I'm having a prepurchase inspection done on an experimental airplane this coming week. I'm not even going to tell y'all what I'm looking at except to say it's the least likely Back Country airplane you might think of.......but it will get in and out of any place piperpainter can go. We all love surprises....even if it makes me look foolish there won't be any news in that. The third wheel is aft of course. It's been in a hanger and basically not flown for at least fifteen years. The engine is a real gamble....I may have it torn down and inspected IRAN with a new cam and followers just to have half a chance of success. Or I may just go the OregonMaule way and see if it eats it's own lunch.

This thing is really pretty cheap. $10K

If the prepurchase goes reasonably well I'll get it annualed at the same time.

So it's got rotten 6:00 X 6's on it, and a Scott tailwheel. The first mod will be some bigger tyres.

What's a good/cheap 8:50 tire for under 1750 lbs gross?

EB

I went with Goodyears for the "good" part....Airtracs may fit the "cheap" part better though.

Right here. Get their retreads and good tubes.

http://www.desser.com/

Gump

Ain't nothin' cheap anymore. Even "utility grade" 850's (McCreary Airtracs) are about to $500 a set with tubes. Desser seems to usually have the price & definitely the selection when it comes to tires, free shipping too. www.desser.com
Never tried their retreads, figured by the time I pay to ship the carcasses to Desser's & the recapping it's probably not much less than new tires. I imagine you need carcasses (cores) to get retreads.

I've got a set of brand new, never used 8.50x6s I will sell. Bought them for a Pacer I no longer have.

PM me if interested.

JW

Hey, forgot to mention, check ebay. Desser lists tires there. Sometimes they are "buy it now" priced cheaper than they quote the same tire when you inquire directly. I got my last set this way. Don't remember exactly the diffence, but I think it was $12-$15 per tire cheaper on ebay...shipped from desser.

Careful with the retreads. I bought a set from desser and they are very heavy and they were out of round and balance. They took them back even with a couple landings on them. Got a new set of 8.00 x 6 Airtracs instead and they are great and the 8.00 are way cheaper than the 8.50. Mostly because of the tubes.

Airtracks from Desser are $198 on Ebay. No tubes. I don't see a listing for Goodyears. I think I've seen the airtracks for about $287 at Spruce and the usual suspects.

Bushwheels on a Bi-Plane? Cool!!
Dave

d.grimm wrote:Bushwheels on a Bi-Plane? Cool!!
Dave

No comment........

Emory Bored wrote:Airtracks from Desser are $198 on Ebay. No tubes. I don't see a listing for Goodyears. I think I've seen the airtracks for about $287 at Spruce and the usual suspects.

850x6 (6 ply) airtracs are $195 in Desser's ad in a Feb 2012 T-A-P, so you're not saving any money doing ebay. Even if it did save a couple bucks, I'd rather be able to just call desser & order them up.
800x6 (4 ply) airtracs are $139, 6 ply used to be about the same price.
No inner tube prices shown, but I'd guess about $50 a pop.

Can't answer your question on tires but my guess on the bird is a Rans S-14....?

hotrod150 wrote: you're not saving any money doing ebay. Even if it did save a couple bucks, I'd rather be able to just call desser & order them up.

In January, I found the Goodyears on ebay, "buy it now" at $216, but there were no tubes listed. Before I bought the tires, I called Desser to ask about tubes and asked if they would just sell me the tires at the price they had advertised on ebay. They verified the ebay price that I had asked for and agreed to honor that price.

I looked at my invoice...Jan 16, 2012.
8.50x6-6ply $216.00.
8.50x6 tube $69.95

So I guess I happened to get the best of both worlds....I saved some money and got to order over the phone and talk to a real person. However, this deal may not be available everyday.

Emory Bored wrote:

d.grimm wrote:Bushwheels on a Bi-Plane? Cool!!
Dave

No comment........

Darinh wrote:Can't answer your question on tires but my guess on the bird is a Rans S-14....?

Can't answer neither. But, I can't wait to see your new plane!!

Cherokee??

He said tailwheel and IRAN.....helps limit down your choices....

Stage one here is to find out just what it is that we got here. Even at a $10K baseline we can get into some serious repair issues with a Lycoming that has sat in a hangar in the PNW without being run for 15 years. Aside from and in addition to the cam and follower issues we got oil pump gear ADs, crankshaft ADs, a carb rebuild, battery, tires and brakes, mags, about a million rubber hoses and fiddley bits, pitot static system etc. ad infinitum. A couple thousand here and a couple thousand there, pretty soon you are getting into some serious money. There are a ton of airplanes out there where some other sucker has already done all that stuff. If it can be restored/rebuilt while flying that makes it interesting. If it needs a complete rebuild from the start that makes it terrifying. I don't want to get romantically involved here you know? Still, ferry it home, rip out the engine and ship it off to Monty for some H pistons, cylinder repair, and a set of Slicks. Talk to Ivo about a prop. Hmmmmmm. I'll know a whole lot more by mid afternoon Monday. I guess I'll break silence here. Bear in mind, the airplane is at Pearson now. That picture looks more like Evergreen, which has been closed for 15 years? I don't think this old boy looks like that now.

Tadpole wrote:He said tailwheel and IRAN.....helps limit down your choices....

Oops Man, I've got great eyes, but somehow I've been missing what people have been writing. Not sure what my problem is

Hey, now that different! Pretty cool.

58Skylane wrote:

Tadpole wrote:He said tailwheel and IRAN.....helps limit down your choices....

Oops Man, I've got great eyes, but somehow I've been missing what people have been writing. Not sure what my problem is

Hey, now that different! Pretty cool.

I've flown one of those from the front pit 3 or 4 times. Pitts' many times. You can't see much. Big tires means you can't see ANYTHING. Not a great truly off airport bird except for the odd lakebed or FS strip. We might make it into Couriergys's place but we'd have to truck it out. Or wait for a 20 knot north wind. It do have inverted systems though......which you won't find on your average S-7.

EB

Emory Bored wrote:Stage one here is to find out just what it is that we got here. Even at a $10K baseline we can get into some serious repair issues with a Lycoming that has sat in a hangar in the PNW without being run for 15 years. Aside from and in addition to the cam and follower issues we got oil pump gear ADs, crankshaft ADs, a carb rebuild, battery, tires and brakes, mags, about a million rubber hoses and fiddley bits, pitot static system etc. ad infinitum. A couple thousand here and a couple thousand there, pretty soon you are getting into some serious money. There are a ton of airplanes out there where some other sucker has already done all that stuff. If it can be restored/rebuilt while flying that makes it interesting. If it needs a complete rebuild from the start that makes it terrifying. I don't want to get romantically involved here you know? Still, ferry it home, rip out the engine and ship it off to Monty for some H pistons, cylinder repair, and a set of Slicks. Talk to Ivo about a prop. Hmmmmmm. I'll know a whole lot more by mid afternoon Monday. I guess I'll break silence here. Bear in mind, the airplane is at Pearson now. That picture looks more like Evergreen, which has been closed for 15 years? I don't think this old boy looks like that now.

That's definitely not Evergreen, and it closed about 6 years ago. I think it was July 18th 2006 to be exact. Cool plane though! Can't wait to see it on some 8.50s.

Emory Bored wrote: There are a ton of airplanes out there where some other sucker has already done all that stuff.

That would be me.