DIY Wing Jack

[Taildrgr]

The thread below has some good ideas for a pipe cap on top of the jack that uses a threaded bolt into the tie down. See post #21.

Search for "jack" in RV Ongoing Maintenance Issues.


http://www.vansairforce.com/communit...highlight=jack

[jjhoneck]

Instead of fabricating a cup, I fabricated brackets out of steel and bolts that essentially make the jack a part of the airplane.

One end screws into the bottom of the plane, in the tie down hole. The other bolts to the piston on the jack. We tested it tonight, and it works as intended.

I might still grind a little "divot" in the top of the piston, just so the bracket can't move at all, but so far that seems unnecessary.

Here is a tongue-in-cheek pic taken of me with my "gorilla-engineered" bracket (alcohol may have been involved):



And here is the jack, in action, this evening. It's stout as a bridge.

[gerrychuck]

Originally Posted by rleffler

Jay,

If you got a friend with a cnc machine making the part is a piece of cake. Otherwise you can still do it manually, but may not look as nice. Unfortunately, I don't have any good photos online.

Basically, you want to fabricate a cup which slides over the jack piston. This creates a sleeve over the end. This assists in preventing the jack from slipping. Mine comes down about two inches. You want to drill the opening in cup slightly larger than the ram piston. Drill a hole in the bottom of the cup for a round head bolt with the thread size for the tie downs. The round head sits nicely in the indentation of the HF ram head.

If you get a block of aluminum, it should be easy to do with just a drill press. If you have acess to a cnc machine, then you can make the outside nice and round as well.

Bob

OR?.you can spend 3 bucks on a big socket. Can't remember what size I finally used; I think 1 3/8 or something similar. Works very well, cheap and easy!

[xblueh2o]

Originally Posted by jjhoneck

Finished throwing two of these together today. I'm still working on some sort of solution that will thread into the aircraft's tiedown hook holes, and then securely bolt to the jack. Another trip or two to the hardware store ought to do it.

Are you talking about some sort of rigid coupling between the jack and the aircraft? I would be cautious about that. You want to allow for some motion between the jack and the aircraft. Many aircraft jacks have a cup shaped receptacle. The jack pad for the aircraft has a rounded tip. The setup allows the aircraft slight pitch and roll changes encountered while jacking and lowering while positively capturing the aircraft to prevent slips or drops.

-edit- you posted pics while I was typing. I think I would still put in the divot you mention.

[jjhoneck]

The bracket allows for movement as you raise/lower the plane.