Why wouldn't a want a tri-cycle Maule?

Trigear? Taildragger? Fixed pitch prop? Which Engine? ...anything related with model selection considerations and questions about buying a Maule
DavidB.
Posts: 16
Joined: Wed Apr 23, 2014 7:54 pm
Location: Chelan WA
Contact:

Why wouldn't a want a tri-cycle Maule?

Post by DavidB. »

Hello all,

My search for an airplane has been an on and off thing this year. Work and family kept me busy more than usual this summer. Life happens.

Anyways, I have been back and forth on what I am looking for. I love tail draggers, always will. I worked at Cub Crafters for a while and really enjoyed flying all that they have to offer. But, sometimes I wonder if I am looking for a taildragger for the cool factor (I feel cool when I pull off a perfect wheel landing) or if it what really fits my mission.

I have been looking at Maules, Pacers, PA-12's, and Cubs. But, also look at 182's and occasionally wonder if a Mooney or RV6 wold suit me and where my wife and I want to fly to.

I scroll right past tri gear Maules for sale. But maybe a tri gear Maule isn't such a bad idea. Cheaper insurance, maybe a little safer with the amount of days we have here with crosswinds above what I am really comfortable with in a tail dragger, still takes off and lands shorter than most stuff. They also seem to be priced with more bang for the buck than the same plane in a tail wheel configuration.

I flew a Tri-pacer with a heavy duty nose gear (I think it was off a Cherokee 6 installed on a field approval) and 26" mains all over SW Alaska. It landed on any dirt strip or beach we needed it to. Also have flown the same area in a 182, and a 206. They all did fine. So maybe having a wheel in front is not too much of a disadvantage. I still want a tail wheel airplane, but since I am an A&P/IA, and I own a hangar and a lot of tools, maybe I will buy a project or build an experimental Cub next year to work on and eventually fly, but have a tri Maule to fly now. My wife and I have been talking and when we were discussing 182's, her suggestion was to get a 182, or maybe something faster and start looking at kits and projects to build a little tail dragger for me to play with. Yes, my wife thinks I need two airplanes, she has 6 motorcycles, I have a cool wife.

So I am asking, What will I hate, and what will I love about tri-Maules?


David

User avatar
Mog
100+ Posts
Posts: 973
Joined: Fri Nov 26, 2010 8:01 pm
Location: Dallas, TX
Contact:

Post by Mog »

100% about your ultimate mission. My mission changed quickly once I got a tailwheel.

Hale-Yes
100+ Posts
Posts: 212
Joined: Sun Sep 06, 2015 7:32 pm
Location: Brawley, Ca. USA
Contact:

MT 7

Post by Hale-Yes »

You probably just opened a big can of worms. For me, the MT 7-235 fits my needs, I wanted a tough little mutt that I could land in farm fields, Teach my kids how to fly in, Wasn't very expensive to insure, easy to work on, could make 500 mi hops with my wife to visit my kids in college, and it's fun. It's been a great pick. Ed
"The problems we face today exist because the people who work for a living are out numbered by those who vote for a living" Author unknown.

Mountain Doctor
100+ Posts
Posts: 1665
Joined: Mon Feb 11, 2008 10:31 am
Contact:

Post by Mountain Doctor »

I've had 1,200 safe and enjoyable hours in my Trigear.

Nothing to hate.

The advantages of the tailwheel for 95% of us who won't/can't use it to its full potential are negligable.

The disadvantages of the tailwheel to the same 95% are significant, so for all but the 5% best/most adventerous/non-risk adverse of us is clear.

The Trigear.
I am an AME in Richland, Washington. Please call for an appointment!

560 Gage Blvd.
Richland, WA 99352
(509) 628-2843

User avatar
LT4247
100+ Posts
Posts: 237
Joined: Thu Nov 16, 2006 4:11 am
Location: GEORGIA
Contact:

Post by LT4247 »

“So I am asking, What will I hate, and what will I love about tri-Maules?â€￾
—————————————

- You will HATE hearing: “Ha ha, your Maule has third wheel on wrong endâ€￾. It gets old pretty fast. People think they are funny to suggest you are some kind of pu@@y who can’t fly TW Maules and wasted your money on a tri. ðŸ˜￾🤷ðŸ￾»â€￾♂ï¸￾
- You will HATE the extra weight up front. Trim is your friend. 😉
- You will HATE losing 5 kts cruise speed.
- You will HATE the short nose gear travel limits.
- You will HATE the main gear is in the way getting in and out.
- You will HATE the difficulty getting cowling off (3 blade prop).
- You will HATE how cramped engine bay is (6 cyl)
- You will HATE less useful load
—————————————
- You will LOVE lower insurance costs. TW cost can be double even triple
- You will LOVE how it flies. only difference is ground handling from TW
- You will LOVE better vision out on the ground.
- You will LOVE the performance. Length of runways never much of a concern
- You will LOVE the high lift wing and the -7 flap for cruise (same as TW)
- You will LOVE ease of maintenance. No electric motors or servos (AP excl)
- You will LOVE the easier ground handling and cross wind performance for tri
- You will LOVE parts availability and lower cost (ie: Cessna, Beech, etc).
- You will LOVE the fact it lands on dirt/turf quite nicely. Think of it as a small Kodiak.
- You will LOVE the fact the tri gear will do 95% of what TW Maules will.
- You will LOVE how cool the tri looks parked. Get ready for lots visitors on the ramp! 😎

We bought a new MT-7-235 in 2006. It has been a wonderful airplane with minimal maintenance costs through out. We couldn’t be happier and plan to keep the aircraft a long time.

