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Tire / tyre replacement strategy

WilliamF wrote:

You could carry a main and a nose wheel built up ready to go.

True but I just tried to reduce the weight of the on board tools and it would be heavy to carry 2 full wheels on every flight. So I try to explore solutions which represent a good compromise between likeliness of the failure and the hassle of getting it going. I assume like likeliness of a tire failure is maybe once in 10 years for our operation.

Maybe someone on here who is changing a tire anyway is willing to give those automotive foam things a try? I heard that on automotive rims it creates a mess but as the tube of the airplane wheel gets dumped anyway it might be worth a try to drill a hole in the tire and tube and then see how such a foam works out. If it works that might be an option to get a plane home.

www.ing-golze.de
EDAZ
I would not want to run a risk of having a flat tire when landing at home . You cannot know if the inner tube holds up for that flight. I had used the “Reifenpilot” decades ago, worked one time, another time not, in winter. Instead why not carry a spare inner tube, you won´t need a tire in most cases ? Vic
vic
EDME

I don’t think the gunk used for car tyres works here.

Car tyres are all tubeless and hence any puncture will be a small hole through a thick layer of relatively rigid rubber and ply.

For tubed tyres, the puncture will be through a small layer of relatively flexible rubber, and probably more of a rip instead of a pinhole.

Biggin Hill

vic wrote:

Instead why not carry a spare inner tube

That sounds very reasonable to me. I agree that only in few cases the damage to the tire will be so bad that a new tube will be punctured right from start. So just with a tube most of the cases should be fixable. This and some adapter to be able to put it on regular jacks could be sufficient.

Germany

Cobalt wrote:

don’t think the gunk used for car tyres works here.

Car tyres are all tubeless and hence any puncture will be a small hole through a thick layer of relatively rigid rubber and ply.

For tubed tyres, the puncture will be through a small layer of relatively flexible rubber, and probably more of a rip instead of a pinhole.

SLIME works well in tubed bike tyres and is sold in two versions for Tube type and Tubeless type. I have it in my garden machine and bike tyres.

Darley Moor, Gamston (UK)

Good to know, thanks!

For those who fix aircraft tyres frequently – when a tube goes, is it normally a puncture or a rip?

Biggin Hill

As part of my standard ‘get me home’ kit I carry a spare nose wheel and main gear inner tube.

On longer international trips such as my European ones I also carry a spare main tyre.

I had two metal adapters made which fit inside the nose wheel and main axles to allow the Bogert Tribal jack to lift as required. I have had occasion to use it a few times and it avoids having to locally source wing jacks which are very specific for the PA46 in order to avoid hitting the under wing radar dome.

If I recall correctly I got the original main gear adapter from Malibu Aerospace which eventually developed a crack on the weld, so I then had a stronger local copy and a smaller version made for the nose wheel axle which is a different diameter.

Cheers – E

eal
Lovin' it
VTCY VTCC VTBD

eal wrote:

Bogert Tribal jack

Very interesting, why did you not use the adapter supplied with the Bogert jack which goes unter the axle? On the main gear you have to push the brake line to the side but besides that it seems to work? I found this picture where I did try the jack after receiving it:

www.ing-golze.de
EDAZ

Very interesting, why did you not use the adapter supplied with the Bogert jack which goes unter the axle? On the main gear you have to push the brake line to the side but besides that it seems to work?

I didn’t want to mess with the brakes when stranded somewhere under a time constraint, and I also worried about the stability of the supplied plate, which was a very early version of the jack. They may have improved things on later versions but with mine the support seemed to angle down under load and I was concerned the whole thing might slip off.

Cheers – E

eal
Lovin' it
VTCY VTCC VTBD

eal wrote:

I didn’t want to mess with the brakes when stranded somewhere under a time constraint

I was actually told Bogert makes an adapter which goes into the axle nowadays. It is not on their website but I will write them an email. My 2 year old version seems very solid. Moving the brake line is no big deal when fixing a tire issue. But on mmopa people suggested to use the lift for getting more fuel into the tanks and for that purpose an axle adapter is obviously far superior.

www.ing-golze.de
EDAZ
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