Gross weight and tires

[JimC]

A lot of people have discussed the reason why the gross weight got "stuck" at 4700 lbs as Cessna continuously made fatter and fatter skymasters over the years. A lot of people have said that the plane can carry it, but the gear was never drop tested for the load.

Well, I found something interesting today. 6.00x6 8-ply tires are approved for our skymasters. Guess what the maximum load rating is for a 6.00x6 8-ply tire? It's 2350 lbs, or 1/2 of 4700. Something tells me it's not a coincidence.

Speaking of which - I want to change tires from 18.00x5.5 to 6.00x6 so I can run lower pressures on wider tires. Do I need to do anything other than just change tires?