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Tires not square to ground and uneven wear

Mongoose

Member
I have about 70 hours on my 14A and I’ve always known that the landing gear were not sitting flat to the ground. I always figured they would settle in.

When I pulled the pants off yesterday, I found all the wear on the outside of the tires. I decided to look over the plans again but there doesn’t seem to be any adjustment for this problem. I was very careful to align the tires and used some of the shims Van’s sells and the tires are very straight to the path of travel.

https://vansairforce.net/community/attachment.php?attachmentid=4886&stc=1&d=1605896364

I figure I can remount the tires so the “used” side is on the inside but wanted to see if others have similar wear and if there are any options.

Hope I didn’t miss something here.
 

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This is the same on my -7. I just take them apart and swap them on the rims about every 2 years or so. Gives me another chance to grease the bearings and look at the brake pads. You can't just swap the tires left to right on the airplane, Must dismount the tire from the wheel halves and flop them. I use that bead breaker from Anti-Splat. Works great.
 
This looks totally normal, seems like all the RVs and most aircraft with spring steel or aluminum gear legs have a fair amount of camber when the aircraft is lightly loaded. This plus toe-in on some airplanes results in the outboard side of the tire wearing faster than the inboard side.

As the previous post stated, turning the tires around will let you get more life out of them before having to replace, but it's a hassle because you have to completely disassemble the wheel just as if you were changing tires. Let us know how it goes...I have yet to find anyone who has done this on the Beringer wheels, so I'm curious how difficult it is.
 
not unusual

Very common to see. I also swap them around for another cycle before replacing the tires. A side note, I have always struggled to get the tire bead broken. I bought the simple tool for a drill press from Anti-Splat. It presses firmly on the tire bead to release it.
The whole process is a pain, but it is just the way the gear is on most RV's.
It does encourage a close inspection of brake lines, wear on the pads and a look at the bleeder etc.
I tend to land very gently on most days, but have significant outside wear. Getting used to it.
 
My RV-12 has the same camber angle when sitting on the ground. I changed to Desser 500-5 6 PLY AWBS RETREAD ELITE PREMIUM 2 GROOVE (ELITE) which has a lot more rubber thickness at the sides of the thread. Also, retreated tires can have a harder rubber compound for the tread than used on the sidewall because the tire is over-molded.

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Thanks all. Glad I didn’t mess up in the build. I’ll need to get some “O” rings from Beringer so I can remount the tires. I have the tool but it says to use new rings every time.
 
My RV-12 has the same camber angle when sitting on the ground. I changed to Desser 500-5 6 PLY AWBS RETREAD ELITE PREMIUM 2 GROOVE (ELITE) which has a lot more rubber thickness at the sides of the thread. Also, retreated tires can have a harder rubber compound for the tread than used on the sidewall because the tire is over-molded.

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Jim, Thanks for the recommendation. My Michelin Aviator 500-5 6ply mains have only lasted 130 hours, about a year. They are wearing well in the center of the tire. My average flight is about 1.5 hrs, so 80-90 landings before they are bald is unacceptable. The Aviator cost 2x the retreads, I hope that is harder rubber. Maybe I have a defective set of Michelin Aviators?
 
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