NOTE:
I have a few hours in Maule TWs, too. These include: M4-180V, M6, MX7-160, MX7-180, M7-235, M7-260, and the M7-420 turbine.
We could have bought any airplane we wanted. We chose the MT-7-235. ðŸ‘￾ðŸ￾½
J.R. Lane
GEORGIA
----------------------------
"I say all that big talk is worth doodly squat"!
- Granny Hawkins

User avatar
crbnunit
100+ Posts
Posts: 1890
Joined: Tue Mar 18, 2008 12:42 pm
Location: Alaska
Contact:

Post by crbnunit »

Does your wife have a sister?
You have to make up your mind about growing up and becoming a pilot. You can't do both!

User avatar
andy
Site Admin
Posts: 1662
Joined: Mon Aug 06, 2007 2:05 pm
Location: Lake James, NC, USA
Contact:

Post by andy »

The reason that I got a tailwheel airplane in the first place was so I could feel comfortable landing on soft or rough surfaces. I haven't flown a nosewheel Maule but I've heard they can land most of the places that a tailwheel version could land as long as it's not too soft or rough.

After years of owning my MX-7-180, I put 31" tundra tires on it and took it to the Idaho back country in 2016. The big, soft tires absorbed a lot of the beating that might have damaged my main gear legs or oleo struts. It's harder to put big tires on a nosewheel airplane and there's a limit to how big a nosewheel fork you can find.

Although I don't have a ski plane, I imagine it's the same kind of thing.

If you don't have any plans to land on rough or soft strips, then the nosewheel Maule should be a good deal, especially on insurance.
Andy
1986 MX7-180
Image

DavidB.
Posts: 16
Joined: Wed Apr 23, 2014 7:54 pm
Location: Chelan WA
Contact:

Post by DavidB. »

Wow, thanks for all the great responses to this. LT4247, your Love/Hate list was great. Thank you.

I love flying tail wheel, and I will own another tail dragger. But I am thinking I would like something small, light, narrow, high power to weight ratio, and probably experimental. There are a lot of choices in this category. I may not carry hull insurance, or carry insurance with a very high deductible since I am an A&P, and if I built it in the first place, I can rebuild it.

So I guess I need to compare what my money gets me between tri-gear Maule and 182. From what I can gather so far I may get a much newer aircraft with the Maule than the 182.

David

User avatar
andy
Site Admin
Posts: 1662
Joined: Mon Aug 06, 2007 2:05 pm
Location: Lake James, NC, USA
Contact:

Post by andy »

I have a fair amount of hours in my Maule and in the 1985 Cessna 185F at work. I've also flown many of the the Cessna 182S and 182T airplanes for NC Forest Service. The 182 is a great general purpose airplane with pretty good useful load and performance. I wouldn't take it into strips with soft or rough surfaces, though. The semi-monocoque riveted aluminum frame isn't as strong as the chrome-moly steel welded tubing frame on the Maule. An advantage of the Cessna's riveted aluminum skin is that you can strip and repaint it. That's really hard to do on a fabric airplane and most owners don't try. Instead they re-fabric and paint to the tune of about $25,000 - $35,000. Stripping and repainting a Cessna isn't a quick, easy or inexpensive job either but it's a lot less than new fabric. Other advantages of a 235 hp Maule nosewheel airplane over a Cessna 182 are the lower cost of parts, better baggage area access and somewhat better useful load. Maules are usually a lot less expensive to buy than Cessnas, too. If I were going to look for a nosewheel airplane, I'd seriously consider a Maule.
Andy
1986 MX7-180
Image

Mountain Doctor
100+ Posts
Posts: 1665
Joined: Mon Feb 11, 2008 10:31 am
Contact:

Post by Mountain Doctor »

DavidB. wrote:Wow, thanks for all the great responses to this. LT4247, your Love/Hate list was great. Thank you.

I love flying tail wheel, and I will own another tail dragger. But I am thinking I would like something small, light, narrow, high power to weight ratio, and probably experimental. There are a lot of choices in this category. I may not carry hull insurance, or carry insurance with a very high deductible since I am an A&P, and if I built it in the first place, I can rebuild it.

So I guess I need to compare what my money gets me between tri-gear Maule and 182. From what I can gather so far I may get a much newer aircraft with the Maule than the 182.

