they did with the nose fork/wheel, loss in cruise speed etc....

With the type of flying I do in my Savannah I think this would be a great addition as long as it doesn't slow me down too much more, or keeps me on the ground longer with an extra 20lb or rubber. Thanks for any advice.

Wait of a used set to come along and try them out!! You can always remove them and sell them for what you paid.

bart wrote:Wait of a used set to come along and try them out!! You can always remove them and sell them for what you paid.

Yes, do this. Or borrow a couple sizes from different folks and see which fits you best.

I have a set under the workbench if you find yourself down this way. You are welcome to try them out.

chosstronaut wrote:I think this would be a great addition as long as it doesn't slow me down too much more

Seems like they couldn't possibly slow you down much more, you'd hardly be moving!

Ok, ok, that's unfair. Couldn't resist. I don't actually know what a Savannah cruises at in reality.

Battson is right. The Zenair / Savannah design is inherently super draggy. Your not going to lose much worring about with the 26's.
Also Id stay with the regular size on the front, it will give you better clearance and keep it off the rough stuff earlier.

Sidewinder wrote:.
Also Id stay with the regular size on the front, it will give you better clearance and keep it off the rough stuff earlier.

the nose gear is already tough on those plane's.here's video with a 701 on bushwheels http://youtu.be/s0gXSk_f250

Thanks guys!

Sidewinder wrote:Battson is right. The Zenair / Savannah design is inherently super draggy. Your not going to lose much worring about with the 26's.
Also Id stay with the regular size on the front, it will give you better clearance and keep it off the rough stuff earlier.

And obviously that would be the easiest choice... but what I was worried is that by putting bigger tires on it would raise the mains and lower the nose, thus loosing some clearance? And was thinking like an 8.50x6 would keep it about the same as now with 8.00x6s all around.

ExperimentalAviator wrote:

Sidewinder wrote:.
Also Id stay with the regular size on the front, it will give you better clearance and keep it off the rough stuff earlier.

the nose gear is already tough on those plane's.here's video with a 701 on bushwheels http://youtu.be/s0gXSk_f250

Yeah that was one of the planes I'd seen. Anyone know the guy? And wow I wish I knew where that strip was that looks like a hoot

Rob wrote:

bart wrote:Wait of a used set to come along and try them out!! You can always remove them and sell them for what you paid.

Yes, do this. Or borrow a couple sizes from different folks and see which fits you best.

I have a set under the workbench if you find yourself down this way. You are welcome to try them out.

And that would be awesome! Where are you located?

Battson wrote:

chosstronaut wrote:I think this would be a great addition as long as it doesn't slow me down too much more

Seems like they couldn't possibly slow you down much more, you'd hardly be moving!

Ok, ok, that's unfair. Couldn't resist. I don't actually know what a Savannah cruises at in reality.

Ha and don't I know it. 75kts cruise is standard in my Savannah so loosing 3kts would be like %5 of my cruise!!!!

chosstronaut wrote:Thanks guys!

Sidewinder wrote:Battson is right. The Zenair / Savannah design is inherently super draggy. Your not going to lose much worring about with the 26's.
Also Id stay with the regular size on the front, it will give you better clearance and keep it off the rough stuff earlier.

And obviously that would be the easiest choice... but what I was worried is that by putting bigger tires on it would raise the mains and lower the nose, thus loosing some clearance? And was thinking like an 8.50x6 would keep it about the same as now with 8.00x6s all around.

ExperimentalAviator wrote:

Sidewinder wrote:.
Also Id stay with the regular size on the front, it will give you better clearance and keep it off the rough stuff earlier.

the nose gear is already tough on those plane's.here's video with a 701 on bushwheels http://youtu.be/s0gXSk_f250

Yeah that was one of the planes I'd seen. Anyone know the guy? And wow I wish I knew where that strip was that looks like a hoot

Remember, it is only the appearance when parked that your nose looks low. At takeoff and landing attitude your nose wheel will actually be higher when your mains hit the dirt.

chosstronaut wrote:Thanks guys!

