Jacking up your RV

With extreme caution, of course!

I received a query today regarding jacking up your RV. There are other ways to do the job safely, of course. However, jacking your RV (or Rocket ) up to change a gear socket (Rocket) or simply to have full access to the wheels and brakes requires lifting somewhere other than the gear leg.

Here the question and a couple possible answers:

name : Keith
Email : keith@xxxxxxxx
Query : Can the tie down point on the wing be used as a jack point?

Keith,

Yes, with extreme caution. If your jack slips, you'll likely put a hole in the wing skin, or a huge dent at minimum.

http://antisplataero.com/products/quality-jack-points These are designed to keep the wing on the jack cup. (A tip of the hat to Alan Nimmo... I love his products!)

It is also possible to jack under the engine mount near the longeron attach points on most RVs... with the same caution. I made a couple "saddle" pads for my jacks when I changed the gear legs axle sockets on my Rocket.



http://vincesrocket.com/Additions after 10-27-04.htm

Be sure to chock, secure, tie the plane to the hangar wall, etc.... so it does NOT try to roll, tip, sway, etc. while you're carefully working on it.

YMMV.... there are other techniques and others will surely chime in with their tips, as they should!

Vince

What about the Avery tool for hollow axle rv's, I have been considering getting one....

edneff said:

What about the Avery tool for hollow axle rv's, I have been considering getting one....

Click to expand...

I used that tool for several years on my RV-6 but I like this much better:



The cable sling is prevented from sliding up the gear leg by a small u-bolt on the gear leg that stays in place all the time.

This apparatus allows you to spin the tire as you snug up the unmodified axle nut and establish proper tension on the bearings.

Nice solution for jacking on your Rocket Vince, & would work on Harmons too as the lower cross bar on those mounts are welded further away & lower from the firewall (than RVs) giving more access. I like that your milled plastic saddles are supported by the full width of the vertical jack tube.

I have a 7, 6, & 6A in the shop presently & looking at their mounts, the lower cross bars are much closer (1/4") to the firewall and there is the sheet metal rivet flange directly below it, so your set-up wouldn't work for those planes.

When I had to change out a 6A front leg, I used an engine hoist to grab the engine mount from the top, lift the whole front end, than support the fuselage on a padded saw horse structure.

For RV wheel maintenance I use 2 modified tall bottle jacks & lift at the wing tie down locations. The jacks have a machined cup on the top, the bases are supported with sturdy welded tripod type struts with a 18 x 18" footprint. The stud I screw into the wing is grade 8 and extends below the skin no more than 3/4" to prevent possibility of stud bending. Plane is prevented from swivelling and tail draggers have about 75 lbs stacked on the Horizontal stabilizers for shifting CofG concerns. Safety precautions are- everybody stay away, no climbing, leaning, moving!

Haven't had a 'hard landing' in the hangar yet!

The other 2 jack systems mentioned would be great for wheel maintenance also.

U-bold clamp

I use a U-Bolt clamp around the main gear let to make something for the jack to catch.

This

or this

RV7A Flyer said:

This

Click to expand...

That is the "Avery" tool referred to in post #2 and #3. It works well to remove the wheel but you must modify the axle nut if you want to be able to spin the wheel while tightening the nut.

Actually, there is no reason a 4130 thick-wall piece of tubing couldn't be used with a floor jack to accomplish the same thing and it would be portable enough to carry in the plane for emergency use. But an un-modified axle nut must be removed before this method will work.

Sam Buchanan said:

Actually, there is no reason a 4130 thick-wall piece of tubing couldn't be used with a floor jack to accomplish the same thing and it would be portable enough to carry in the plane for emergency use. But an un-modified axle nut must be removed before this method will work.

Click to expand...

Yep...for out-of-town trips, I just take the horizontal tube part off and throw it into my travel bag behind the seat. Figure I can always find a scissors jack somewhere (if I'm going a long way, then I have a scissors jack from a Miata that's very lightweight that I can throw in, too).

When I got mine from Avery, they included the modified nuts and all that, but it looks really easy to do the mod oneself.

Sam Buchanan said:

That is the "Avery" tool referred to in post #2 and #3. It works well to remove the wheel but you must modify the axle nut if you want to be able to spin the wheel while tightening the nut.

Actually, there is no reason a 4130 thick-wall piece of tubing couldn't be used with a floor jack to accomplish the same thing and it would be portable enough to carry in the plane for emergency use. But an un-modified axle nut must be removed before this method will work.

Click to expand...

What is the modification to the axle nut?

The simple tube idea sounds great for an on-board emergency kit.

axle nut mod

scroll down to the second image to see what the axle nut mod looks like.

http://www.rv7blog.com/category/fuselage/landing-gear/page/2/

Try this

Maybe I have over simplified the task but, I bought an inexpensive engine hoist and nylon lifting strap. I reach above the engine and attach the hoist using the nylon strap it to the engine mount. It has worked perfect the one time I have tried it.

No need to worry about a jack slipping and puncturing a wing. If the hoist does leak down, the worst thing that happens is an axle touches the ground.

Me too Dean. Great for the hangar but doesn't travel well...

We may have the same hoist.