Hey I know, everyone is different and every plane/needs are different, just looking for opinions. Feel free to PM me too.

As I shop for 185s I see some with every STC and some with very few, and not a lot of price disparity to make sense of it. So I'm curious what all y'all think are "must have" mods for the aircraft. May help me narrow my search, or if I find one relatively untouched I'll be able to gauge how much I'll have to put into it. I'm also just talking about airframe mods here.

Here are some of the mods I've seen I think I would be must haves, whether I can buy it on the plane or have to add myself - PPonk gear mods. Flint tips, STOL kit, shoulder harnesses, Alaskan Bushwheel anything - don't really need 31's, 8.50's would be fine, but tailwheel upgrades would be nice given how beat up they can get.

What say the hive mind here? Thanks!

cheers,
Nate

Fuel computer
Sporty's air vents
tail pull handles
Cleveland wheels and brakes

I have mixed opinion on Pponk gear mod and Flint tips


Kurt

I agree with Kurt, though I'd say whether you want the PPonk gear mod depends on how bad you're gonna crash......That would not be a mod I'd install, and I have in past.

Sportsman STOL and Wing X extensions are great mods, bough the wing extensions make getting into tight hangars impossible. That mod is particularly good on floats, less so on wheels.

Flint tanks? Like stock fuel isn't enough? I flew 185s in Alaska for sev Ralph thousand hours and can't recall ever wanting more ful.....of course some of the early ones did have smaller tanks.

If you ever want to go to floats, make certain it has a float kit....you do not want to try to add one.

I personally love the Robertson STL kits on these airplanes. Opinions vary, and I wouldn't call this a "must have" but I really like what it does.....others opinions will vary.

But, frankly, a bone stock 185 is just plain a wonderful airplane. The tail pull handles and BAS harnesses are really the only "Must haves" I can think of.

Early airplanes had the "killer caps" on fuel fillers.....those need to be replaced.

Other than that, just get a GOOD checkout and enjoy it.

MTV

Thanks you two. That's why I'm asking.

Here are my preferred mods. I would end up spending the $ and doing most of these if I bought a stock plane.

Float Kit - Factory

PPonk Gear Mod
Sportsman STOL
Wing X - Not needed if you only fly wheels.
Atlee Rear Seats
Cleveland Wheels & Brakes
Flat Extended Baggage & Firewall Battery
BAS Harnesses
BAS Handles
Fuel Computer
Engine Monitor
Door Stewards
Reiff Engine Heater

Just looking at the list, it could cost over $45k for this stuff..

These are my must haves. I have a much longer list of must wants. I edited my post based on your "airframe only mods".

Float kit.
Tail wheel lock. To be able to take away tailwheel shimmy on landing is priceless.
Tail pull handles.

Cessna seat seat belt (can’t recall the official name).
Keeps the seat from zipping full aft when the seat position pin breaks. Good to have one on the copilot side as well to keep your passenger from grabbing the yoke when their seat goes back and pointing the plane at the stars.

Sportsman STOL
Wing X extensions
This is the wing Cessna should have built. If your hangar door is only 40’ avoid wing extensions of any kind.

Flat Extended Baggage & Firewall Battery
In ’73 Cessna introduced the extended baggage, but it has a raised floor to accommodate the battery. You can always change it later if you find you want the room.

BAS Harnesses
BAS Handles

GAMI’s
Engine Monitor
These will let you fly LOP. I burn 10gph at 23 squared, 12gph at 25 squared. Hanging back with the cub guys at 95-100mph 4.5gph.

Door Stewards

Engine heater if you plan on going where it gets cold, either Tanis or Reiff.

That explains the flat baggage floor I see folks talk about, thanks. I had GAMIs and EDM700 on my Bonanza, paid for itself easily. I didn't run LOP often, fuel was a lot cheaper then so I always went fast. But I had a spark plug die once and that took two seconds to find rather than pulling 12 plugs and testing them all. Had a Reiff on it too, awesome people to work with.

406 ELT

Two things first:

1) What year of 185 are we talking about? (significant differences as far as mods needed between a 1961 and a 1985)
2) Most importantly (in my opinion)....the often used, "what's your mission?"

