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Transporting Fuselage

Fearless

Well Known Member
How did you transport your fuselage to the airport? I am ready to move my 9A but having a difficult time trying to find a suitable trailer. The gear with the tires is almost 8 ft wide. Most open utility trailers are 6 or 7 foot wide. The Uhaul car trailers seem to be around 7 ft wide but open in the middle. The box trucks seem to be around 7'6" wide. I have to move it around 60 miles away so I don't want to try to pull the gear in with a come-along or similar tool.
 
I made a trailer, sized it to fit the footprint of my RV 10.

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I called about the rollbacks Bruce but the cheapest I can find is around $170 and I just don't have the funds right (college tuition/wedding planning) now.

Mike - how far did you pull that setup? Don't you live on an airpark?
 
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Mike - how far did you pull that setup? Don't you live on an airpark?

Yes, I do live in an airpark, but the FAA will not allow phase 1 activities here.

I hauled it about 30 or so miles. Also shown is the light bar I mounted to the tail tiedown ring threaded boss, and I had a follow car.

All worked just fine:D
 
I called about the rollbacks Bruce but the cheapest I can find is around $170 and I just don't have the funds right (college tuition/wedding planning) now.

About the cost to fill the tanks with Avgas. :D

If you have a totally flat 7 ft wide trailer you can put 2X8 or 10's, 8 ft long across the bed for the wheels to rest on and rig ramps to get the fuselage up on the trailer. Some wood involved but relatively cheap.
 
Regular Flat Trailer

Find my post "Move and Wing Day" and you can see the box and
Chocks I made out of 2X8's. That was the second time I moved it that way.
First trip from GA was 435 miles and it rode great.
Send me an email and we can talk.
 
My utility trailer worked fine for the wings but wasn't quite wide enough for the fuselage. A borrowed car trailer worked well for the fuselage...



 
Make sure it fits in a toll booth. If you have a friendly cop ask him to escort you via tight turns. Don't speed up :D


 
We made it

I used a combination of what Mike and Bert did on their transporting. I have a 4 X 8 utility trailer rated for around 1200 lbs. I measured where the gear would position on the trailer and built an outrigger setup with 2 X 12 boards 92 inches wide. I then boxed in the gear with 2 X 8's and used additional straps around the tires. I used tie downs off the engine mount and off the steps. My brother followed me as a chase vehicle with the wings in their cradle on his 5 X 12 utility trailer (he has welded rails on his - not useful for geared fuselage). I hauled it without any problems at all. Wasn't idea but it worked. $60 in material. Saving all lumber for when we will move the RV12 that we are starting on when its time comes. I did have a couple places on the steps that paint chipped off due to the tie down hooks eating through the foam I had on them. 60 miles through mostly two lane roads.
 
The normal 8 minute drive took 25 minutes. Got a lot of stares during the move. Had my wife following close behind me the whole way.
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