smokyray
Well Known Member
Guys,
Just thought I would share my test results on the 380X150X5 tires on my Rocket after 100 hours. I operate off a nice but sometimes gooey 2200' home turf strip and frequent a friends 1100' rough one-way strip. The 500X5's on my Rocket were too small for the weight and footprint and I needed to try something new. I was considering going to 600X6's as my Rocket buddy Dale did until I saw Steve Sampson's post on his blog. Time to start the R&R!
First I removed the original Sam James pants, leg fairings & mount brackets. Then I removed the wheels and axles. Rockets axles are similar to the C-172, bolted to the titanium gear leg (I jack my rocket using a car floor jack with a mod to fit under one of the gear bolts)
Second I copied the aluminum van's wheelpant mounting brackets in chrome moly steel and installed nutplates. Prime/paint.
Third, installed tires and new butyl rubber tubes from Desser, cleaned/packed bearings. (note, put one thick washer underneath each brake disc bolt hole to move the disc out slightly from wheel, tires are quite a bit wider)to allow brake pad/caliper clearance from tire.
Fourth, my friend Ronnie used Steve's photos to fit my new Van's pressure recovery pants over the new tires. I stipulated one 2X4 width (4")clearance at the aft part behind the tire. Ronnie carefully made the pants contour to the tire all the way around with 1/2" clearance including dipping down around the bottom of the wheel itself, very slick, and hopefully aerodynamic. Install Team Rocket leg fairings (stronger).
Fifth Bolt it all together and go fly. Assembly showed almost 2" clearance from the top of the tire to the wheelpant (better than my RV4 with 500X5's) I used Kry-Lon to roughly paint the Van's pants and fairings for testing.
Flying: The first taxi-out really put a grin on my face as the airplane felt like a cub easily rolling along over my rough backyard. On takeoff it rolled much easier from a dead stop and of course the Rocket vertical climb...standard. My next question was speed, how much did I lose? Rather amazingly, none! It seems Ronnies attention to detail paid off as I couldn't see one knot of difference. Woo Hoo!
Epiloge: I removed the pants for final painting just before I left for South Africa last week. Ronnie expertly filled/sanded and painted the pants while I was gone, awesome! Overall I consider the 380X150X5 tire to be a vast improvement over the 500X5 on turf or gravel. Thanks again to Steve Sampson for a great idea!
Rob Ray
In my driveway
Big Uns!
Ronnie at work
Final Cut
Just thought I would share my test results on the 380X150X5 tires on my Rocket after 100 hours. I operate off a nice but sometimes gooey 2200' home turf strip and frequent a friends 1100' rough one-way strip. The 500X5's on my Rocket were too small for the weight and footprint and I needed to try something new. I was considering going to 600X6's as my Rocket buddy Dale did until I saw Steve Sampson's post on his blog. Time to start the R&R!
First I removed the original Sam James pants, leg fairings & mount brackets. Then I removed the wheels and axles. Rockets axles are similar to the C-172, bolted to the titanium gear leg (I jack my rocket using a car floor jack with a mod to fit under one of the gear bolts)
Second I copied the aluminum van's wheelpant mounting brackets in chrome moly steel and installed nutplates. Prime/paint.
Third, installed tires and new butyl rubber tubes from Desser, cleaned/packed bearings. (note, put one thick washer underneath each brake disc bolt hole to move the disc out slightly from wheel, tires are quite a bit wider)to allow brake pad/caliper clearance from tire.
Fourth, my friend Ronnie used Steve's photos to fit my new Van's pressure recovery pants over the new tires. I stipulated one 2X4 width (4")clearance at the aft part behind the tire. Ronnie carefully made the pants contour to the tire all the way around with 1/2" clearance including dipping down around the bottom of the wheel itself, very slick, and hopefully aerodynamic. Install Team Rocket leg fairings (stronger).
Fifth Bolt it all together and go fly. Assembly showed almost 2" clearance from the top of the tire to the wheelpant (better than my RV4 with 500X5's) I used Kry-Lon to roughly paint the Van's pants and fairings for testing.
Flying: The first taxi-out really put a grin on my face as the airplane felt like a cub easily rolling along over my rough backyard. On takeoff it rolled much easier from a dead stop and of course the Rocket vertical climb...standard. My next question was speed, how much did I lose? Rather amazingly, none! It seems Ronnies attention to detail paid off as I couldn't see one knot of difference. Woo Hoo!
Epiloge: I removed the pants for final painting just before I left for South Africa last week. Ronnie expertly filled/sanded and painted the pants while I was gone, awesome! Overall I consider the 380X150X5 tire to be a vast improvement over the 500X5 on turf or gravel. Thanks again to Steve Sampson for a great idea!
Rob Ray
In my driveway
Big Uns!
Ronnie at work
Final Cut
Last edited: