Jack Hard Points

I undertand that Van's sells jack hard points that thread into the tie-down ring location.
I can't seem to locate them on the Van's site. Can someone post a link please.

I would appreciate it very much.

The ones I got from Van's years ago were plastic, I ditched them and went and bought some carriage bolts from the local hardware store.

I bought the jack set from Van's just a year ago, but it does not seem to be listed in the Web Store now. The jack pads that came in the kit are plastic. I have used them two or three times and they work fine. The kit also came with axle jacking hardware. You might call Van's and see if they are still available.

Jack Point

Van's 2010-2011 catalog page 113, JACK POINT. Plastic? Isn't that imitation metal?

Jack points.

I have a set of the plastic jack points, and I use them to plug the tie down holes when flying. They seem to bend over when used as a jack point, and it makes me a bit uneasy. If that thing were to break when jacking one wing at a time, I'd have a heck of a mess. I have decided to search out a metal set, or make some up. Maybe they are tougher than they look, But maybe not. To be fair, I only have one wing jack available to me, so jacking one wing at a time puts a significant side load on the button. Jacking both wings on the plane would be a better solution, and they would be fine.

Just a thought, Chris

jeffmoreau said:

I undertand that Van's sells jack hard points that thread into the tie-down ring location.
I can't seem to locate them on the Van's site. Can someone post a link please.

I would appreciate it very much.

Click to expand...

Prefer metal? With a bench sander and scotch brite wheel, you can easily make your own jack point. I fashioned mine from a spare tie-down ring.

I have the plastic ones as well, and yes - they do tend to bend if you don't have them all the way in - and since the skin isn't in contact with the lower face of the tie down block, you can't really screw them all the way in. I screw them ALMOST all the way in - just touching the skin, but I am very careful with them. I have a set of Allen-head bolts with the right thread that, one of these days, I am going to modify the way Rick did those tie-down rings. I probably wouldn't buy the plastic things again.

Paul

When building my -6A wings...

many years ago, I did not like the idea of the designed-in gap between the wing bottom skin and the tie down threaded square rod. I riveted in a spacer to fill in this gap.

I also use the plastic jack points. I screw them in until they are just snug with the wing bottom skin and get no wing skin deflection when jacking up the aircraft.

Good idea

I like the spacer idea. Thats a definate on my next set of wings.
Thanks for the tip
Regards,
Chris