Archer wheel pants on a Cherokee

Hey all. I've got a hershey-bar PA-28 that's been without wheel pants since
we bought it. Looks a bit ghetto, and I'd like the speed increase available by
putting some on. Awhile back, I ebayed up a set of archer pants thinking I may be
able to make them work. After looking at it, it seemed unlikely since a new strut
fairing and some skinwork would have to be done.

Yesterday, I ran across http://www.speedpants.com/. They sell wheel pants
that are more or less directly compatible with the Piper pants. They've also got a
retrofit kit for the earlier cherokees like mine. I'm thinking of trying to get a
field approval to put them on with the pants I've got.

Sound insane? Maybe it'd be better to go with all Piper parts (i.e. fairings,
etc). Just curious if anyone else has done such a thing.

-Cory

--

************************************************** ***********************
* Cory Papenfuss *
* Electrical Engineering candidate Ph.D. graduate student *
* Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University *
************************************************** ***********************

Sound insane? Maybe it'd be better to go with all Piper parts (i.e.
fairings,
etc). Just curious if anyone else has done such a thing.

Sounds normal to me -- of course, I'm horribly ill with aviation fever...
:-)

A previous owner had wheel pants for a Dakota field approved for
installation on our 235. He claims it was the most effective speed mod of
them all. (They are the full "fancy pants"-style, not the ones that only
cover the tires.)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Jay Honeck wrote:
: Sound insane? Maybe it'd be better to go with all Piper parts (i.e.
: fairings,
: etc). Just curious if anyone else has done such a thing.

: Sounds normal to me -- of course, I'm horribly ill with aviation fever...
: :-)

: A previous owner had wheel pants for a Dakota field approved for
: installation on our 235. He claims it was the most effective speed mod of
: them all. (They are the full "fancy pants"-style, not the ones that only
: cover the tires.)
: --

I thought your plane *was* the newer style. Maybe I thought that because the
pictures I'd seen had the newer wheel pants. What's your bragging page for the plane,
anyway? I cannot find it on your business site.

I'm into improvements on ours, but only ones that aren't insanely expensive.
Thus, I don't do too many...

I've installed a friend's wheel-only pants on ours before. It seemed to give
us about 3 mph... more or less as advertised. The newer style is supposed to be more
like 6-8 mph. The aftermarket "super-ugly-bulbous" ones are supposed to be closer to
10mph. I guess I'll look harder at making this work on ours since we've already got
the newer steyl pants. After all, 6-8 mph is a relatively nice "free" speed increase
in a Cherokee.

-Cory

--

************************************************** ***********************
* Cory Papenfuss *
* Electrical Engineering candidate Ph.D. graduate student *
* Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University *
************************************************** ***********************

I thought your plane *was* the newer style. Maybe I thought that because the
pictures I'd seen had the newer wheel pants. What's your bragging page for the plane,
anyway? I cannot find it on your business site.

Strangely enough, I don't really have a "bragging" page anymore. I'm
on the Rogues Gallery, though (of course!). See it he

http://www.alexisparkinn.com/rogue's_gallery_a-h.htm#H

But I haven't updated our listing for a couple of years. One of these
days I'll have to load up some current pix!

There are also a bunch of our flying pix here, mixed in with hotel
stuff:

http://www.alexisparkinn.com/recent_events.htm

The wheel pants are a pain in the butt. (ALL wheel pants are.) They
get stone chipped easily, I had to replace all the connectors (they
were wowed out from years of vibration) at great expense (like, $1000),
and one of them has a nasty fuel stain that I can't get out.

Still, they do apparently net 5 - 10 mph, which is HUGE on a Spam Can.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

wrote:
Hey all. I've got a hershey-bar PA-28 that's been without wheel pants since
we bought it. Looks a bit ghetto, and I'd like the speed increase available by
putting some on. Awhile back, I ebayed up a set of archer pants thinking I may be
able to make them work. After looking at it, it seemed unlikely since a new strut
fairing and some skinwork would have to be done.

Yesterday, I ran across http://www.speedpants.com/. They sell wheel pants
that are more or less directly compatible with the Piper pants. They've also got a
retrofit kit for the earlier cherokees like mine. I'm thinking of trying to get a
field approval to put them on with the pants I've got.

Sound insane? Maybe it'd be better to go with all Piper parts (i.e. fairings,
etc). Just curious if anyone else has done such a thing.

-Cory

--

************************************************** ***********************
* Cory Papenfuss *
* Electrical Engineering candidate Ph.D. graduate student *
* Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

I have the pants on the mains of my Archer and have removed the nose
pant. Repeated tests found that I had ocasional shimmy with the nose
pant on and never with it off. Several attemps to "tighten up the nose
assembly" didn't help. I could not tell the speed difference with the
nose pant on or off.
YMMV

Chuck

I have seen some Warriors with Archer wheel pants. Did Piper ever
install these from the factory, or did someone get a field approval to
do so. Or, since the type certificate for the Cherokees is the same, can
you interchange wheel pants (Archer, Dakota, Warrior, Cherokee 140/180)????

The only good things about the "lesser" pants is that you can fill the
tires and check the strut inflation height without any removals. The
"full" Archer/Dakota pants cover up the brakes and other stuff that you
cannot keep painted and good looking for long.

Thanks,
Mike

Chuck, I had a shimmy problem with the nose gear on my 74 Archer and had it
fixed by an FBO that specialized in such things. After verifying the shimmy
damper was OK, they replaced a small clevis bolt under the cowling, removed
the wheel pant and made sure it had not accumulated any mud, then fastened
an ounce or two of lead to the inside bottom forward area of the pant. It
was the best $100 dollars I ever spent on the plane.

--
Mike Noel,
Tucson, Arizona

'Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from
religious conviction.'

-Blaise Pascal
"Chuck" wrote in message
oups.com...

wrote:
Hey all. I've got a hershey-bar PA-28 that's been without wheel pants
since
we bought it. Looks a bit ghetto, and I'd like the speed increase
available by
putting some on. Awhile back, I ebayed up a set of archer pants
thinking I may be
able to make them work. After looking at it, it seemed unlikely since a
new strut
fairing and some skinwork would have to be done.

Yesterday, I ran across http://www.speedpants.com/. They sell wheel
pants
that are more or less directly compatible with the Piper pants. They've
also got a
retrofit kit for the earlier cherokees like mine. I'm thinking of
trying to get a
field approval to put them on with the pants I've got.

Sound insane? Maybe it'd be better to go with all Piper parts (i.e.
fairings,
etc). Just curious if anyone else has done such a thing.

-Cory

--


************************************************** ***********************
* Cory Papenfuss
*
* Electrical Engineering candidate Ph.D. graduate student
*
* Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

I have the pants on the mains of my Archer and have removed the nose
pant. Repeated tests found that I had ocasional shimmy with the nose
pant on and never with it off. Several attemps to "tighten up the nose
assembly" didn't help. I could not tell the speed difference with the
nose pant on or off.
YMMV

Chuck

Mike Spera wrote:
: I have seen some Warriors with Archer wheel pants. Did Piper ever
: install these from the factory, or did someone get a field approval to
: do so.

Mike, the newer Warriors (-161 models) had the "Archer" wheel pants as
an option, from 1977 onward. The older Archers (Archer I) had the
"Cherokee" wheel pants, at least until 1976.
--
Aaron C.

On 21 Nov 2005 16:37:44 -0800, "Chuck" wrote:

Repeated tests found that I had ocasional shimmy with the nose
pant on and never with it off.


Wow! You may just have found the reason for my shimmy!

Thanks for the tip.
z