Is Desser doing retreads again?

They appeared to stop doing them altogether during COVID times.

They list my size, but no stock presently.

Mike C.

Yes, I sent in my used tire and they sent me back a retread. Actually this is the second one in a few months. In my case they had some in stock so I just let them swap, but I think in theory you could choose to have them retread the carcass you sent.

I would call to see what stock they actually have, I got the impression their web site may not be up to date on their retread stock.

I think they charged me $115 for a retread, with a bit of shipping the carcass etc it totals less than $200. Vs $625 for a new tire. At the rate the Piaggio goes through tires, this seems worthwhile.

Yes, I sent in my used tire and they sent me back a retread. Actually this is the second one in a few months. In my case they had some in stock so I just let them swap, but I think in theory you could choose to have them retread the carcass you sent.

I would call to see what stock they actually have, I got the impression their web site may not be up to date on their retread stock.

I think they charged me $115 for a retread, with a bit of shipping the carcass etc it totals less than $200. Vs $625 for a new tire. At the rate the Piaggio goes through tires, this seems worthwhile.

Yes.

They list recap prices about $300 for my tires, new is now about $1200. So it would be a considerable savings if I could get them.

What makes the Piaggio eat tires? High landing speeds?

My tires are still doing well at about 200 landings. I figure around 300 will be my normal expected life with gentle braking and proper landing speeds. This is about 3-4 years for me. My touchdown speeds are usually about 90 knots or so, which isn't too bad and I don't use much braking on landing.

Mike C.

Yeah, somewhat, plus the geometry of landing on the outside edge of the tire first. For some reason it's worse than the Mits in that regard, which I got several years out of a set of tires.

I think there may be some alignment adjustment I am not yet aware of how to get done, too. But haven't found a procedure, so I could be wrong.

It's like the old swing axle rear on the VW bugs. Heavily loaded, they'd wear inboard, lightly loaded, they'd wear outboard.

I definitely fly mostly lightly loaded and am wearing the outboard edges.

Still think there must be some kind of procedure for adjusting the toe in of the gear. Made a quick/rough measurement of mine today and believe it is just shy of 1°. Emphasize very rough measurement, I am going to try and get more accurate and see if it’s real or bad measurement.

One of the things I like about my Citation gear arrangement is that it is not the least bit finicky to get the wrings level and the tires touch the runway in a consistent orientation so they wear uniformly and consistently. This is unlike the Mits.

Mike C.

Whenever I take a closer look I can't see any track adjustment on the Piaggio gear. I'm assuming there must be a way, but maybe there just isn't?

Right - no obvious places to adjust. And no procedure in the maint manual I could find. Someone suggested to me there are shims somewhere. The source was potentially knowledgeable but not 100% authoritative. My other suspicion is that maybe there are some specs about the gear legs that can be adjusted during gear overhaul (i.e. if one found the right component manuals…).

I'm also assuming that the main swing bearing up in the fuselage, and the stops and lock mechanism for that, must play a part? If the gear stops are just a few millimeters short up there, it can have a pretty big effect on how it tracks down by the wheel.

Agreed, kinda. The mechanism appears to be based on the over-center arm. It’s all hydraulic near as I can tell, not sure where any kind of length or “stops” would be adjusted other than maybe hydraulic switches somewhere. But I’ve looked up there and there are no obvious mechanical stops. Certainly possible I’ve missed something.

Agreed, kinda. The mechanism appears to be based on the over-center arm. It’s all hydraulic near as I can tell, not sure where any kind of length or “stops” would be adjusted other than maybe hydraulic switches somewhere. But I’ve looked up there and there are no obvious mechanical stops. Certainly possible I’ve missed something.

Have been scratching my head over that. Maybe a little, but it's not a very long linkage and one wouldn't want to change the geometry of the over-center aspect much. Hesitant to change anything without a procedure spelled out.