Example, if your mission is to fly to the East coast for vacation from North Texas and you have a stock '79 model...nothing. Avgas and maybe an engine monitor.

If your mission is to fly to Alaska and the 185 is your all purpose jeep and need to hit some really short, rough stuff; you need more wing.

In my case, i have a fairly late model so I didn't have to mod it for my mission. Mine's a '75 and has long range fuel, extended baggage, factory removable jump seats, etc. I fly from North Texas to Idaho with the confidence to hit all the strips but the "big creek 4." So, for me my must haves are 8.50's, safety equipment, and a heater. Literally the only STC's i have on my 40 plus year old plane are 8.50's, Tanis, and aftermarket fuel drains (previous owner).

For guys with an early model it would have to be extended baggage first. For guys that really need to get short and rough...sportman and 29's and a tailwheel. For the guys that are on floats and short lake; wing-X and a 550.

That's the "must-haves" for me. But, there are a lot of "nice to haves"!! My nice to haves are firewall battery, GAMI's, pull handles, and flat baggage floor.

P.S. Just to give perspective on what a 185 can do with proficiency...there's very little a 185 can't do in the right hands. Much shorter, many would say you need a cub or a helicopter. Faster, you need a Cirrus. A friend of mine operates (and has for 30 plus years) his stock 185 off of one of two 1200' and 600' (when light) unimproved pasture strips. When I say stock...I mean not a single STC. 8.00's and an 8" TW. He and his wife operate out of that farm strip and blast to Colorado on a regular basis at 140 knots and have since I was a kid.

Bill

mtv wrote:The tail pull handles and BAS harnesses are really the only "Must haves" I can think of.

Early airplanes had the "killer caps" on fuel fillers.....those need to be replaced.

Other than that, just get a GOOD checkout and enjoy it.

MTV

A pod is the first thing I couldn't live without. I prefer the Firmin pod. Probably useless if its a weekend toy?
Then exactly what Mike said.
Fly it a lot. Takes a bunch of hours to be real handy in one.
And keep it as light as possible.

On down the list-
big prop/big eng if it don't have
sportsman
winx x
big tanks
....

fiftynineSC wrote:Two things first:

1) What year of 185 are we talking about? (significant differences as far as mods needed between a 1961 and a 1985)
2) Most importantly (in my opinion)....the often used, "what's your mission?"

Example, if your mission is to fly to the East coast for vacation from North Texas and you have a stock '79 model...nothing. Avgas and maybe an engine monitor.

If your mission is to fly to Alaska and the 185 is your all purpose jeep and need to hit some really short, rough stuff; you need more wing.

In my case, i have a fairly late model so I didn't have to mod it for my mission. Mine's a '75 and has long range fuel, extended baggage, factory removable jump seats, etc. I fly from North Texas to Idaho with the confidence to hit all the strips but the "big creek 4." So, for me my must haves are 8.50's, safety equipment, and a heater. Literally the only STC's i have on my 40 plus year old plane are 8.50's, Tanis, and aftermarket fuel drains (previous owner).

For guys with an early model it would have to be extended baggage first. For guys that really need to get short and rough...sportman and 29's and a tailwheel. For the guys that are on floats and short lake; wing-X and a 550.

That's the "must-haves" for me. But, there are a lot of "nice to haves"!! My nice to haves are firewall battery, GAMI's, pull handles, and flat baggage floor.

P.S. Just to give perspective on what a 185 can do with proficiency...there's very little a 185 can't do in the right hands. Much shorter, many would say you need a cub or a helicopter. Faster, you need a Cirrus. A friend of mine operates (and has for 30 plus years) his stock 185 off of one of two 1200' and 600' (when light) unimproved pasture strips. When I say stock...I mean not a single STC. 8.00's and an 8" TW. He and his wife operate out of that farm strip and blast to Colorado on a regular basis at 140 knots and have since I was a kid.

Bill

Bill - great question, thank you for that. First thing I ask folks who come to me for advice about a plane/car/pistol or rifle build is "what's your mission." Reading the rest of your post you and I are singing from the same sheet of music.

