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Powered tow bar

Ron B.

Well Known Member
I have been doing a search on powered tow bars. I have electric power available at the hangar so I do believe I've narrowed it down to electric powered, unless someone can provide a reason why not.
We have three aircraft in my hangar that I would like to be able to adapt this tow bar to. (1) RV-10, (2) Supercub with Alaskan baby Bushwheel (3) and a 172.
I've been looking at ACS for simplicity of searching so I will use there part # for discription purposes. The nose wheel dragger gets my attention as it might work on all three AC without changing adaptors , P/N 13-051505.
P/N 13-04513 , the heavy duty tow Buddy might work but would need three sets of adaptors, one for each aircraft.
The RV-10 and 172 should be easily moved with one bar but the SuperCub might be a challenge. I have a concrete apron with a very slight raise going into the hangar, it's just getting hard on my back when I'm by myself.
Anyone with experience , could you please give me some advice on which model. Also it does not have to be one of the above models.Happy New year Ron
 
I bought this one about 2 1/2 years ago for my RV-10. http://www.powertow.com/12V.html The folks at Power Tow built the adapters for my airplane. It took a couple of try's, but I ended up with adapters that work quite well. Power Tow does not recommend their electric tug for cold climates. It is supposedly rated for aircraft up to 4700 lbs, but I think mine would have trouble moving an airplane that heavy. A neighbor was going to get one for his Mooney, but Power Tow talked him into a gas powered unit saying the electric might not be hefty enough for the Mooney.
 
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I owned a gas 8 HP Aero -Tow for 10 years, quality was excellent, plenty of towing power no problems moving a Cessna Twin.
The disadvantage was it was hard to start when the temperatures dropped and your clothes would stink after using it.
Aero-Tow discontinued the gas model and now only makes electric powered units.
Knowing what I know now, I would have purchased the electric model over the gas unit.
The owner Terry is very knowledgable and should be able to answer your questions about cold weather operation.

http://www.aero-tow.com/index.html
 
My hangar is heated and we do not get that cold of temperatures here in southern Nova Scotia. I doubt the lakes will freeze enough to land on this winter as are the predictions. We have had maybe two what I would call cold winters in my fifty years of existence. Other than an overnight freeze we still are totally thawed out here and never installed the plow yet, lakes are still float usable most days.
I measured the clearance between the wheel fairing and ground and we only have 2 1/4" not the three inches needed for the Nose Dragger.

David, I assume the adaptors could be made on a lathe by oneself? That is what I was thinking of , purchasing a unit and making the adaptors to fit each AC.
Thanks Ron
 
I have used all three Power Tows

The gasoline, electric, and battery on my aircraft thru the years. They all work really well. My favorite is my (current) battery powered. I use it on the RV-10 and RV-8A. I have used the others on 182, twin Comanches, etc.

The battery powered job will move any of the airplanes described, up a reasonable incline.

For the adapter, I just use a Beech Bonanza adapter, turned around, with the tubing drilled out just a "smidgen" to fit over the allen heads. I have to readust for each of the -8A, and 10, but it is just a couple of small allen head screws to loosen.
 
My hangar is heated and we do not get that cold of temperatures here in southern Nova Scotia. I doubt the lakes will freeze enough to land on this winter as are the predictions. We have had maybe two what I would call cold winters in my fifty years of existence. Other than an overnight freeze we still are totally thawed out here and never installed the plow yet, lakes are still float usable most days.
I measured the clearance between the wheel fairing and ground and we only have 2 1/4" not the three inches needed for the Nose Dragger.

David, I assume the adaptors could be made on a lathe by oneself? That is what I was thinking of , purchasing a unit and making the adaptors to fit each AC.
Thanks Ron

With the right tools and the right amount of "know how", the adapters could easily be made IMHO. I did not posses either, so I bought them from Power Tow:eek:
One of my adapter arms is widened (if that makes any sense) to make it fit around the "fat" Van's nose wheel pant. I will try to get a photo tomorrow.
 
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The Power Tow units look really good but I have had a totally different approach that has cost me almost nothing. I agree that it does not do exactly the same, but maybe 99% of the job.

I have modified my towbar in order to tow it by car to the fuel bay - cannot pull this beast on my own :oops:
The handle part is removable and then I just add the extension with the tow hitch. Works like a charm!

rv10_088.jpg
 
Electric Aero-Tow

I know the gas Aero-Tow was mentioned, but is anyone using Aero-Tow E-200 for their RV10? will it work in an RV7A also? how happy are you with it?

I'm looking at getting one and not sure what direction to go.

