The original tires on the Miss'ippi Mudbug were 600-6 re-treads from Desser tires. They have been showing some wear lately and since I'm stepping up to a 10" tailwheel, I though it was time to step up to some bigger tires up front as well. So I went ahead and purchased some 800-6 tires and new tubes from Desser. These were again re-treads.
Here is a before picture of the tires on the Mudbug. These are the
600-6 tires:
These were removed and since they have tread still on them, I saved them
along with the tubes in case I need them later for some reason. The
same wheels were used and we mounted the 800-6 tires on them. Here
is the after shot with the 800-6 tires mounted:
I think it changes the whole look of the airplane. In addition to being
taller, these are also wider:
Here is a picture showing the comparison between the 600-6 tires and the
new 800-6 tires:
Here is the new, meaner stance of the Miss'ippi Mudbug with the new shoes
on:
Pretty cool huh? It was too late to fly it with the new tires but I will try them out tomorrow and see how it feels.
Update August 22, 2009
I finally got around to mounting my new 10" Bob tailwheel. Here it
is all mounted and ready to go
flying:
Its a thing of beauty. I followed Bob Barrow's advice and ditched the
compression type steering springs and went with some new tension springs.
According to Bob, what could happen with the compression springs is that
they can bottom out, thus putting incredible strain on your steering forks
and rudder spar. A twisted rudder spar would create a LOT of work. These
new ones are 13/16" diameter and about 4" long.
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