David
That's the big choice, one I struggle with.

The 182 is metal; BIG advantage.

The Maule is going to cost less to buy and maintain, Big advantage.
I am an AME in Richland, Washington. Please call for an appointment!

560 Gage Blvd.
Richland, WA 99352
(509) 628-2843

User avatar
gregorydshanks
100+ Posts
Posts: 128
Joined: Tue Oct 28, 2014 12:59 pm
Location: Knoxville, Tennessee
Contact:

tri-gear

Post by gregorydshanks »

I have 500 hours in my tri-gear and I will never own any other plane. Take-offs are actually shorter in a properly flown tri-gear because you a greater rotation range without the tail wheel.

It serves 95% of all missions except rocky landings, the insurance is 1/3 of a taildragger, and ground loops are never an issue

Paul Amstutz
Posts: 83
Joined: Sun Nov 28, 2010 6:17 am
Location: Cottonwood Heights, Utah
Contact:

Trigear vs conventional gear Maule

Post by Paul Amstutz »

Depends on what you want to do and what the total cost to do it may be.
And how you want to wager in life.

With back country flying in Idaho and Utah, not much in my opinion to compare in WA and OR, either configuration with a 235, two people, camping gear for a week, you can be happy with either way. 95% of the time.

More extreme strips, conventional gear will be better IF you take the time and continue to take the time, to develop your skills.

Both planes are safe if you crash them in a controlled fashion.

Insurance to replace my plane is 5K/year. Liability only is less than $200/year.

So I do liability only. Loss of my airplane might mean I can't fly a nice airplane again, but it is paid for and won't change much else.

I would rather spend the dollars keeping my skills up.

Whatever plane you buy, you need to fly within YOUR limits. I don't care about what the plane you have is capable of. I would prefer that you be safe and have fun.

I have an M7260B. That give me a fairly large potential envelope.

But I recently took a trip to Escalante and couldn't track the centerline landing because of a 30K crosswind.

Didn't curse that I should have got a trigear, just went to Bryce Canyon and landed there for the night.

No matter what plane you have, you still need to be a good pilot.

User avatar
bobguhr
100+ Posts
Posts: 297
Joined: Tue Jun 08, 2010 4:57 pm
Location: West Milford, New Jersey
Contact:

Post by bobguhr »

Well said Paul. Having owned an MXT 180 and now an M6 235 I think your reply is spot on.

stevesMaule180
Posts: 24
Joined: Mon Oct 11, 2010 6:32 pm
Location: Jackson, MS
Contact:

Tailwheel vs Nosegear Maules

Post by stevesMaule180 »

andy wrote:I have a fair amount of hours in my Maule and in the 1985 Cessna 185F at work. I've also flown many of the the Cessna 182S and 182T airplanes for NC Forest Service. The 182 is a great general purpose airplane with pretty good useful load and performance. I wouldn't take it into strips with soft or rough surfaces, though. The semi-monocoque riveted aluminum frame isn't as strong as the chrome-moly steel welded tubing frame on the Maule. An advantage of the Cessna's riveted aluminum skin is that you can strip and repaint it. That's really hard to do on a fabric airplane and most owners don't try. Instead they re-fabric and paint to the tune of about $25,000 - $35,000. Stripping and repainting a Cessna isn't a quick, easy or inexpensive job either but it's a lot less than new fabric. Other advantages of a 235 hp Maule nosewheel airplane over a Cessna 182 are the lower cost of parts, better baggage area access and somewhat better useful load. Maules are usually a lot less expensive to buy than Cessnas, too. If I were going to look for a nosewheel airplane, I'd seriously consider a Maule.
Could not agree more. Bought our 2008 Mxt-7-180 almost new. From Connecticut, flew out to Indiana with my safety pilot/instructor. I was trading a similar year tail wheel model M7-180, for the nose gear, and then flew the nosegear back to Connecticut. My safety pilot did not want me to switch to a nose gear, since he is a TW lover. But yet, he exclaimed loudly during our flight home “... this trigear flies faster than the TW Mauleâ€￾ (GPS, several samples and backtracks to confirm).

Find it funny when TW owners say their ship is faster, then put on big tundra tires, with drag grande’. No way hose’!

Would I like more speed? Who wouldn’t! But the economy is hard to beat.
Now I’m in Arkansas, where everything is far distances, so economy is even more important.

Just my two-pennies. Fly safe boys and girls!
Passing the faster planes, as they re-fuel ðŸ˜￾

User avatar
chris_01
Posts: 59
Joined: Wed Apr 03, 2019 7:39 am
Contact:

Post by chris_01 »

sounds great - and I agree as I'm having a lot of fun with my MXT-7-180A.
but talking about it - what speed are you cruising with? I'm around 100-105kt with a FP prop..
Since I don't have it for very long yet, I'm sure I'll find some bits and pieces to tweak around the a/c in order to improve performance a bit.
D-EMUX
MXT-7-180A

Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 14 guests