RV Towbar

[Jim Kiloh]

Hi Guys,

I've recently had back surgery and hope to get the allclear from my Doc to start flying again next week. The problem I see preventing this is pushing the RV-7A back into the hanger after a flight, there is a small incline to push the RV up and then there is the threshold to get over. I know my back will not be recovered enough to allow me to manually push the plane uphill then over the threshold. Has anyone used a powered towbar on your -A model RV? Can anyone recommend one, possibly battery powered.

[Mike S]

Have you considered a winch in the back of the hanger to pull the plane in???

Good luck on the recovery------

[gasman]

Originally Posted by Mike S

Have you considered a winch in the back of the hanger to pull the plane in???

Good luck on the recovery------

This does not work well with the nose wheel. It hates to back up. Now if you had the winch control in your hand and also could steer the a/c with the tow bar, then it would work. Harbor Freight has a winch that might work for this.

[Vlad]

Originally Posted by Jim Kiloh

Hi Guys,

I've recently had back surgery and hope to get the allclear from my Doc to start flying again next week. The problem I see preventing this is pushing the RV-7A back into the hanger after a flight, there is a small incline to push the RV up and then there is the threshold to get over. I know my back will not be recovered enough to allow me to manually push the plane uphill then over the threshold. Has anyone used a powered towbar on your -A model RV? Can anyone recommend one, possibly battery powered.

Jim, a year or so ago I saw an ad in KitPlanes featuring a towbar powered by 18V electrical drill. I do not have the subscription but I am positive it's somewhere in there.There was an image of pretty lady pushing the plane with that drill powered thingy. It was looking very simple.

Edited: it was in Trade-a-Plane

[Geico266]

Originally Posted by gasman

This does not work well with the nose wheel. It hates to back up. Now if you had the winch control in your hand and also could steer the a/c with the tow bar, then it would work. Harbor Freight has a winch that might work for this.

I have a remote controlled (wireless) winch. Just hook the plane up to the winch, attach the tow bar, and use the remote. The tow bar is just used to steer. Could not take less effort. Perfect for when there is snow & ice in front of the hanger. Got it at HF.

[N941WR]

Jim,

Good to hear you are recovering and will soon be flying!

Check with your local lawn tractor dealer and see if you can buy a used one that has a bad mower deck.

Mine cost me $50 and runs great and cuts the grass.



Although I have a TD, some of the other guys at my airport use similar tractors for their A's.

[tc1234c]

Two years ago I had disk problem and were not able to pull nor push the airplane around. Two other airplane owners on our field introduced me to the plane tug.

http://www.airstore.biz/

PT2000 - For most single eng. aircraft

I used it for a few months until my back recovered. It is a much more expensive solution than what Bill has.

[frankh]

two years ago by pushing on the towbar...feet slipped on the ice, down I went on my left hand and then my shoulder HURT..To make it worse my right foot was inflamed with Gout and of course it came down and smacked on the ice as well.

My young CFII couldn't figure out why I was lying on the floor moaning unable to get up!

Apparently it was one of those fractures that would heal itself (The ball of the humerous cracked)..Uh-huh right sure it will..it still hurts and I cartainly can't bench much weight any more.

Anyway I often considered a winch but never got round to it.

I never push on the tow bar any more

Frank

[AlexPeterson]

The remote winch sounds like a good plan. I use a conventional electric winch, and extended the length of the pendant.

If you have the boarding steps installed, you can make a little bridle to pull trike gear planes rearward. I took a piece of maybe 1/4" rope, put a pulley midspan, and made loops at each end which slip and tighten around each step at their top. Make sure these stay up tight against the fuselage! I attach the winch to the pulley, and steer the towbar with one hand and run the winch with the other. The pulley prevents misbehaving while turning the nose gear.

[DickDe]

We use a boat winch with the handle removed & replaced with about a 6" V belt pulley. I then welded up a base of scrap iron with a cross shaft just below the winch running in two home made bearings where I mounted a small diameter ( maybe 1'to 2")V Belt pulley. With a v belt between the two pulleys giving the winch about a 3 to 1 reduction I mounted my 1/2" heavy duty corded electric drill on the opposite end of the shaft. This was an evening project with a $19.95 winch and was centered around the winch & drill. I pretty much had to build a mount for the drill to keep it from twisting while applying power and each drill would be different but a large hose clamp around the drill to piece of 1" iron welded to the base would work fine. This whole contraption is bolted to the rear hangar wall. The drill is variable speed so we just hook a rope to the plane and press the trigger and up the ramp and in the hangar they go regardless of ice on the ramp or whatever. There is no drive wheel to slip on ice, water or grease spots. This has been in use for about 12 years since a guy in my hangar was slowly becoming a candidate for hip replacement. It has hauled Cessna 170, Tripacer, a Baron, and has no trouble with the RV6. Total cost...less than $50.

We also thought of making a remote control switch using an extension cord so the drill motor can be controlled while the operator can walk along with the plane to better guide it but we never did. It is also somewhat slow & I suppose we could change pulleys to a faster ratio but we don't view it as a big issue.

Dick DeCramer
RV6 N500DD
RV8
Northfield, MN