Well,
I have been on the site for some time now and finally took the plunge. I found the perfect for me Cessna 185. She's a 65, with IO-550. I want to tell everyone what I paid for her because I think the market is out of control and if you look hard enough you can really find some diamonds out there! We also need realistic sellers which I had a great sale, there was no hagling and was a totally great first airplane purchase for me. She has 1500 total time on the engine, 50 hours on an overhaul. She has 3100 hours on the frame, shes been wrecked 2 times, both in fresh water with repairs. Last accident was in 1987. After a good pre-buy we could find no rust. Drum roll please, I paid 120K for her. Now she needs avionics, some would be fine with her interior, and she needs a paint job, but a great bones with a great engine and no identifiable rust. Guys the market is set to high for these airplanes! Lets work to make it more realistic! That is all.












PS: first mods will be, abw 29's, bbw, bas shoulder harnesses and burning a fair amount of gas!

Nice looking wagon!

That’s fantastic! An IO550 with the float kit for $120k, what a steal!

You have arrived!

Congratulations on a nice airplane! Its very exciting, have you been able to sleep yet?

Having owned multiple Skywagons over the years I HIGHLY suggest adding the Precise Flow air vents Sportys sell's, they work great, well worth the $450 and also add the BAS tail pull handle. Rosen sun visors are a nice addition too.

Keep the small tires on her for now unless you actually "need" the bigger tires. Get some time under your belt and get to know her before big tires. Although some think big tires are bad ass and look cool, they slow you down and shake the gear legs in flight not to mention the cost and they can be a handful on dry pavement in ratty cross wind conditions. Decide if it is a need vs want on the tires right now. Have fun! Keep the posts coming!

Kurt

PS Big like on the BAS shoulder harness's.

All very good suggestions.
If you don't have much/any time in a 185 get some good instruction. It is a different beast than 180 I found.
I see you have Gami"s; they work wonderful on these engines. I fly most of the time at 24sq with 13-13.2 GPH with a TAS of 160 on my 520.
Great deal by the way.


Tom

Very nice and I even like the paint scheme.

Congratulations. The 185 is such a solid airplane and you will enjoy it. I wish it were more than a hopped up 170. It would have been better if Cessna had made a tailwheel version of the 206 rather than a hopped up version of the 170. But 206’s are not the striking look of a 185 so they probably wouldn’t have sold any. Regardless, a 185 is a great airplane and the 550 is the engine it was meant to have.

I have thought of the must have mods in my experience.
* Echoing Kurt, the BAS tail handles are very important to reduce damage during ground movement.
* Some method of preventing unwanted aft seat travel if a seat pin fails. Strap, rail lock, or both.
* Agree with your shoulder harnesses.
* Good modern brakes. I have seen some old brake systems on early 185s.
* P Ponk gear box kit to help prevent the gear legs from penetrating the cabin and injuring occupants in the event of a bad ground loop or worse.
* I actually consider the bushwheels to be an improvement over small tires during gusty crosswind landing conditions on pavement. Smaller and higher PSI tires transfer heading changes into directional changes much more quickly (violently in crazy winds) than softer bushwheels. You simply have a few milliseconds more time on ABWs to react to a heading perturbation on landing and your actual ground track is less zigzaggy on roll out. Go out on a gusty day and listen to the screeching of small tires and you can visualize the track of the plane. Furthermore, you can go and land on the dirt/gravel/off airport with more confidence. Incidentally, in my experience, I suffer rate-of-clime loss more than speed loss on Bushwheels. Compared with 8.50’s, on 29” ABWs I lose around 7mph and 400 fpm.

Hopped up 170 eh? The mud is gonna start flying!

Congrats on the purchase. I would have jumped on that as well for the price...well at least tried.

.

Thanks Guys,
Ya I did not share all the current mods it has that where icing on the cake..... Stec 50 on, P-ponk on, rosens visors on, bas tail handle on, jackscrew access panel on, horton stol on though I wish it was the sportsmans stol...later mod. Nose bowl louvers on. Sea planes west engine mount on, it has some great gauges and a ubg-16 so I do not plan on updating the monitoring systems any time soon. Avionics will have to be upgraded for ads-b so I am going to spend some money there but that is really all for now other than creature comforts.

I know I could go crazy on mods to do to the A/C but the one advise I keep hearing loud and clear over and over is, use gas money on gas and become solid flying the plane, then worry about the rest. I even found an instructor who is supper excited to get started asap. I agree good instruction is key! I want to be safe and have tons of fun, not loop it out of the box.

