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Maintenance Tail Stand for Tail Draggers

mv031161

Well Known Member
Question for all Do It Yourselfer,s.

Anyone have any ideas, plans, pictures or link for an tail stand with adjustable height for tail draggers? Need reliable tail stand for Maintenance. I should be able to hung tail freely for maintenance, Level the aircraft perfectly....any ideas will be greatly appreciated!
 
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Mitch,
I would used 5 gal plastic pail and put a heavy duty ground stake in it and filled it up with cement
I actually used a wheel axel off a 6 foot mower deck, you can buy the 1/2 screw in stakes that have a screw in plate welded on the bottom they are about a foot long at Home Depot and you do not have to bend anything. NOT THE DOGGIE SPIRAL STAKE

Leave about 3 Inches out side the cement.. IF I did it again, I'd put 2 stakes in about 3 inches apart

When leveling
I take a ratchet strap and loop it around the tail wheel arm and fasten to the 5 gal bucket,and then raise the tail and put it on a couple of padded saw horses which are staggered under the rear bulkheads not under the skin it under a bulkhead in the tail section. With the strap already fastened prevents the aircraft from doing a nose dive into the concrete floor

You might put your prop horizontal and I even put a padded bench under the nose as another precaution when leveling there are several horror stories of the planes going over while raising the tails.

every thing changes level, tire pressure, weight so I shim the saw horses on the rear till I get the plane level.
Jack
 
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Thanks to all!!!!!!!! I use a 5 gallon Bucket with Speedy Dry now but was looking at something similar what Johnny posted! Thanks again! what you all do for tail wheel maintenance with this type of stand? SMiling Jack..Spot On!
 
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Mitch since the strap is around the tail wheel arm. To do routine maintenance on the tail wheel is no issue. In fact getting it up to level height help the old back here. :) :) :)

Jack
 
I don't have my engine assembly stand in use very often, so it spends most of it's time at the airport, converted to a tailwheel stand. Need two feet of 1" all-thread, two nuts, a piece of plate, and a few short lengths of angle to make the wheel cup. Rock solid, fully adjustable for height.

 
Lots of good ideas and things that work. Search for "Tailmate" to get another one - they are no longer available, but we love ours. It seemed expensive until we thought about what a wrenched back woudl cost.....

You coudl easily make one if you have welding skills.

Paul
 
I use a Tailmate as well. If I am going to have it up for a while, I tie the tail to it and put a board across the bottom weighed down with a heavy vise.
An RV jacked from the wing tie downs will fly the tail even when tied to a stand unless it is weighed down.
 
I don't have my engine assembly stand in use very often, so it spends most of it's time at the airport, converted to a tailwheel stand. Need two feet of 1" all-thread, two nuts, a piece of plate, and a few short lengths of angle to make the wheel cup. Rock solid, fully adjustable for height.


Love this design! and that's exactly my assembly! tell me more about those ribs in the floor! whatcha building?
 
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How much weight?

Just out of curiosity, how much weight is this tail stand holding? I can imagine many wooden or steel ways to hold the tail wheel up, I'm curious the load it's going to bear.
 
The safest way I've seen to get the tail up and keep it secured is using a trick my hangar mate came up with. Use a hydraulic lift table with a bath towel (folded to about 20" x 20") or similar padding. Roll it under the tail just ahead of the tail wheel spring. Strap the fuse to the table if you're going to be bouncing around. Then pump it up.

Move it farther forward with more rigid blocks and padding too get more tail lift. (Be sure to lift at a bulkhead.)

No more worries about hurting yourself lifting the tail, dropping the tail in the process, or having it fall off a stand that engages the tail wheel or spring.

image_24941.jpg
 
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... tell me more about those ribs in the floor!

Perhaps a bit too durable for ribs. Those are 1" thick steel hammerforms. ;)

Just out of curiosity, how much weight is this tail stand holding?

Probably less than 50 lbs with a level airplane. However, the key is weight with somebody crawling into the tailcone, so design capacity needs to be more like (50+250) x safety multiple.

Stability; take a hard look at whatever you use, and think about some bozo shoving a wingtip while the tail is on the stand, with the chocks out.

BTW, most t-hangars have a roof joist above the tail area. Rig smooth 5/8" polyester rope through a pair of 6" snatch blocks as a two-part hoist line, and you can lift/hold the tail with one hand. Also handy for getting heavy stuff out of the truck.
 
Those table lifts can usually be purchased at Harbor freight for around $125 and a good safe way to support tail...Tomcatrv4
 
How high above the ground does one need to lift the tail wheel to achieve level?

Really high!! About 2/3rds of the height of the tailmate - maybe more. We never leave the airplanes on the tailmate if we're going for level - we use it to lift them, then use something broad and stable under the aft fuselage to support them.

Paul
 
What's that in inches?

Unless I've missed it, a "tailmate" isn't a standard unit of distance, and in a conversation with pilots, "really high" can have widely different meanings too! How far above the hanger floor does this thing need to hold a tail wheel? Furlongs or angstroms, maybe even cubits will work. Thanks.
 
Maintenance tail stand for tail draggers

I use an office chair with the back removed. Padded seat rests under the aft fuselage just forward of tailwhel stinger. Perfect height for tailwhel maintenance.
 
For tail wheel maintenance, I just rest the stinger on an upturned milk crate :)

- mark
 
Tailstand

I have made a tailstand from wood, and it was a fairly simple task:

a4oilk.jpg





I've made it so two of the aft bulkheads rest on the stand.
To lift the tail up and down, I use a Tailmate:

2cyk1s2.jpg


23vkbkn.jpg






This makes servicing the tailwheel very easy:

o1d11.jpg





Also; when I work inside the fuse (annual for example), it's easier for me when the fuse is level, so I use the tailstand on those occations too.
 
We seem to be combining apples and oranges here. We're talking about two things that serve different purposes.

As someone above mentioned, the tail lifter should be used just to lift the tail. It can be handy because lifting the tail up high with the rudder in the way can be tough. Good for minor maintenance, changing the oil if your sump drain would benefit, or when you need to level the fuselage for some reason.

If, on the other hand, you want to do work on the tailwheel itself or do anything where you might be climbing into the aircraft, then something more substantial should be used. It need not be anything complicated, however. Just throw a saw horse under the stinger or one of the aft bulkheads and be done with it.
 
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