FWIW I just checked the Desser website- the Goodyear 26x10.5-6 blimpie tires are 22.7# & $678 each without tubes. So about 45# and $1350 for the pair, plus another couple hundred bucks and ?# for the tubes.

hotrod150 wrote:FWIW I just checked the Desser website- the Goodyear 26x10.5-6 blimpie tires are 22.7# & $678 each without tubes. So about 45# and $1350 for the pair, plus another couple hundred bucks and ?# for the tubes.

According to Alaska Tundra Tires website 8.50x6 tubes weigh 4.3lbs each. So that brings the total up to 27lbs per side with the blimp tires.

http://www.alaskatundratires.com/prices.html

It's interesting to me that nobody has asked the question: What specifically is your most common mission for these tires?

First, what percentage of ops will be pavement?

Second, when you do go off airport, what sort of "off airport" are you going to be on? Gravel bars, or rock piles, or hill tops, or beaches, or ?????

There is absolutely no question in my mind that the Alaska Bushwheel products are the best tires out there, and for the price, they should be. The question is: Do you REALLY need the capabilities of those tires?

Rob makes some good points regarding tire flexibility, but even that matters primarily in ROUGH stuff, whereas on beaches and many sand/gravel bars, sidewall and tread flex really doesn't matter....there what you're looking for is floatation and patch size.

I too like the option that others didn't mention till a while ago: The ABW 10 inch wheel/Gar Aero Adapter with 8.50 x 10.00 tires. Those tires give you pretty good floatation and wear forever. They're not nearly as heavy as the 29 x 11 x 10 tires either.

The 29 x 11x 10 tires, if they're buffed down (which I highly recommend) actually are sorta flexible, but nothing like the ABW tires.

The other big advantage that all the ABW tires offer over all these other tires is they're true tubeless tires. Which means you can air them down to ridiculous pressures.

For several years I ran a set of 8.50 x 10 tires on adapters on a Cub, with the tires staked to the wheels. Never had any problems and went a LOT of places with those tires at low pressures.

Are the ABW tires better? Absolutely, like LOTS better. But, they are expensive as hell, and they wear out fast if you're on pavement a lot. Or very much at all.

Oh, and I wouldn't run ABW Airstreaks on a Citabria. They're going to wear pretty fast on that heavy a plane. For a few bucks more, you can get the regular Bushwheels, and they'll outwear the Streaks.

Opinion, of course.

MTV

For you guys that know better then me, don't the 31" tires have more rubber on them? I've heard a few times that if you fet 29"ABWs to get them with an extra layer of rubber. What does that do to the cost/weight compared to just buying 31s?

MTV's question of mission trumps all... It really is the best way to approach most anything with these winged beasts...

A1, I don't *think* there is any more rubber to a 31" tires contact area, I do know that at least in the past the belts or plies were a different material than the 29's. I also know that in the past you could ask wup to lay a set of tires up heavy on rubber, a great plan on an aircraft with Cessna gear on it BTW. I don't know if either one of these still hold true, after all the ownership has changed and these are hand built items.

As for the question between 29's and 31's, as always I recommend examining your mission and selecting accordingly. I have also always recommended trying a set somewhere before buying. These are pretty big ticket items, so you may as well experience what they are and which set makes YOU happiest. As I pointed out before, I tend to prefer 31's on a C180, but most people do not. They flex a ton in the sidewall which tends to spook some folks... to me it just means they're working The only draw back (and it can be a big one) is the reduced GW on the 31's vs. 29's. There are several BCP'rs that swore 29's were THE choice for a 180, and are now running 31's. There are a few that can't stand the 31's on a 180 as well...

8.50 x 10's... a great sand tire IMHO, until you've had to push a loaded 180 out of the silt They are indeed a great bang for the buck, on gar aero adapters except they are almost Mexican (because they become so low profile they hardly have any sidewall) On ABW 10" wheels they don't get spread out so wide and retain a little side wall... If I ran these, that'd be my choice for wheels...

