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Hangar winch

scrollF4

scrollF4

Moderator, Asst. Line Boy
Ambassador
Gang,
What floor-mounted hangar winch do you recommend for pulling your RV back into the hangar. The VAF search function comes up a little slim. Do you recommend a particular brand or supplier?

Please help me limit this discussion specifically to winches: I'm not interested in push-back tugs or the like.

Thanks!
 
Harbor Fright makes a nice little unit that has a key fob style remote.

http://www.harborfreight.com/2500-l...winch-with-wireless-remote-control-61297.html

You can have the tow bar in hand to steer with, and use the remote with the other hand to move the plane.

This is how we loaded the fuse on the trailer when I moved the plane to the airport for final assembly.

P9250031.jpg
 
While I was building, I flew a Cessna 172.

I bought this winch from Wag Aero because it was impossible for one person to push the plane up a 3 degree slope into my hangar.

http://www.wagaero.com/standard-aircraft-winch.html

The first time I pulled the 172 into the hanger I used the rear tie down ring.
I heard this terrible creaking noise from the area of the tie down ring.

The second time I pulled the 172 in I tied tow straps to the landing gear.
A real pain.

Before a third time, I sold the winch and bought a golf cart.

The winch worked fine, I was just not comfortable using it on my plane.

DSCN2400%20160_zpsycjapvzh.jpg
 
I use a hand crank (boat trailer style) to pull my 6A nose first into a hangar I use in the summer. I have a method to secure the towbar onto the nose wheel, and a rope fashioned on the tow bar in order for the winch to pull it.

The 2 seat trike RV's can be turned around in an impossibly small area, so pulling them in nose first is something to think about. Once the mains are on the hangar floor, it can be spun around.
 
I have the HF winch and it works well. That said, Vans does not recommend towing by the tail tie down ring because the structure is not designed for those kinds of loads applied horizontally.
 
I've thought about a winch. I don't think I would ever drag mine in by the tail tiedown, but there are times in winter when I can't get quite enough traction on the wet/snowy/icy pavement to push it up the slope into the hangar. A few pounds of assist from a winch would make the difference.
 
Thanks Gang.
I won't use the tail tie-down. I'll attach adel clamps with hook-on rings to each fuselage step up high close to where the step protrudes from the fuselage, and rig a Y-harness to the winch cable to connect to both steps.

My challenge entails the 2-foot climb KELLI GIRL must tackle on the 30-foot ramp into my hangar. Most significantly, the ramp begins with this rediculous uphill lip. I can only physically push her up the hill if the taxiway is dry and on a warm day (my shoes have better traction), and it takes ALL I've got. Otherwise I need a helper. The lawn mower tug jacknifes. I inherited a 12-V push tug, but don't yet know if it'll work (I'm having a mounting bracket fabricated to clamp it to the nose gear). I have no room or budget for a golf cart. So, I'm looking ahead at the winch option.

So far the best choice I've seen is the AC-powered aircraft winch sold by ACS. It has a long cable-mounted remote, which I figure is mandatory: What I mean is that I see a cordless remote as hazardous (what if the fob fails while the winch is pulling the rudder toward the wall?).

Does anybody have a better option?
 
At my airport we also have a drainage slope outside the hangars, though not as severe as Scroll's. A winch will work fine, so long as the winch cable goes over a pulley that results in the cable being parallel to the apron slope. Otherwise the cable pulls the tail ever closer to the (rising) grade creating significant and unusual stresses. My not-yet-formal plans for an eventual winch have said pulley mounted on a wide platform base to give it stability. The winch would be mounted at the floor at the rear of the hangar.
 
needs a kill switch!

scrollF4 said:
So far the best choice I've seen is the AC-powered aircraft winch sold by ACS. It has a long cable-mounted remote, which I figure is mandatory: What I mean is that I see a cordless remote as hazardous (what if the fob fails while the winch is pulling the rudder toward the wall?).
Click to expand...

a hangar-mate built a winch and lift....one day the winch didn't stop.
That was bad. :mad: at least tie the power plug to the winch cable so it pulls the plug if it continues past the danger point!
 
scrollF4 said:
So far the best choice I've seen is the AC-powered aircraft winch sold by ACS. It has a long cable-mounted remote, which I figure is mandatory: What I mean is that I see a cordless remote as hazardous (what if the fob fails while the winch is pulling the rudder toward the wall?).

Does anybody have a better option?
Click to expand...

OK, got the key fob concern.

Here is one with a built in kill switch activated by an adjustable disc mounted to the cable. You also get a wired remote, although you will most likely need to extent the cord length.

I have one of these mounted in the rafters of my hangar, use it to raise a dumb waiter like platform when I want to lift heavy stuff up into the attic storage area.

image_22155.jpg



http://www.harborfreight.com/1300-lb-electric-hoist-with-remote-control-60344.html
 
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scrollF4 said:
Thanks Gang.
I won't use the tail tie-down. I'll attach adel clamps with hook-on rings to each fuselage step up high close to where the step protrudes from the fuselage, and rig a Y-harness to the winch cable to connect to both steps.

