Wheel Pants

[ralphyoung]

My 48 170 has polished aluminum wheel pants with an inspection plate. There appears to be very little clearance between the tire and the outboard rear of the pant. Is there a spec on this? I am afraid that expansion of the tire from landing could cause sidewall failure.

[Poncho73]

This is a view of the outboard side of my right main gear, looking aft. About 1/4" clearance between the tire & pant edge.

OMG you have landed upside down!!

[Poncho73]

Ralph.....On a more serious note....are the pants new to your aircraft or have you been operating with them on for sometime? The tire expansion at touchdown you mention should be localized to the tread area; however, the tire as a whole, may slightly enlarge, but I can't substantiate that theory with fact. The issue you would have with limited clearance would be grass or contamination knotting up in that area. Perhaps another member with wheel pants and take a look for you to see what kind of clearance they have. The build drawing may have min/max clearance notes as well...Good Luck. I'm looking at finding original pants for my 48 as well.

[Bruce Fenstermacher]

This is a view of the outboard side of my right main gear, looking aft. About 1/4" clearance between the tire & pant edge.

OMG you have landed upside down!!

This effect is due to the "Fly" STC he also has installed on his 170 which no one believes to be legal.

[johneeb]

Arash,
You must be using an Apple computer when clicking on the photo with windows seven the it is still upside down

[Bruce Fenstermacher]

Strange...I'm on a PC. Wish my company would let me use a Mac. I'm tired of Windows shenanigans.

Did you know that the sum of the ASCII values of each of the following add up to 666? Windows is EVIL!

"Bill Gates III"
"Windows 95"
"MS-DOS 6.21"

Now I wonder how many here understand the trivia you just put out. ASCII values wow.

[Bruce Fenstermacher]

Strange...I'm on a PC. Wish my company would let me use a Mac. I'm tired of Windows shenanigans.

Did you know that the sum of the ASCII values of each of the following add up to 666? Windows is EVIL!

"Bill Gates III"
"Windows 95"
"MS-DOS 6.21"

Now I wonder how many here understand the trivia you just put out. ASCII values wow.

I first viewed the picture on my IPad mini which is also IOS like the IPhone, and the picture was right side up. It us upside down on my Mac in OSX using Chrome and it is upside down in Chrome in Windows XP in Virtual Box on my Mac.

[ralphyoung]

Thanks for the photo, that is about the clearance I have. I am going to remove them and inspect the tire. I have less than a fingers width where you are guessing 1/4" so I may be OK. One of the inspection plates popped off when brakes were inadvertently applied on landing so an inspection is warranted.

[Kyle Wolfe]

Ralph, our B model has about the same clearance as Arash's picture shows, except in the right rear on the right side. It's pretty tight back there and I'd like to give it more clearance.

I've tried to reposition it but there really isn't much one can do other than attempting to bend the pant/bracket. And that's pretty tough to do.

(Know how I know this? I just put the wheelpants back on earlier this week thinking winter was over. That's before we got the 15 inches of SNOW yesterday. If that wasn't bad enough I got a call from one of our smarta.. members in Breaux Bridge LA telling me he'd been hearing all day how Owatonna was the center of the snowbelt, and that it was 74 degrees in LA)

Dang short summer.....ugh!

Anyone have insight on how to best adjust the pants/brackets?

[Bruce Fenstermacher]

Kyle you just have to wait until it's 110 in the shade, 100 percent humidity and the big bugs are carrying off the kids in LA and then give Ron a call, see if he'd like to visit someplace a bit cooler.

[GAHorn]

...Anyone have insight on how to best adjust the pants/brackets?

There is no adjustment other than getting "heavy" with them. (Not adviseable, considering these things are getting rare and worth about $1500-$1800.)
The clearance is so small that when the tires are slightly deflated and when taxying a bit fast around corners....the Desser "Classic" tires with the "X" treads on the sidewalls will rub slightly, making a "hot-rod" sound like a kid's bicycle with playing-cards in the spokes! (Green airplanes may not experience that wonderful sound as they cannot taxi very fast.)

[Blue4]

I'll revive this slightly old thread, and maybe get it on track with some pointed questions. It will stir up controversy, but we need straight answers ... fast!

I enjoyed meeting folks last year in Colorado, and I'm considering flying my 170 to the convention this year. Its a long trip from Alaska. As such, I thought it might be worth the knots gained by adding wheel pants. I have a host of questions I'm hoping the good people here can answer.

1) Elsewhere in the forums it says that the mounting plates for wheel pants are difficult to locate. Are they terribly different from other Cessna backing plates? They look simple to me from the pictures I've seen, as though one could easily fabricate them from some 2024 aluminum and floating nutplates. Thoughts?

2) Could I use wheel pants other than those intended for the 170 or other taildraggers (120/140)? 172 pants are cheap!

3) Are wheel pants compatible with 8.00 tires, or only 6.00 tires?

4) How much speed can TRULY be expected on red or green airplanes with wheel panties installed?

I hope that adds enough fuel to the fire without spiraling completely out of control ... hope to see everyone in Kentucky this year!
-Scott

[Ryan Smith]

Scott,

In the member's section, there are some drawings for wheelpant mounting plates for use with double puck Clevelands, I believe. That would be a good starting point. I've seen tons of other wheelpants on 170s, some of which I'm not terribly convinced weren't homemade. I'm not sure of the legality of this, but I have seen quite a few iterations of 172 pants on 170s over the years.

[blueldr]

Arash,
How do you land on a set up like that? Do you fly the whole pattern inverted or just make a quick half roll at the last minute?

[jlwild]

Scott,

On your speed question, I have not experienced any speed increase by adding wheel pants. Others may I just like the look with the "classic" old design wheel pants.

I also found out Cessna 152 & 172 wheel pants and mounting plates will work on the 170. Several 170 members have them installed. I tried them on my plane. But, I found they are heavy and IMHO don't fit well with the classic lines of the 170.

Incoming