Rough grass runways

[jwpatton3]

Any thoughts on tires or wheel mods that might help an RV 6 on grass runway . MY purpose is to visit the backcountry landing areas in Idaho. Have in the past flown a C-180 but have the RV6 now. Thanks. John Patton, Mancos, CO

 

[Ron Lee]

Talk to the Cub folks. They have 25 inch and around 31 inch tires.

 

[smokyray]

AK Bushwheels on my X?

John,

I operate my RVX Hybrid off my 1500 foot (usable) strip with larger tires and modified Van's WP's. I first modified my HR2 with what I call the "Steve Sampson" Mod then later my RV(6)X. The improvement is very noticeable, especially on muddy/sandy ground. Although he humbly has given the credit to other UK sources, Steve was the catalyst for my conversion.
The Mod is removing the 500X5 tires and installing Aero Classic 380X150X5 tires and raising and enlarging the opening on the Van's PR pants. On my HR2 I noticed no speed loss from the previous Sam James pants and 500X5's. The X has always had 380's so I have no speed comparison. Flat out it will indicate 173 knots with 150 horses.

I have attached the thread describing the Mod and a link to Steve's original blog post.

http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showthread.php?t=23360&highlight=bushwheels+Rocket

http://gikonfinsh.blogspot.com/

See Ya!
Smokey

 

[recapen]

I upgraded my main tires to 380 x 15 x 5 - they fit on the stock rims and have external dimensions of a 6x6 tire. With the upgraded tires, I added the thicker disc rotor and the spacer for the caliper (it is an upgrade kit from cleveland). I also added a spacer to move the rotor out .0625 to prevent the tire from rubbing the caliper. All works very well. For the nose (6A) I added a larger fork to accomodate the stock mainwheel/tire combo as a nosewheel.

The new main wheels are covered with SamJames RV10 mainwheel pants and the new nose wheel is covered with a SamJames RV6 mainwheel pant.

I'm based in Laurel, DE (N06). Most folks there agree that the runway is 'less than optimum'.