What year? Late model is what I'm thinking...so far. 185F. However, comma, an earlier one with upgraded panel, reasonable mods or a price that let's me do mods isn't off the table. I don't know enough about them all yet to say it must be a 19xx year bird. Learning is occuring.

Number 2, my mission. I have never owned an aircraft with a 185's capabilities before so my mission will probably grow with my experience. I would love to have the abliity to do a little more exploring. I've never camped with my plane before. Never been able to do any kind of backcountry flying and want to be able to check out some neat places. For me the 185 is quite capable, reasonably fast, can haul anything you fit in it. I like the useful load because when I need it, it's there. When I don't I get to operate 400-500# under max gross at full fuel. Whether I run to Hard Eight BBQ in Stephenville or OSH or northern WI/MN in the summer it's all doable from N. Texas in a 185.

Couple must haves as far as I'm concerned are things I had on other planes. Fuel flow/totalizer, engine moniter, GAMI injectors, shoulder harnesses. I'm learning about these seat rails and installations so whatever I need to do there for a safer operation I will do. For me another must have is avionics for a solid IFR platform. Found a couple with autopilots, had one in my Bonanza, loved it. Autopilot would be a want,not a must have. If I find the right plane without, so be it. But again, if I find a structurally sound bird at a price point that lets me gut the panel and do avionics, okey dokey.

Already since my original post I've been reminded of the TurtlePac and other options for fuel vs. Flint tips should I EVER think I need it so, learning is occurring. Trying to learn all these things y'all know to help assign some value to what I'm seeing. I can't afford one of these pampered amphibious $250k airplanes. Good plane, good firewall forward, good enough avionics that I can fly and save money for upgrades would be okay. Depends on the price.

No I don't envision hard core Alaskan bush flying. Floats in the future is a maybe, big maybe. I would love to camp OSH. Would love to make an Alaska trip. Everything in between would be smaller trips and outside of that the majority of my flying would be shorts hops or local flights to hone skills, give rides, have fun and just go commit aviation.

Buy good bones- By that I mean a good airframe that isn't all cracked and abused. Nothing wrong with a properly repaired airframe and you will find plenty that have been rebuilt better than factory new. Ignore the people that say the only airframe to buy is a low time all original airframe. We're not buying a pre owned Lexas here. These are working airplanes just like big Boeings. They get rebuilt,repaired and upgraded. You will find that many of the mods improve not only the performance, but correct some of the original shortcomings of the design. A bone stock 185 is quite capable, but as previously mentioned I would consider having some kind of engine monitor and BAS harnesses absolutely mandatory. If you're intending to do much dirt work, some upgrade to larger tires (within reason). People get carried away with size. Kinda like young kids with a jacked up pickup and huge tires. You will find many Alaska part135 airplanes run 8.50s or Goodyear 27 blimp tires because they wear like iron on all surfaces. A wide fork for the tailwheel with a hard 400x4 glider tire is another well proven mod. Beyond the basics, its pretty much what you intend to do with the aircraft. Just realize that many of the mods and stc's don't come cheap and represent a fair investment. IMHO, I like any mod that improves durability and utility while allowing universal use. Wheels, Skis and floats. VFR and Soft IFR. I avoid any unreversable mod that compromises utility.

The previous posters have certainly covered the 'must haves' and the 'wants' are never ending.

I would be sure to have a great/excellent LED beacon and NAV/strobes. There are many phenomenal products out there and while spendy, they make you light up nicely. Its hard enough to see other planes at times, so you might as well make it easier. Spending money on safety is a no brainer to me.

Comment on the Flint tanks: I have them and while very handy to have, they are only handy if you have a step ladder to fill them. I bought my plane with them already installed. I would certainly not add them based on my experience. I have seen a couple of Cessna's with the Flints tanks that have small cracks on the top skins, outboard of the strut connection. Mine included. The cause of those cracks can be debated endlessly with it still being undecided. The Flints do add addition weight (14 lbs tank/pump/etc per wing) and when full of fuel (72 lbs per wing) the plane feels a bit sluggish. IMO

Shoulder harness (I prefer BAS)
Cleveland or 2 piece McCauley wheels and brakes (failures of 3 piece McCauleys were common, parts for all McCauleys are hard to find)
Fuel flow with totalizator (nice when screwing around light with partial tanks without worrying about how much fuel left)
BAS handles (you can spend lots of money fixing the horizontal stab)

listed in order of importance, anything else are nice to haves

To put this in perspective in 2006 I and a bunch of guys went to ID. We had the pleasure of talking to Ray Arnold for 45 minutes at Chamberlin Basin after he taxied over to say hi. He was flying a stock late model 185 with stock 8.00x6 tires and it looked like everything else was stock also. I got the impression that he was happy to go to any of the strips with it like that as long as you were willing to pay. Flying everyday makes up for a lot of modifications.

73 or newer have the factory cuff. When I had my 73 with me and full fuel it landed better slowed to 65 MPH, slowing farther on short final, still felt good, How much slower do you want to go on a half mile final? Not all but most who modify their airplanes with STOL kits don't have the skills to get that last 20% (read 800 ft strip rather than 1000 ft or 400 ft rather than 500 ft) nor the risk tolerance for when something goes wrong to operate on a 800 ft strip. They just want to be able to say they can land and stop in 300 feet on a paved 5000 ft strip with clear approaches. The real key is practice, Being able to pick your touch down spot every time. Using the least rough part of the landing area and never landing short nor giving up landing distance by landing longer than required.

I know you didn't want to talk about engine mods but before I bought a STOL kit I would buy a 86 inch McCauley 401 prop or to keep the people on this site happy a MT. 20% more thrust with either right out of the box.

Tim

Good tip on the prop, thanks.

Bat443....Excellent and informative post, thank you for sharing.

Nate,

We'll have to talk rifles one of these days over some bar-b-que, that's a love of mine as well.

On your mission statement; local flying, IFR platform, camping trip to Oshkosh....all easily done. Matter of fact, a stock early 180 is considered a primo plane for that mission so you are belt and suspenders with any 185 with the higher useful load more HP. The big thing to me is floats and high DA. I've never flown with floats, but the people I know and trust that have say that's where the 185 (even better with wing mods) really shine. A stock 180 is also a great mountain camping plane, but that extra horse power really helps. That's why many in our community think that a 180 with a carbureted 520 is the best of both worlds. When in Idaho, I leap off the ground pretty well with room to spare on most strips.

I had two 180's before my 185. One was a '55 and the other was a '75. Liked them both. I was working internationally for a little bit and out of the airplane game. When I moved back to the states and started thinking about an airplane again...I took the advice similar to ROCKHOPPER above and looked for a clean platform. For me, I just started searching for the cleanest 180/185 I could find that best equipped for me. Fuselage above all else. Engine, Panel and interior can all be tailored to fit (within economic reason).

Good luck with the search,
Bill

fiftynineSC wrote:.... A friend of mine operates (and has for 30 plus years) his stock 185 off of one of two 1200' and 600' (when light) unimproved pasture strips. When I say stock...I mean not a single STC. 8.00's and an 8" TW. He and his wife operate out of that farm strip and blast to Colorado on a regular basis at 140 knots and have since I was a kid.

I think this speaks volumes.

Thanks everyone, learned a ton here, appreicate the info. I agree with y'all. Clean airframe all day long. Good solid prebuy inspection. Go from there.

Since I fly a much modified P172D, I won't get into the niceties of 180s and 185s, except to say that BAS harnesses for both front seaters and the Cessna seat restrainer on the pilot's side are absolute must haves, in any older airplane.

I have a different seat restrainer for the passenger side, and there are several alternatives than the rather pricey Cessna version, but it's the best for the pilot's side.

The advantage of BAS harnesses for any airplane with a manual flap handle is the ability to reach for the handle on the floor without taking off the shoulder harness. That inertia reel system works extraordinarily well, locking up immediately in any kind of sudden movement, but it leaves the pilot with much freedom to reach for things, including the flap handle.

Beyond that, from what I've seen, there are 180s and 185s that range from bare bones to extraordinarily equipped. If you can find what you want with a good IFR panel, you'll be miles ahead, as adding avionics is really, really pricey--and that's a truism with any airplane. Other add-on things are generally less pricey.

Cary