Sidewinder wrote:Battson is right. The Zenair / Savannah design is inherently super draggy. Your not going to lose much worring about with the 26's.
Also Id stay with the regular size on the front, it will give you better clearance and keep it off the rough stuff earlier.

And obviously that would be the easiest choice... but what I was worried is that by putting bigger tires on it would raise the mains and lower the nose, thus loosing some clearance? And was thinking like an 8.50x6 would keep it about the same as now with 8.00x6s all around.

ExperimentalAviator wrote:

Sidewinder wrote:.
Also Id stay with the regular size on the front, it will give you better clearance and keep it off the rough stuff earlier.

the nose gear is already tough on those plane's.here's video with a 701 on bushwheels http://youtu.be/s0gXSk_f250

Yeah that was one of the planes I'd seen. Anyone know the guy? And wow I wish I knew where that strip was that looks like a hoot

I don't know him personally. His name is Christopher Desmond. He worked with Zenith helping them promote the aircraft and produced video's. That landing on the hill is one of the most remarkable Ive seen. He and his gecko plane got quite the notoriety. When he put it up for sale some time ago for 50+ g's, it sold in less than a week. Last heard he was building their 4 place.

If you wanna look for the strip, he flies out of the Santa Rosa area. How far can a 701 fly?? Be interesting to find it. But you'd need the balls of a brass monkey to land on it.

Sidewinder wrote:
I don't know him personally. His name is Christopher Desmond. He worked with Zenith helping them promote the aircraft and produced video's. That landing on the hill is one of the most remarkable Ive seen. He and his gecko plane got quite the notoriety. When he put it up for sale some time ago for 50+ g's, it sold in less than a week. Last heard he was building their 4 place.

If you wanna look for the strip, he flies out of the Santa Rosa area. How far can a 701 fly?? Be interesting to find it. But you'd need the balls of a brass monkey to land on it.

Oh man I'll be trolling google earth for days now looking for it!

I actually fly a Savannah and not a 701, a Savannah in my mind is an improved upon version of a Zenith, with a normal rudder and normal wing.

I've managed to land it on some hill tops:

If you got some time in my Savannah, I think you'd be saying Desmond's strip looks like a lot of fun even with average balls

Another unique component to my Savannah is we have a 2" nose spacer added to the fork to provide some extra clearance. So if in fact we can just keep the same size nose wheel that would be great, I see what you say about being in a landing attitude, but I guess more of my worry is loosing that little bit for taxing rough ground an landing up sloping things like that hill top video posted above.

I've got an itch and some extra cash right now so I might have to just go ahead and order the Airstreaks, as awesome as it would be to test drive em, I guess I really cant see me being unhappy with them. The tubeless thing really appeals to me.

chosstronaut wrote:

Rob wrote:

bart wrote:Wait of a used set to come along and try them out!! You can always remove them and sell them for what you paid.

Yes, do this. Or borrow a couple sizes from different folks and see which fits you best.

I have a set under the workbench if you find yourself down this way. You are welcome to try them out.

And that would be awesome! Where are you located?

PM sent

They will slow you down, and if you run them low (4 and under) to get the max cush out of them, slightly extend your takeoff roll. Or at least make it noticably harder to roll out of the hangar. Not as big as a speed hit percent wise as a faster plane though, one good thing about going slow to start with, a bit more drag matters less then on a 120+ cruise plane. You'll probably lose less then 5 mph, 3 or 4 would be my guess. Still worth it! You may not notice the drag, you probably will just throttle up to get the same speed you expect, in other words you can cruise the same but you'll be burning a bit more fuel. No free lunch. Still worth it!

The vid of the guy doing the short steep and narrow site, the terrain was open and pretty smooth, not sure he even needed big tires there. It's the hidden rocks that concern me the most. If it was me, I'd remain very aware I was flying a nose dragger, now matter how big the mains, and I'd be, as I'm sure you do, keeping a very close eye on it's attach points. Then again holding it off and going real slow like shown helps a bunch, pretty cooling flying for a tri gear

I landed this area the other day, a few hundred yards away from another hill I land a lot. I made the mistake of thinking the rocks were similar, and they were except for a few, I was really glad I had the 29's. These suckers are embedded, not just laying loose, and sharp. The lower pressure really helps here. BTW, I had 26's and loved them, when I went to the 29's I was surprised just how much more capable they were. Go big if you can!

