Thanks Dan

Size Matters
 

Guys,

The 380X150X5 tires not only work better on grass, they also work better on pavement and increase the footprint to 6 inches. They fit under a stock Vans pressure recovery wheelpant (see the beginning of this thread) with some cutting and didn't slow me down at all. Highly recommended.
RV-10 main wheels are 600X6 and the pants are much larger. Upon measurement, the 380X150X5's only lack 0.5" in width and 1.5" in height difference from the 600X6's but look better installed. The RV10 pants on a Rocket or 2 seat RV look too big to me. The 380's are the perfect RV/Rocket tire in my humble opinion. :)

Smokey
HR2

I've never flown a tri-gear RV so I have no direct experience. But I did own a Mooney (F Model with mods to make it an "almost 201" J model).

I found it easy to land in all conditions BUT, and this was a big BUT, you had to land it on the mains first or PIO was guaranteed and, owing to the low ground clearance a prop strike.

I had this happen to my airplanes twice by two different pilots exactly one year apart. Yes two prop strikes (one was a guy I allowed on the insurance and never should have - he was an idiot - the other was a CFI when the plane was on leaseback).

In both cases pilots had a "bad" landing with PIO and prop strike; went around and in one case flew to a nearby airport and shot T&Gs; then returned to land and didn't know they had struck the prop until putting the airplane away in the hanger ("Hey, why are the prop tips bent like that?").

So I know a great landing airplane can be made to be a bad landing airplane and can even have thing break with bad technique. I'm not weighing in on the specifics of the A model nose gear "issues" but maybe Van's is on to something.

I'm just sayin'

Big Tires on a 6A
 

Just thought I would show some pictures on the best big tire thread. I did not have to change the mounting of the wheel pants, just trimmed them, mostly on the sides and the back.




Hans

Okay I took the plunge
 

Hans thanks for your pictures. That helped answer a couple of questions. Cutting out the bottom isn't much of a problem. Moving the mounting brackets was more work then I wanted to do. "Big" tires on order.

RV-10 wheel pants.
 

A friend here in New Zealand has an RV6 with pressure recovery wheel pants. He often has to remove the wheel pants right where he is and pull out all the grass from inside them because it feels like the brakes have jammed on. He only has the standard 5.00 x 5 tyres and not the larger 380X150X5 tyres discussed here. This problem would be worse with the larger tyres. This is not on farm strips, but ordinary airfields here. Just a function of the typography and how much money is available to maintain airfields I guess. He also had a stone jam up between the tyre and the wheel pant and take a chunk out of it, again on a regular airfield, not out in the boondocks somewhere.

I would probably be a bit more adventurous in where I would take my plane (building RV6), so would be keen on the 380X150X5 tyres, but really think larger wheel pants would help out in this regard. Taking the wheel pants off every time you land where there?s a bit of grass is going to be a real pain. Has anyone installed RV10 wheel pants on an RV4/6/7/8? Sounds like a better alternative than flying around without any at all??..

Really Vans should offer 6.00x6 as a factory option on these aircraft.

Cheers,
Andrew.

Andrew,

Contact Van's. I know of one RV-9 builder/flier (Michael Ice) who ordered custom gear legs for his -9 so he can put on 6.00 x 6 wheels and tires.

The RV8R...
 

G'Day Andy,

I have a stack of old RV8R newsletters going back to the late 80's when I started my -4. One of them showed Van's then RV-6B prototype which they installed 600X6 tires and wheels on. They extensively tested it on many surfaces but found only a modest difference in performance above the 500X5's.
Three advantages I see for the 380's over 600X6's. I compared the 500X5 footprint to the 380's footprint and it is 6 inches across the bottom (1) and slightly less tall than the 600X6 and fits easily on stock Van's PR pants (2) and requires no wheel replacement.(3) The 600X6 doesn't gain you alot more than the 380's and requires much more cost.

I now have 300 hours on the 380's with excellent overall results across the board and no wheel pant clogging. My strip is gooey most of the year and the wider footprint really helps the Rocket:)

Smokey
HR2

Bonzer reply Smokey. Steve Sampson flying a 4 out of a grass strip in Yorkshire (A up) England, fitted these tyres and has nothing but good things to say about the modification. This is on my list even though there is a slight weight penalty.

Tyres and wheels.
 

Gidday Smokey,

I concur there is didley squit difference between the 380X150X5's and 6.00x6 tyres. It's just that if they had a 6.00x6 wheel option you could then put some decent tyres on your RV if you needed them like 8.00x6 or even 8.50's.

I was pretty surprised at the story told by my RV6 friend. The first instance of the grass filling up the wheel pants was at what is to us a big regular council owned airfield. I just thought if you had a big RV10 wheel pant sitting atop the 380X150X5 tyre this wouldn't happen. Mud isn't the problem and it just doesn't get cold enough here for must or water to freeze up in the wheel pants as some have discussed here. Its just the grass!


Hi there Bill,

You put in touch with Mike Ice. He had to do it all himself, deal directly with Harmon Lange etc., all too hard for me from the other side of the world. I concluded as Smokey has pointed out that for all the effort involved it wasn't worth it as the 380x150x5 tyre provided as great a benefit. Mike also was happy to fly around without wheel pants and was planning to utilise a stone guard. RVs look really ugly without wheel pants ;) and the loss of speed is so great it puts them back within reach of some "lesser" aircraft. Of course Mike now has the option of putting some really decent tyres on...... ABW! :D

Keep the comments coming!

Cheers,
Andrew.