Thanks
Alex D
www.RVTraining.com
 
Yes, I am, but you will need longer arms for it than what comes with it. However, they will make them for you at no charge. If you tell him send the same size arms as you made for Vic, he could probably do that if he kept records. If not, let me know if you go that route, and I will measure mine and send the masurements to you.

Vic
 
Thanks Vic

Did you get to use the same one in your RV7A as the RV10? Once you find the measurements, let me know. I will ask Terry to build them the same.

Best
Alex
 
Another data point....

I use the PowerTow EZ40 that I already had for my previous plane (G36 Bonanza.) It works great. Just had to change the rods that attach to the nose wheel. It's actually cheaper than the electric model. Needless to say it has no problem pulling the 7A around! :D
 
I took a different approach by going with a small garden tractor. End of season price from Lowe's was $600. It has better traction than some of the tugs in snow and ice. A small blade on the front works well to clear the ridge of snow that the fbo leaves in front of my hangar door. It also works well for a quick trip down to the flight line to see a cool plane coming in. Try that on your tug.

Jim Berry
 
My observation of the effort of using a garden tractor

A couple of hangar neighbors received "bargain" tractors and fabricated tow bars to work off a trailer ball on the tractor. Watching them try to BACK an airplane into a hangar would have been a laughing matter if I had not witnessed the damage. The tails of two planes were severly damaged. The double hinge arrangement (nose wheel and trailer ball) takes a lot of practice and maneuvering to get it right.

Even the ridiculously high price of an EZ tow makes it worthwhile to minimize the chance of damage to your airplane. (IMHO).

Ron
 
I have my lawn tractor in the hangar and it has a ball mounted in the front also and haven't even tried for just that reason.
 
Tow Tractor

As a former FBO line service rat, I used to push airplanes with a double hinge towbar all the time (hitch on the front of tactor and aircraft nosewheel).

When pushing the airplane backwards, turn the nose of the tractor the direction you want the tail of the airplane to go. Then follow the airplane.

Easy as cake! Be careful.
 
Just ordered a Tow Buddy from ACS. I used to tow my Rotorway helicopter with my lawn tractor, that's why I had a ball mounted to the front of the tractor. With the helo I could see around it quite well and there was usually a lot of clearance around the AC. My SuperCub wings just clear the door by maybe six inches. That's only three inches if perfictly centered. With a Tow Buddy I expect to be able to stop and walk over to check for clearance. One would have apply the park brake and dismount the tractor each time you need to make a check. I know myself quite well, rather than check I'd say it's fine and continue only to regret my actions.
I have ordered the adaptors for a 172 to come with the unit, and plan to make adaptors for the tail wheel of my SuperCub and nose wheel of our RV-10.
Ron
 
Update, I recieved our Tow Buddy. After assembling the unit I soon discoverd this unit (as With probably all units) is made to be used on one aircraft. You set it up for that AC and attaching and unattaching is quite simple. My situation calls for towing one AC out to access the other. The Super Cub requires a very low arm positioning and the 172 requires a hight arm position. This would entail rolling the tow buddy on it's side and moving the attach arm from the bottom to the top position. Not an option for my situation but if you set it up for one AC only set up would not a problem.
I decided to make a modification, several for that matter. Hey, if we can do mods on our AC I should be qualified for a Tow Buddy. The first thing I had to address was the ability to adjust from a low mounting position to a high. I welded two square tubings with positioning holes together with two flat bars, making a rectangle. One square tubing was positioned into the Tow Buddy's original mount. The other square tubing was now positioned ahead of the Tow Buddy with no obstructions from top to bottom, allowing the arms to easily from top to bottom.
The next mod nessesary was the slide pin that goes onto the ac pins/axel, did not travel far enough. I'm sure we would have scratched the nose wheel fairing, on the RV-10. I fabricated a new arm that would slide just like the Tow Buddy had but this arm was longer for more travel. Rather than having one of the pins adjustable via a control cable, I used a threaded rod and a handle. I made this threaded rod in a lath so I would have only 6 threads per inch, just like the threads in a bench vise. These threads are much stronger and with only 6 threads per inch one rotation moves the arm much farther than a standard thread.
I'm very pleased how easy and quickly the unit can conform to each AC. The only difference from a stock unit for mounting now is that you have to physically kneel down in front of the AC to attach. I had trouble attaching the Tow Buddy to the 172 as it was originally configured. It was hard to judge the distance to the pin from the handle. One would probably have become accustom to connecting, but I don't mind being up close and personnel with wheel pants involved.
I took several photos today of the Tow Buddy attached to all our AC, I just cannot post then. If someone would like to see them I can e-mail them.
Ron
 
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