Changing Tires On Aeropro

[Dowdy]

I posted this on the Aeropro FB page too:

Has anyone on here changed the tires on their Eurofox/Aerotrek?

I'm looking to go to 21" mains (21/800-6 4 PLY AERO CLASSIC) and 18" nose (600-6 4 PLY AIRHAWK) on my A240 (Eurofox 3K).

If so, how involved was it? I'm guessing the wheels are split rim. And you have to remove the calipers, break the bead, and then 'seat' the new tube and tire back on the rim.

Just looking for any advice. Not really wanting to have to take this to an A&P for a tire change...

Included are pictures of the tires on now

Attachments:

[Dowdy]

Also....quick edit.

Feel free to tell me I'm being an idiot. And just need to take it to a shop.

Obviously that's a very crucial piece of the plane. Cause ya know...you need them to land

[andy]

I have thought about going larger as well.(usually when I am fighting the wheel pants to put air into the tires!). The main gear would require little modification it appears by the nose would require a new fork as the current appears to be too narrow to handle anything larger than 16in or so. (I haven't measured). My concern would be breaking, which likely would require a more robust and likely more heavy duty calipers and disk. As for the nose gear it is articulated by push-pull cable with spring assist and a larger wheel likely would require a more heavy duty rigging. No sure about any of this but it is worth looking into.

[Dowdy]

Andy,

I have the curved nose fork on mine (you can kind of tell in the picture I posted). So, I am told it can fit an 18" Airhawk tire. I'm not sure what year that feature was added but mine is a late model 2016.

I didn't think about having to change the calipers or pads because of bigger tires. I'll have to look into that. When you say the main gear would require modification, what do you mean by that? I don't see the mains needing to be changed at all to fit a bigger (21") tire.

It would be the same set up Jim C has.

[Jim]

When I had Rob option my plane with tundra tires, the only thing changed was the nose wheel strut being wider.

[andy]

my mistake a meant to say the mains look to be adaptable with little issue, nose wheel appears to need modification.

[skypilot007]

We did the tundra tire thing ... land w/ any extra speed (like i do over neighborhoods) and the plane bounces like a porpoise ... the 2'nd of which will cost you a 400+ front fork, because the 1 sided fork is not strong enough. Softfield landings ... everytime!