35's........ The cub 35's are indeed different 10" x 6" or however that goes.... I have had both sets of black wheels, well all 3 that were available at the time , and the cub 35's will not mount on the Airhawk wheels... And on the 35 note, why oh why can't 180's be on this STC . No one in their right mind would want to leave their 180 on these for permanent... but I have' heard' that a big engined reasonably light 180 on 35's is almost funner than sex....

Take care, Rob

I would mostly be landing on rockie river beds and my little 8.50x6s can't handle it. I seldom land on pavement unless it's necessary. Do 31s handle big rocks better than 29s?

FWIW: I found a larger then expected difference between the 26" Airstreaks I first had and the 29" Airstreaks I now have. The volume of air contained (the cushion) is much greater then the slightly larger diameter may seem to offer. Something about pie, volume of a circle, 3.14? I'll let others do the math, but a LOT more cush in a little bigger tire. Also, the one time I had occasion to lift a 35" ABW, I was amazed how light it was, relative to it's size, more pie maybe.

As for pressure, I have mentioned I run 1.5 psi. Because of the NOFLATS goop in my tires, making any pressure change, lowering anyway, takes so long I have gotten into the habit of taking the valve stem OUT, then checking back in a half hour or so. When I do, the tires don't look much different then when I air them up to 1.5 or so. At some point, I need to go fly with zero psi showing on the gauge, staying off the side slopes of course, or at least making my turn arounds real quick, if for no other reason then to determine is a flat tire is a non event for me, like I think it is.

Okay....mission = rocky river bars. I'd forget the ten inch tires. Bushwheels would be the best bet there.

29s or 31s? How much money do you want to spend and how much useful load are you willing to lose?

A low gross weight Citabria is almost a single seat airplane anyway, legally, so the bigger the tire, the closer you are to a serious diet and exercise program.

Rob talks a lot about Cessnas, but at least for the moment, you're dealing with a Champ. My recommendation for that airplane would be the 29 inch ABW. And, they'll work fine on a 180 too, but they may well be worn out by the time you get that 180

At one point, the 31 ABW was a radial ply tire, while the 29 was still a bias ply tire. The bias ply tire wore better on the heavier planes than the radials, because the radials squirm more on pavement. Many recommended then to use the 29s on Cessnas for this reason. Now, however, they're all radials, so no longer a factor.

At least I think that's what I recall from the lecture I got several years ago

So, for the bigger planes, pick your choose. As Rob says, the Bushwheels squirm on pavement, which bothers some.

The 8.50 x 10 tires do well on the smaller planes in sand. As long as you have decent prop clearance.

Pick your choose, in any case.

MTV

N300RE wrote:I would mostly be landing on rockie river beds and my little 8.50x6s can't handle it. I seldom land on pavement unless it's necessary. Do 31s handle big rocks better than 29s?

It all depends how big of rocks you're landing on. You'll see a huge improvement no matter what size bushwheels you choose. Just make sure you keep the pressure low so they can do their job. You may be happy with 26" bushwheels. But larger ones will definitely increase your landing possibilities. Bigger bushwheels will definitely allow you to land on larger rocks and rougher terrain. I have 26" bushwheels, they're great for most of the off airport flying I do, but there are times when I wish I had bigger ones. If you do a lot of off airport flying I say buy the 31s.

On another note, If you have to use them on asphalt just be really careful how you treat them. Land/takeoff and even taxi in the grass on the side if you can. Make wide turns when you have to taxi on asphalt and NEVER pivot on one wheel. If you have to land on asphalt, land as slow as you can and as close to your turnoff as you can. Make intersection departures if you have the room instead of taxiing all the way down to the end of the runway. There's a lot of ways to reduce the wear and tear to the bushwheels if you're smart about it. They will last a long time if you treat them nice.

I had 31"s on my 7GCBC and loved them. Ran them at 4.5 psi. Also had the Baby bushweel on the back. Landed lots of rock bars and am glad i didn't have smaller tires.

