Tundra Tires

[Alan Wright]

I live on a grass strip in Michigan. During most of the winter we have a few inches of snow on the runway (too much for my RV-6 with stock wheels but not deep enough to require a ski plane). Has anybody equipped their RV with large tires to operate in these conditions? I have a neighbor who feels that 26 inch Alaska Bushwheels would work, although he hasn't tried it. I would appreciate hearing from anyone with experience in this area.

Thanks

Alan Wright

[N941WR]

Alan,

Check with Michael Ice. He is building a -9 up in AK and is putting 6" tires on his plane.

It turns out the 6" tires/wheels use the same axle as the tundra tires and this required him to have custom gear legs made with longer axles.

PS. Where in Michigan? We hope to fly up to visit Mom soon.

[Alan Wright]

Bill

Newman's Field (4N0) at Kalamazoo. Where the ice cream never runs out. Hope to see you.

Alan

[N941WR]

Alan,

As a grad of WMU, I think I just might be able to find it.

[GaryK]

Bill,
If you come up to Michigan post a message. There are quite a few RV's around Grand Rapids, I'm based at Ottawa Exec (Z98). We could plan a breakfast or lunch trip.

Gary
N715AB

[N941WR]

I will let you guys know when and if we make it up that way.

Our current plans are to head up there before OSH this year. Who knows what will really happen.

[TThurston]

I'd like to visit you next time I'm in Michigan. My sister lives about 2 miles east of the airport, just south of Bonnie Castle lake.

[Alan Wright]

By all means do so. I have a fully operational 50's soda fountain in my hangar. This really is where the ice cream never runs out (for fliers of radials, ragwings & taildraggers) and of course nose wheel RV's.

Alan

[N941WR]

Originally Posted by Alan Wright

By all means do so. ... and of course nose wheel RV's.

What about tail wheel RV's? Just want to make sure I'm welcome.

[Mike Ice]

Hello from the frozen north.

As Bill stated I did put 6:00 X 6 tires/wheels on my RV-9 (tail dragger). I did that so I can land on our numerous gravel (up to 3 inch rocks) runways and taxi with out getting stuck. Also it is hard to find large tires for 5" wheels and so I went with the 6".


But the original question is, will 26" Tundra Tires handle a couple of inches of snow? The answer is yes.

But I don't think your RV will be happy with 26" tires on it. The drag would be horrible unless you built some huge wheel pants for it. I had 26" tires on my last Cessna 170B and it slowed it down from about 110 to 90 mph.

When you say a couple of inches of snow that is pretty vague. A couple of inches of dry snow over a hard packed frozen runway or ramp shouldn't be a problem for any size trie/wheel combination. But make that a couple of inches of wet snow over uneven soggy ground and it is a different beast.

Allan, I think for your conditions if you upgrade to 6" wheels (not an easy task) you could then experiment with all sorts of tires combinations easily. I would bet 8:50 X 6 combination would handle the conditions you describe very well using soft field taxi/take off/landing techniques.

Count me in on the ice cream if I am ever in your area. If you or any RV folks find there way to Alaska look me up. I will provide all sorts of help if I can.

Mike Ice
Anchorage, Alaska
firewall forward (I can almost hear the motor running)