NoStripNeeded wrote:

denalipilot wrote:

bigrenna wrote:...if I slip and fall in the bathtub and hit my head, I will go with an MT prop an Ti gear and drop another 50. (buying scratch tickets)

Do it! The Ti folks will take your old gear in partial trade, and John from Flight Resource is on this site and I've found him to be really nice to deal with.
-DP

Is the Titanium Gear even available? If so, where can you buy a set?

bigrenna wrote:

Tom wrote:Did you weigh the plane before you started all of this? I would like to know what it weighed, (actual) before and after.

But of course! What self respecting OCD lunatic would not weigh his buggy before a project like this.

It was really important to get a benchmark prior to starting all this madness. Shortly after flying it back from CA I got it up on the scales. She was actually 81lbs heavier than the 30 year paper WB (no surprise.) With 600x6s on her she was 1772lbs with just useable fuel and full oil.

I flew it a bit with 8.5x10s and the baby bush and in that config she was 2303 (incl 84gal fuel and full oil.) She has 79 gal of usable which gave an empty weight of 1829lbs.

So the real question will be what will the magic number be as there was a lot of shedding that went on. 20-30lbs in battery, 30lbs in avionics, 55lbs of interior, 35lbs in back seats, 10-25lbs of paint, etc etc etc... I guess in the end it really wont matter a hill of beans, but If I can keep her under 1700lbs with bush tires I will be tickled.

mtv wrote:But, can you get them approved?

MTV

the 170 is not on the model list for the ti gear STC. however, below are the manufacturers comments on the scenario based on research and past experience.

The FAA says okay with the deviation. If You have a 170 you buy two STC's. The STC to put 180 gear on the 170 and the other STC to Put the TI gear on. The deviation is for make and model. FAA handbook says its good for a field approval providing both STC's are purchased. Lead time on gear is 3mos List. $13500 with out a core (185 gear cores)

That looks like it could be considered a minor change to the STC and not need field to be approved to me but that's up to whatever individual is signing it. Same goes for the FAA if the installer thought a field approval was needed: It would depend on the individual FAA inspector. But it looks like a strong case could be made for either field approval or even install it per the two STC's.

mtv wrote:But, there has been an AD on the Ti Gear, right?

bart wrote:Looks like there are some airframe differences between your year and mine so might not work the same anyways.

bart wrote:Also, can you show some pics of your "forward kick panel area"?? Trying to get an idea how to work that with the vents and all. Noticed you had some scat tubing incorporated, not sure if we have the same heat duct on the firewall or not.

Skalywag wrote:CrzyIvan, in response to ur question:

"George Mandes doesn't normally drink beer, but when he does, he prefers Dos Equis".