The forgiving nature of big tires is what I have experienced. My 180 instructor had 850's and then I flew with a friend in his 185 with 29's and I could totally tell a huge difference in how forgiving the 29's where, that is why I am going that road as soon as possible.

Any other mods anyone can think of please let me know, I remember barnstormer had a bunch, and I was looking for his thread but I could not find it last night. I plan to start an excel spread sheet and a time frame. I do not want it down any longer than has to be so I can fly fly fly!

Thanks Again,

gypsywagon wrote:Thanks Guys,
Ya I did not share all the current mods it has that where icing on the cake..... Stec 50 on, P-ponk on, rosens visors on, bas tail handle on, jackscrew access panel on, horton stol on though I wish it was the sportsmans stol...later mod. Nose bowl louvers on. Sea planes west engine mount on, it has some great gauges and a ubg-16 so I do not plan on updating the monitoring systems any time soon. Avionics will have to be upgraded for ads-b so I am going to spend some money there but that is really all for now other than creature comforts.

I know I could go crazy on mods to do to the A/C but the one advise I keep hearing loud and clear over and over is, use gas money on gas and become solid flying the plane, then worry about the rest. I even found an instructor who is supper excited to get started asap. I agree good instruction is key! I want to be safe and have tons of fun, not loop it out of the box.

The forgiving nature of big tires is what I have experienced. My 180 instructor had 850's and then I flew with a friend in his 185 with 29's and I could totally tell a huge difference in how forgiving the 29's where, that is why I am going that road as soon as possible.

Any other mods anyone can think of please let me know, I remember barnstormer had a bunch, and I was looking for his thread but I could not find it last night. I plan to start an excel spread sheet and a time frame. I do not want it down any longer than has to be so I can fly fly fly!

Thanks Again,

Im tellin ya, those Precise Flow air vents from Sportys are a very worth while mod, takes very little time to install, trust me, you will love em!

Kurt

Kurt,
I ordered them 2 days ago. I'll put up pics when I get them put in.
Thanks

Do you have to disconnect the braces to install the Precise Flight vents? And where do you put the OAT gauge?

gypsywagon wrote:Thanks Guys,

I know I could go crazy on mods to do to the A/C but the one advise I keep hearing loud and clear over and over is, use gas money on gas and become solid flying the plane, then worry about the rest. I even found an instructor who is supper excited to get started asap. I agree good instruction is key! I want to be safe and have tons of fun, not loop it out of the box.

Just be absolutely certain that excited instructor has a LOT of time in 185s. And, no, 180 time helps, but the 185 is a somewhat different beast.

Don't get too anxious to install Bushwheels. Learn to fly the airplane first, which means a LOT of pavement work. No point in wearing out those brand new Bushwheels right off the bat. Get proficient on the standard tires, on pavement, and you won't have any problem handling most surfaces.

I agree with Squash that Bushwheels are pretty forgiving. But, they're also expensive.

MTV

StuBob wrote:Do you have to disconnect the braces to install the Precise Flight vents? And where do you put the OAT gauge?

no

That’s cool. I flew an old one with the IO-470. Seemed light and potent. I’d imagine the -550 must be a real ripper.

I’m no Chuck Yeager by any stretch. I went from a 180 to a 185 with a lesson on how to hot start it. I found it to be well mannered. You’ll have no problem with the transition. They are all goat haulers, and I say that will all due respect.

Yep, they’re goat haulers and trash haulers. And all my Super Cub buddies always want to know if I’m going fishing with them so I can haul their crap they can’t carry in their Cubs.-Aside from that, the first couple of things that are necessities and should be a top priority if not already addressed:

BAS Belts. No argument. Don’t whine about the cost, JUST DO IT!

Make SURE that your Full Power Sea Level fuel flow is a min. of 29.5 gph. 30gph is even better. If your mechanic insists that 27gph is max, FIND A NEW mechanic who knows these engines! Otherwise kiss your cylinders goodby in a short time. EGT should be around 1250F-1300f and CHT not to exceed 380F at max power. The IO-550 is a wonderful engine, but it requires lots of fuel if you’re going to run it hard. That being said, the next thing to make a good engine even better is a set of GAMI injectors. No comparison between the factory tuned nozzles and GAMI injectors. The IO-550 loves LOP at cruise power settings.

Rock,
Thanks for the info on the IO-550.

I am posting to see if anyone has a used set of BAS then I will purchase shortly there after if no one bites.

Congrats!!!