The International Cessna^® 170 Association

Question for all you experts:
My original wheel pant (inside) brackets on my 170B are curved inward just outside of the mounting holes to the gear leg. Later Cessna ones are not - can anyone tell me if the straight ones used on the 172s, etc. will work on 170s, or can I use only the formed (curved) ones? Why were they curved? For the Goodyear brakes?
Thanks!

dgkirk,

I purchased C-152/172 wheel pants and mounting brackets for my 170B.

I was not able to find any original pants and brackets at the time I decided to add wheel pants to my plane. While searching for pants and brackets, I came to the conclusion you can not mix original 170 wheel pants with 172 brackets. The mounting holes are different and you would have to make serious modifications to the wheel pants. If there is a way to mix the two different parts easily, I am not aware of it.

Perhaps others will have better ideas.

dgkirk wrote:Question for all you experts:
My original wheel pant (inside) brackets on my 170B are curved inward just outside of the mounting holes to the gear leg. Later Cessna ones are not - can anyone tell me if the straight ones used on the 172s, etc. will work on 170s, or can I use only the formed (curved) ones? Why were they curved? For the Goodyear brakes?
Thanks!

Original wheel pant mounting brackets/plates are indeed "curved" toward the fuselage as they leave the axle-mounting area. This is to accomodate the angle and rake of the conventional landing gear and still provide clearance for the standard 6:00X6 tire when the pants are mounted "squarely"... i.e.: level with the ground both laterally and longitudinally.
Later tri-cycle geared airplanes main gearlegs do not have rake, and also have a different "spread". You may have noticed this when seeing tri-cycle gear pants mounted on conventional gear airplanes that have not had their mounting plates altered..... they look, well, ... goofy. (Not always so evident due to curved pants, but generally the pants rarely mount symmetrically unless the correct mount hardware is used.) But more importantly, any use of other-than-original pants and mounting hardware should be carefully scrutinized for tire/pant clearance, allowing for tire flexing (ballooning) which occurs naturally as a result of ground contact. (I flew a 170 which had insufficient tire clearance that the owner completely missed until I pointed out to him the scraping noises than can be heard when taxying around corners if, and only if, the windows are open and the engine idling or shut down. Removing the pants showed the tire treads were contacting the wheel pant and mount hardware in turns.)
Room must be allowed for manufacturing differences in various tire-brands/styles as well as for the occasional mud/grass that may be picked up. Braking-turns also places a twist on tires that require sufficient clearance.
There are aftermarket and some later wheelpants that can be adapted just fine, ... but be aware of the need for clearance.
Wheel pants don't really do much for speed in this class of airplane. But they do keep mud off the bottoms of wings and rocks/damage off the horizontal tails and elevators/balances.

I have a set of wheel pant brackets that came with my '55 170B. Might be willing to let them go to someone who has no brackets that has wheel pants.
Also, have extra 2 sets of the newer type of rod bearing end that connects throttle cable to carb arm. These are complete with nut, bolt, washers, cotter pin.

Lionchoker wrote:I have a set of wheel pant brackets that came with my '55 170B. Might be willing to let them go to someone who has no brackets that has wheel pants.

I may be interested in the wheel fairing brackets for my 172 conversion. I have the wheel fairings but no brackets. Let me know the condition and price.
Thanks