SNIP
Click to expand...

A length of rope with a noose on each end, slid all the way up the steps, works fine. No need for extra junk hanging in the breeze. Put a pulley on the rope (at your "Y" junction) and it will pull evenly on both steps even as the plane is maneuvered in.
 
Or, the ultimate solution:

Keep a clean hangar and just taxi it in.

(Flame suit on; finger on the halide button)
 
Before the flames rise, I will say in public I have taxied into my hangar. But it makes me nervous. I also have one of the HF winches, but it only serves to pull a heavy C210 onto a gas tug platform. The remote fob closes a relay back at the winch. But I do bear in mind how cheap it was. Which is another way of saying I don't trust my RV tail to it. And it is 12 volt.
Hate to say this but the cheapest and safest way is the Armstrong boat winch. Use a flat nylon strap, hook it to the noose arangement and pulley mentioned by a member here. You get a work out, save electricity and it can't run away out of control.
 
I installed a HF with remote control

in my son's hangar to pull in his Cessna 182 ---- he is happy!

I use a EZ battery tug for my -6A.

R.
 
I was thinking about a hangar winch but I'm thinking the wife would take a dim view of such an arrangement 🤕
 
flightlogic said:
Before the flames rise, I will say in public I have taxied into my hangar. But it makes me nervous. I also have one of the HF winches, but it only serves to pull a heavy C210 onto a gas tug platform. The remote fob closes a relay back at the winch. But I do bear in mind how cheap it was. Which is another way of saying I don't trust my RV tail to it. And it is 12 volt.
Click to expand...
I think you'll find that just about all DC winches are switched by a relay at the motor (likely a lot of the AC models, as well). A failure of the wireless keyfob would require it to fail shorted. While possible, there's minimal chance given that it's a pushbutton carrying barely measurable current; just enough to drive the milliwatt transmitter. Failing open is a much higher probability. A failed-shorted relay is a much higher probability, and would apply in most cases; not just the wireless ones. Even a switch-controlled AC winch motor would carry a greater risk of the actual control failing, because the switch, like the relay, is carrying high currents.
 
flyboy1963 said:
a hangar-mate built a winch and lift....one day the winch didn't stop.
That was bad. :mad: at least tie the power plug to the winch cable so it pulls the plug if it continues past the danger point!
Click to expand...

Plus one - I know a Comanche driver that really messed up the back end due to the same problem.

Dan
 
Mine is a tail dragger. Don't know the geometry of your situation and with your RV being a nose wheel aircraft, it probably won't work, but mine is such that I can taxi in quite comfortably. That is my standard practice; taxi it in, shut it down and then spin it around.

Might not solve your problem, but for others with tail draggers, it is a very efficient procedure. The gravity you're working against using engine power to taxi in works to your advantage when pushing the airplane out. I just pop my doors open and push it out downhill (!) and taxi it back in when I get back. Spinning it around on a level hangar floor takes almost no effort at all.

Most of my flying is done in shorter, 20-30 minute flights. Our airport is conducive to leaving your hangar doors open all day if need be. Works great.


Lee...
 
As Lee says, taxiing in is something that *can* be done safely. At my hangar, the grass starts about a foot outside the hangar door. So, it's either taxi in, or find a helper every time I want to put the plane in the hangar. I've been doing it for around 20 years without incident. A couple of different RV-4s, and for a short time, a BD-4, into a hangar with ~29' wide opening & ~48' depth. Because there's a work bench along a side wall ~25 feet in, I typically taxi in far enough to leave the tailwheel on the grass, then spin it 180 degrees (after shutdown...) before backing the tail past the work bench.

This is much easier to do than it may sound to some who've never tried it. If you have a more typical hangar opening, it's almost a no brainer. During my flight training in a luscombe, my instructor made me land on duster strips that were narrower than most hangar openings. :) I'm no master 'stick', so if I can do it, I'm pretty sure most of the guys here can do it as well.

Charlie
 
2 ft on 30 ft is 1 in 15 ft. That is a very easy taxi in if the ramp and door safely clear the prop.

Most people can pull more weight that they can push so Turbo's post would be my choice over a winch.

Failing that, a tracked Honda walk behind snow blower can out pull me and can do double duty... but with your location, you likely don't have one.
 
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I made a 4 to 1 block and tackle for my C-180 in a hangar I used to rent. It was easy and worked very well.

I used a piece of 1" dowel for a handle and a loop of nylon with a shackle to grab the tailwheel.

Dave
 
Scroll,

My son built one that works perfect for pulling his Pace back into the hangar. Out of town on business for a week. Will get the info posted here as soon as I can. Very simple solution.

Wally Hunt
 
I taxi into the hangar, just enough to get the mains inside. Two foot clearance for each side is comfortable. And it's easy to push the plane straight back with no towbar. Don't try to turn pushing back, tho.
 
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