Ideas on jacking aircraft

I understand using a small jack to jack the airplane for removing a wheel assembly. Are there any low cost ideas floating around to jack the entire aircraft off the ground for fitting the main and nose leg fairings. I have researched the site and the prefab wing jacks seem a tad expensive. Any ideas are welcome.
Thanks
Phelps

s24789 said:

I understand using a small jack to jack the airplane for removing a wheel assembly. Are there any low cost ideas floating around to jack the entire aircraft off the ground for fitting the main and nose leg fairings. I have researched the site and the prefab wing jacks seem a tad expensive. Any ideas are welcome.
Thanks
Phelps

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These were about $40/ea at Harbor Freight, then you just have to have a friend with a welder.

I am building a 9A and use the harbor freight hydraulic cart lift set just aft of the fire wall. After I get it to height, I put a 2x4 inside the lift to hold it in place. The hydraulic pump is only a backup at that point. It's rated 1,000 pounds. I also don't have the wings on, so that makes it easier.

http://www.harborfreight.com/catalogsearch/result?q=hydraulic+cart

Harmon

Yep

s24789 said:

....... Are there any low cost ideas floating around to jack the entire aircraft off the ground for fitting the main and nose leg fairings. .... Any ideas are welcome.
Thanks
Phelps

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I use two bottle jacks and a couple of concrete blocks with a short piece of wood on top. Screw a bolt into the tiedown holes and jack there.

Best,

Here is another idea, a rube goldberg looking contraption. I had a transmission jack laying around, and this was a 15 minute conversion. It is bolted to the tiedown ring for security. Another feature of this is you can change the lift range in minutes. Has worked very well for many aircraft.
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Cheap Jacks

I bought cheap screw jacks (~20$ea.) from Home Depot online. I think an advantage of screw jacks is that they will not "leak down" over time. Bases were fabricated from scrap plywood.



Eric

This assumes you have the fuselage on the gear with tires (you said you were messing with fairings). Get a friend to hold the tail down, raising the nose. Slide a sawhorse under the fuselage at the firewall. Needs to be slightly below firewall elevation when the tail is down. I suggest padding the sawhorse a bit. My sawhorse was built from a flat 2x6, so plenty of surface area. Then you can lift the tail and put another padded sawhorse under the tail. Might take a bit of shimming to get the fuselage level fore-aft as well as laterally, but this is generally pretty stable unless you put weight on the wingtips.

Greg

s24789 said:

I understand using a small jack to jack the airplane for removing a wheel assembly. Are there any low cost ideas floating around to jack the entire aircraft off the ground for fitting the main and nose leg fairings. I have researched the site and the prefab wing jacks seem a tad expensive. Any ideas are welcome.
Thanks
Phelps

Click to expand...

Easiest, cheapest and most portable method, and tested this week!:

Find a sturdy support, such as a tool chest, that is about the right height to support one wing. Pad it with foam.

Then, find a friend to crouch under the wing near the tip and lift up until the wheel is clear of the ground. Roll the padded tool chest into position under the spar, just outboard of the pitot tube position (or equivalent on right side). Ask your friend to relax.

This is fast (about 30 seconds) and secure. It's also possible to do in the field if you can find someone to help and a sawhorse or tool chest.

BTW, we estimate the force to lift on the tip is about 100 lbs. Well within the capability of one person to lift. Haven't tried it on a tail dragger, but should work with the tail support in about a level position.

For the nose gear, either pull the tail ring down to a weight (concrete filled tire) to lift the nose, or use an engine hoist to lift the nose off the ground. If you use the tail tie down, tie a bowline in the tie-down rope, loop the rope through the tie down ring, down to the ring in the weight, then back up through the loop of the bowline. When you pull on the bitter end, you get a 2:1 mechanical advantage to assist in pulling the tail down.

Hydraulic cart

I too use the hydraulic cart.

I bought it on sale from HF for $80.. primariliy its for lifting my Sam James cowl lower half up into position with simple 2*4 frame bolted to the top.

I lift the wing one side at a time under the lifting eye. You could probably lift the whole airplane with it.I just never tried.

Frank

Options

s24789 said:

....a small jack....Are there any low cost ideas floating around.....

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I have and use 3 different types of jacks to raise the RV's but by far my favorite is the DIY wing jack. Requiring no welding, I fabbed up a simple wing jack built around a ram jack available at HF for little investment in labor and not much money. If the link in the original post is still correct, that ram jack is currently on sale for $39.99. I described its easy construction here:

http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showthread.php?t=37662&highlight=diy+jack


If you simply want to raise and hold the the nose wheel off the ground so you can service the gear, there is no quicker way of accomplishing that task than by simply piling a few heavy bags onto the empennage. I use three or four 25 lb. lead shot bags although sand bags would work almost as well:

http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showpost.php?p=10411&postcount=1

I like that idea a lot, since I have a new HF jack just laying around doing nothing anyhow, I think I will use it up this way.

Rick6a said:

I have and use 3 different types of jacks to raise the RV's but by far my favorite is the DIY wing jack. Requiring no welding, I fabbed up a simple wing jack built around a ram jack available at HF for little investment in labor and not much money. If the link in the original post is still correct, that ram jack is currently on sale for $39.99. I described its easy construction here:

http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showthread.php?t=37662&highlight=diy+jack

If you simply want to raise and hold the the nose wheel off the ground so you can service the gear, there is no quicker way of accomplishing that task than by simply piling a few heavy bags onto the empennage. I use three or four 25 lb. lead shot bags although sand bags would work almost as well:

http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showpost.php?p=10411&postcount=1

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vlittle said:

use an engine hoist to lift the nose off the ground

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If you do this, don't simply use the bolted-on hoist ring to lift and hold the engine/nose off the ground. I have heard of these failing. Better technique is to lift at the engine mount or put a strap under the engine.

Greg

Tailwheel airplane jacking?

Do you guys leave the tailwheel on the ground when jacking one side up using these DIY tripod jacks?

I am wondering how stable the aircraft is when jacking a tailwheel airplane with the tiedown jack point being on an angle.

Thanks!

This is what I did

I jacked my 9A up for wheel pants work with the engine on and the wings and tail off. I don't have any of my pictures handy but:

I put one of these under the main wing spar:



Then, I had three of these that I had bought at the local junk yard which I put between the saw horse and the plane:



Make sure to protect the bottom of the fuselage with a couple of plywood scraps. I then turned each one by hand until the mains came off the ground.

Then, I lifted the tail and supported it with one of these:



I already had this stuff so there wasn't anything else to buy for me. I would bet this would work with the wings on as well.

Good luck.

Connect these to each wing tip..







Sorry I couldn't make it out to Stewart today...left work too late.

I have a tripod jack that I use for lifting the wings. I don't worry about it sliding off because I drilled a hole in the top of the jack that is about 1/2" diameter. I took a 3/8" bolt and cut the head off of it, rounded the spot where the head was cut off. I then bought a wing nut and put it on the threads backwards (so the wings pointed toward where the head used to be). I epoxied this in place. I use the wing nut to turn the bolt into the tiedown point. Be careful that the bolt is long enough that the wings don't sit on the sides of the hole in the top of the jack. The smaller 3/8" bolt in an oversized 1/2" hole allows for the tilt angle but makes certain that it doesn't slip off of the jack.

Greg

P.S. this works fine on my taildragger with the tailwheel on the ground.

Thanks Greg!

I'm sold...now I'll have to get building one of those DIY Jacks!