How about trying the new Desser 22" tundra tires?
You can get 2 complete sets of tires for the price of one airstreak.

[/quote]

Remember, it is only the appearance when parked that your nose looks low. At takeoff and landing attitude your nose wheel will actually be higher when your mains hit the dirt.[/quote]

The size of the nose wheel will not change the AOA on T/O and landing but having bigger mains will drop the prop lower to the ground while taxiing and your initial T/O roll. Not a good idea in the bush.

Sidewinder is correct. At take off and landing, the nose wheel will be higher. Not by much, but the difference is the original tire radius minus the new tire radius. This so because at this moment, the AOA is the same for either case, but the new mains are slightly larger, and will lift the entire aircraft by the difference in radius. This aircraft can taxi at quite slow speeds with the nose wheel off the ground. I used to practice this just for fun.

On the ground taxiing is another matter. In this case the prop will be closer to the ground by this formula:
clearance reduction = change in tire radius X wheelbase distance / prop to front wheel distance

Go measure the wheel base and the distance from the front wheel axle to the prop. Remember that the radii mentioned would be with load on the tire, not nominal dimensions.

Your airplane originally had 600x6 tires. When I put the bigger ones on, I saw a small reduction in speed. Maybe 2 mph for a given fuel flow rate. Take that number with a grain of salt, because I did not make much effort to quantify the change.

What I did notice was a need to use the rudder a differently to keep turns coordinated. I believe that the front wheel acts like a small rudder. (Remember that it is directly connected to the rudder.) It didn't take more than a few flights to get used to this, and I can't even remember whether it required more or less. Funny how humans adapt to their environment. Anyway, putting even bigger tires on will almost certainly make some impact on rudder tending for coordinated turns. Not a big deal.

Have fun with the bigger tires. You will be able to handle much rougher landing spots. Just mind your airspeed at touchdown, so the nose wheel is well off the ground.

Savannah-less-Tom

Thanks again everyone...

S-12Flyer wrote:How about trying the new Desser 22" tundra tires?
You can get 2 complete sets of tires for the price of one airstreak.

These ones? http://www.desser.com/store/products/21 ... -TIRE.html

Savannah-Tom wrote:Sidewinder is correct. At take off and landing, the nose wheel will be higher. Not by much, but the difference is the original tire radius minus the new tire radius. This so because at this moment, the AOA is the same for either case, but the new mains are slightly larger, and will lift the entire aircraft by the difference in radius. This aircraft can taxi at quite slow speeds with the nose wheel off the ground. I used to practice this just for fun.

On the ground taxiing is another matter. In this case the prop will be closer to the ground by this formula:
clearance reduction = change in tire radius X wheelbase distance / prop to front wheel distance

Go measure the wheel base and the distance from the front wheel axle to the prop. Remember that the radii mentioned would be with load on the tire, not nominal dimensions.

Your airplane originally had 600x6 tires. When I put the bigger ones on, I saw a small reduction in speed. Maybe 2 mph for a given fuel flow rate. Take that number with a grain of salt, because I did not make much effort to quantify the change.

What I did notice was a need to use the rudder a differently to keep turns coordinated. I believe that the front wheel acts like a small rudder. (Remember that it is directly connected to the rudder.) It didn't take more than a few flights to get used to this, and I can't even remember whether it required more or less. Funny how humans adapt to their environment. Anyway, putting even bigger tires on will almost certainly make some impact on rudder tending for coordinated turns. Not a big deal.

Have fun with the bigger tires. You will be able to handle much rougher landing spots. Just mind your airspeed at touchdown, so the nose wheel is well off the ground.

Savannah-less-Tom

Man you built a serious machine!

Should I get Zane to change my name to Savannah-Tyler?

These are the new Desser tundras.
http://www.desser.com/store/products/85 ... NDRA-.html

S-12Flyer wrote:These are the new Desser tundras.
http://www.desser.com/store/products/85 ... NDRA-.html

Oh now those look sweet! Hmm you might have changed my mind now... decisions decisions