Anybody with knowledge or manuals/data about putting a Beaver on wheels skis please let me know. I’m presently shopping around for a Beaver and would eventually like to put it on skis. Any insight on Federal vs de Havilland would be appreciated. Or any information about what all is involved in the installation. Information on this topic has been hard to find. Thanks in advance y’all.

I've had the same thoughts about doing that to mine for a while. Haven't yet, but always figured a call, or better yet, a visit to Talkeetna to talk with the experts who fly them onto glaciers all the time would be a great idea.

Kevin


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You could try talking to the maintenance people at talkeetna air taxi and/or K2, both located in Talkeetna Alaska.

I did some extensive repairs on a set of deHavilland skis once many years ago, I was impressed with how robust they were.

I’ve never been involved with operating them but I do know a special set of gear legs are required. There may be a set for sale at Kenmore, bring all your $$$.

Yes, get in touch with maintenance at Rusts/K-2. They may be a wee bit busy at the moment getting spooled up for the season, but they’re experts.

MTV

Thanks for the solid suggestions. I’ll wait till folks are a bit less busy and reach out to those maintenance departments. All things DHC-2 are only getting more expensive and rare as hens teeth. Not at all ideal but certainly not changing.

Bringing this back from the dead:

Did anything more come of this? Some Fli Light 6000 wheel skis popped up for sale online and got me looking at options for our DHC-2

Sounds like fun...

2 things I'd be interested in before I got serious about them.

1. Does your airplane have ski gear already? If not you may be on a hen's teeth hunt.

2. Do they come with the drawings required on the Type Certificate Data Sheet? You're going to want a good look at those drawings to make sure all the required bits and bobs are included, especially the pump.

Should be a fairly straightforward if you can answer yes to those questions.

Good questions.

What makes ski gear on a dhc-2?
I’ve got capped off fittings coming out of the side of the fuse above the gear legs that I assume are for ski hydraulics? These photos don't show the gear legs very well, but if you look closely you can see the hydraulic fittings on the fuselage? Any idea if these legs look like ski gear legs?

Here is a photo of the lower end of the gear leg on our Beaver showing the stub axle to which the ski attaches, also note the lower bulkhead fittings to which the flexible hydraulic lines from the actuating cylinder on the ski attach. There is also a NAS bolt through the ski axle that is required per AD that is also shown in this photo (can just see the internal wrenching head facing forward by the brake line). The rigid lines run inside the forward gear leg fairing and terminate at 2 additional bulkhead fittings at the top of the gear leg. Your timing is uncanny as I just finished writing a short article on the installation of the hydraulic system for our skis. I have Federal AWB 4820's which are on the TCDS for the DHC-2 MK 1. I promised this to Zane some time ago, I shall email it to Zane and he can post where he deems appropriate. This article "Part One" is just the internal hydraulics required in the aircraft for the Federal AWB utilizing a double acting hydraulic cylinder on each ski actuated by a manual hand pump. Part Two, yet to be written, will include the required brackets and rigging and I shall author upon installation of the skis themselves.

TR

Thanks to TR for the photo/comments. I was striking out looking through my archives for a picture of the ski axle.

Great information TR, thank you.

My inner axle has a tiedown loop welded to it (no threaded end) and I don't have the internal lines, etc. Looks like I'll need "ski gear" also if I try and get it on skis.

Looking forward to your write up on BCP, this place is a wealth of knowledge!

Brent

Depicted is a ski axle for a Federal AWB 4820 ski on the DHC-2, I would have to refer to the Fluidyne drawing for the part number. They are Federal skis, however, the drawings for installation are Fluidyne, don't let that throw you. F. Atlee Dodge in Anchorage is now the authority on these drawings and very helpful. FWIW, this axle is a different part number than the one called out for DeHavilland skis. My skis and all associated installation parts were removed from a Beaver operating out of Churchill, so everything was included, even a cold weather "front" for the 985. I'm familiar with the "tow loops" on the stock axles as I have another set of gear that I took off our Beaver during the restoration that has the stock axles. Another set of gear became available that had the ski axles already installed so I picked them up. All I had to do was replace the AN axle retaining bolt with the required NAS bolt...and paint of course. I'll include some shots of the gear leg bulkhead fittings for the hydraulics.

TR

Total of four capped bulkhead fittings in photo. Two at top of gear leg and two at side of fuselage. Two short flexible hydraulic lines (not presently installed) connect the internal aircraft hydraulic system (covered in my article) to the gear leg and down the front of the gear leg (under the forward fairing) to exit near the axle with 2 bulkhead fittings shown in an earlier posted photo. Two flexible hydraulic lines from the ski hydraulic cylinder are connected here to complete the hydraulic circuit. Note this is a different system than that utilized with DeHavilland skis.

TR

If the Beaver wheel skis for sale you’re looking at are the set out of Utah…be careful. Apparently there are no data plates for either the skis or the set of gear, per email from the seller.

And, the Fli Lite skis require a very different set of axles than any other ski.
MTV

Yes, they were the ones out of Utah, I got cold feet/something seemed off and I didn't pursue them further.

Good info mtv, and great photos everyone, thank you!

We have had a set of the Federal skis for years and just go a set of Dehavilland's with a Beaver we recently bought. The Federals are a larger ski so if your in deep snow are nice. Lots of guys with the Dehaviland's when they put UHMW on the bottomx let it over hang the sides about 2 - 3 inches. That helps a lot. The big difference in the skis is the Dehavilland skis push the wheel straight down via a hydraulic / nitrogen cylinder. They pump up via oil but pushed down by nitrogen. By pushing straight down you are able to place a piece of plywood under the wheel when parking on snow, then put the wheels down lifting the skis so they do not freeze down. Nice feature. On the Federals the wheels move forward one at a time and sit on the skis, much like on a Cessna 185. Both fly nice, but both have considerable drag.

We are going to sell the Dehavilland's as the Federals are already set up on our Beaver and we do not use ski very often. If anyone needs a set, these are in excellent shape and come with pump, tank, main skis, axles and tail ski. One ski needs new bottom UHMW, 17,000 US. Located Kelowna BC. Shawn C: 250-859-6271

If your referring to the ones in Kelowna, they have all data plates and history. Just do not use them. They are posted with photos on Facebook DHC-2 page and Bush and Float plane classified, again on Facebook.