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  #1  
Old 10-22-2017, 07:54 AM
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DonFromTX DonFromTX is offline
 
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Default The Buck Stops Where?

Just ordered a new 500x5 inner tube from Vans, priced at $56 or so. After ordering, i thought to check for better prices, and found this: Chief Aircraft $79, Aircraft Spruce $59, Sky Geek $90 and Wal Mart $5.97.
This got me to thinking, what do I get for the extra bucks? The tube I recently took off (I must assume was an original kit tube from Vans) had absolutely no markings on it whatsoever and failed early in life.. I have 6 of the suckers spread on two planes, and they all leak. Since it obviously costs about $3 or less to manufacture one, just who is getting all those dollars we spend to get a tube we call aircraft that leak badly? Since a couple of the above sellers are selling the exact same tubes for vastly different prices, a lot of the dollars we spend are simple profit to the sellers. Anyone care to try to explain why this is the way it is?
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  #2  
Old 10-22-2017, 08:06 AM
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bkervaski bkervaski is online now
 
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I had the honor of landing a Cherokee 140 rental a few weeks ago with a flat nose wheel .. not a lot of fun .. Wal Mart shouldn't be on that list, you can probably assume the QC is an order of magnitude less. At least with products specific to aircraft you have a reasonable assumption that safety was a concern for the manufacturer.
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  #3  
Old 10-22-2017, 08:10 AM
F1R F1R is offline
 
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Default Michelin Air Stop tubes

With Michelin Airstops and nitrogen I can go over one year between inflation checks. 50 PSI for the F1 rocket with 540.

Even using air with a bicycle pump I am Ok for most of a year. I just top them off before -20C arrives.
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  #4  
Old 10-22-2017, 08:40 AM
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Someone is getting paid a lot of money for a little bit of paperwork...

I also think a huge contributor to "aviation" prices is liability insurance.

Alex
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  #5  
Old 10-22-2017, 08:43 AM
David Paule David Paule is offline
 
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I second the vote for the Michelin Airstops.

Dave
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  #6  
Old 10-22-2017, 09:07 AM
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FasGlas FasGlas is online now
 
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Because it says "Aviation", nothing more - nothing less. The same as aviation tire prices. What you get? Screwed!

I just had to fix a Jasco alternator on my D17. After taking the big shell off the Jasco alternator I found a small Prestolite 60 Amp alternator underneath, pretty much a Delco. I replaced the two cheap diode plates and I was back in business. Anyway, Jasco Alt = $1500 (Aviation), under the cover Delco = $100 (Auto). I once replaced an A/C compressor on a 310. The compressor came from Cessna in a box that said Cessna with a tag. Inside the box was a smaller box that contained the compressor, this box said Toyota. The Cessna price was over $700, that was 15 + years ago. What do ya think Cessna paid for it?
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  #7  
Old 10-22-2017, 11:04 AM
elev666 elev666 is offline
 
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Default Canada eh

If you guys are unhappy with The price of aircraft parts, try coming to Canada and shopping with a $.80 dollar,,,, we have to be thrifty to keep-em in the air when most GA airports are charging $2 / litre ( (7-$8 per US gallon) so when cruzzing Doug site a year ago I saw that Desser tire had a Black Friday special were every tire they sold got a free leak guard tube thrown in with the deal! I ordered a set of skins for my 6 and since shipping was free it cost me $130 which is a deal when ACS Canada charged me $100 for my last 5:00-5.
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  #8  
Old 10-22-2017, 12:19 PM
rv7charlie rv7charlie is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bkervaski View Post
I had the honor of landing a Cherokee 140 rental a few weeks ago with a flat nose wheel .. not a lot of fun .. Wal Mart shouldn't be on that list, you can probably assume the QC is an order of magnitude less. At least with products specific to aircraft you have a reasonable assumption that safety was a concern for the manufacturer.
You don't see at least a little inconsistency in having the high dollar 'aircraft quality' tube fail, and assigning blame for poor quality to Wal Mart? ;-)

Take a long hard look at crankshafts. Both Lyc & Cont have had big issues (Cont *twice* on the same design). When's the last time you heard about any automotive, industrial, agricultural, etc engine having a crankshaft issue?

As others have pointed out, many components used in certified a/c come straight of automotive and other production lines. (That stuff usually 'just works'.) I used to fly a Swift. One of the common 'undocumented' mods among Swifters was to replace the guts of the weak, unreliable 'certified' hydraulic pump (which was almost certainly originally sourced from some non-aviation production line) with the much higher quality & more powerful guts from a certain marine outdrive tilt pump.


Charlie
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  #9  
Old 10-22-2017, 12:33 PM
Jimzim Jimzim is offline
 
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Darn glad we have all those choices. Buy and use whichever you like! If Wal-mart works for you, use it. For those who are more comfortable with other sources, that's great, too. I'm just glad we have so many options. 🤑
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  #10  
Old 10-22-2017, 12:50 PM
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DonFromTX DonFromTX is offline
 
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That was a heck of a sale, I too took advantage of it,I have three tires and tubes on the shelf! I went for the retreads too!

Quote:
Originally Posted by elev666 View Post
If you guys are unhappy with The price of aircraft parts, try coming to Canada and shopping with a $.80 dollar,,,, we have to be thrifty to keep-em in the air when most GA airports are charging $2 / litre ( (7-$8 per US gallon) so when cruzzing Doug site a year ago I saw that Desser tire had a Black Friday special were every tire they sold got a free leak guard tube thrown in with the deal! I ordered a set of skins for my 6 and since shipping was free it cost me $130 which is a deal when ACS Canada charged me $100 for my last 5:00-5.
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