N300RE wrote:I would mostly be landing on rockie river beds and my little 8.50x6s can't handle it. I seldom land on pavement unless it's necessary. Do 31s handle big rocks better than 29s?

Absolutely, not just because of the added rolling radius, but because by design the are softer in the sidewall...

mtv wrote:Rob talks a lot about Cessnas, but at least for the moment, you're dealing with a Champ. My recommendation for that airplane would be the 29 inch ABW. And, they'll work fine on a 180 too, but they may well be worn out by the time you get that 180

I'm sorry, my post did get a little convoluted as I was addressing A1Skinner (the C180 guy) and the OP (Champ guy) in the same post.
As I indicated in my first post, Champ wise, I would not advise the 29" BUSHWHEEL over the 31 in a Champ. The reason is because since the 29" BUSHWHEEL is designed for a higher GW, it has a stiffer sidewall. If you don't really need / want a 31" tire and your airplane is eligible for the 29" Airstreak, then that would be my next tire of choice... but all that is just me....

The wear factor of 31's on a 1100# +/- airplane that lands at 38 mph +/- can be negligible if the aircraft is handled thoughtfully with respect towards the tires. The other Rob summed up that thought process excellently ....

Take care, Rob

mtv wrote: For several years I ran a set of 8.50 x 10 tires on adapters on a Cub, with the tires staked to the wheels. Never had any problems and went a LOT of places with those tires at low pressures.....

How did you stake them? A friend of mine secured his 26" blimpies to the wheels by drilling out one (or more?) of the hubcap screw holes and installing a lag screw just long enough to penetrate the tire bead. Never had any slippage trouble, but the lag screw broke off when he tried to remove it some time later. He got it out with a pair of vicegrips after removing the wheel halves from the tire, but it wasn't an ideal solution..

Yep, screws through the hubcap screw holes. Use stainless screws.

MTV

Rob wrote:
Speedbump!

WHOLLY SHIZ! where have you been brother! Shoot me a pm with some contact info, It would be awesome to catch up some! FWIW the cub you experienced got screwed in a hailstorm several years back and when I rebuilt it (again ) I put it on 35's. Lots of mixed feelings about those, but way beyond of the scope of this thread. I do still have some 31's in the barn though, so if you'r interested in being the video guy, or pilot while I video we could probably cobble together something to suit your suggestion

Take care, Rob

Just noticed his post also!! Holy crap, I haven't seen Speedbump post in eons!! Funny thing is, I bought a set of GY 26's from him many years ago. Ended up selling them for what I paid him for them, and bought some Akbushweels. Bought another plane....Then, ended up buying another New set of GY's for mega dollars since I couldn't find a used set. Learned a valueable lesson......remove the tires when selling a plane and put the stock one's back on. Throw the big tires in the hangar since you won't get what you paid for them and will probably buy another plane that you want the big tires for. Experience is hard on the wallet sometimes!!!
When I ordered the new GY's it was during that time that tubes were hard to get also and I think they were around $150 each.

Back to the original topic, I have been casually looking at 180's also and for my use I think the GY's will be optimal.

speedbump wrote:What you need Rob, is some video shot from the back of your Cub demonstrating how 31s soak up rocks.

Welcome to BCP.

Zzz wrote:

speedbump wrote:What you need Rob, is some video shot from the back of your Cub demonstrating how 31s soak up rocks.

Welcome to BCP.

Pretty sure you meant welcome back, or... welcome to the new BCP orrr... something like that...
Anyways, speedbumps comment was a little bit of an insider, as about a dozen or so years ago several of us were playing on a dry lake bed when I managed to find what was probably the only boulder in the whole thing. It was bowling ball sized and being on 31's, I probably wouldn't have noticed it much but it bounced around and made it in the video.

... and now you know... the rest of the story...

good day!

And while we are welcoming speedy back... I'll take this moment to point out that ajfriz isn't the only one who tried to have a young gal model for the Bwheel crew...

speedbump tried that angle moons ago