Nose Wheel Pant Modification For Towbar

[mtclay]

Do any of you "A" Model RVer's out there have any pictures/descriptions of how you modified the nose wheel pant to accept a towbar?

I'm having a heck of a time getting my 8A into my hangar safely without a towbar. It's a "T" hangar so the 8A must go in backwards. The aircraft must first go up a slight grade then go over a lip at the entrance. I really need to use a towbar to keep the nose wheel straight. Otherwise, when you get up enough momentum to go over the lip, the tail wants to swing wildly when the mains and/or the nose wheel contact the lip.

Thanks,

[kevinh]

Originally Posted by mtclay

Do any of you "A" Model RVer's out there have any pictures/descriptions of how you modified the nose wheel pant to accept a towbar?

It's super easy: the two allen head bolts at the front of the gear weldament perfectly fit a cessna style tow bar. Just enlarge the holes you needed for the allen wrench to be large enough to fit the towbar you are going to use.

For the 'RV bogart bar' I purchased from AS&S this wasn't really a very large hole. However, I copied the (larger) hole size from a 172 - a very good thing because it means every FBO has a tow bar that fits.

99% of the time I don't use the tow bar because I have the breakout set on my nose at the high end of the range. With a bit of finesse I can push the plane via the prop without trouble - but I have a pretty flat ramp.

[robertahegy]

In addition to enlargening the hole, like Kevin did, I got longer socket head bolts and added some washers so the bolt sticks out a little more to help prevent the towbar from slipping off.

Roberta

[czechsix]

Mike,

For my -8A I got one of the Bogi-bars from Aircraft Spruce. It was something like $60 but I was too lazy to make my own. Before I installed my wheel pants I was engaging the towbar over the hex-socket screws that serve as the forward fairing attach point. After installing the fairing I realized that I had only made the holes big enough for the hex wrench so the towbar wouldn't fit in them anymore. I was about to enlarge them when I realized that the holes for the axle bolt through the wheel are just exactly big enough to fit the towbar into, and it works just as well there.

The only word of caution on the Bogibar is that it engages with an overcenter spring action and if you're not bracing your arm against the lever, it will snap into place very quickly and with significant force. It would probably break the fiberglass on your wheelpant, or at least gouge the paint, if you weren't ready for it. Otherwise if you're aware of this and use caution it works fine...

--Mark Navratil
Cedar Rapids, Iowa
RV-8A N2D flying 29.2 hours and grinning like an idiot

[SteveMc]

Hi Guys,

I have a new RV-8A [not yet flown but close]. I have seen the towbar from Bogeybar.com described. I really liked another towbar that is 33 inches long and the U shape fits around the fiberglass wheel pant and have a small metal piece that just fits inside of the allen head bolts. This way you don't have to remove any of the fiberglass wheel pant at all. A guy at my airport has this towbar on his RV-7A and I want one but he can't seem to remember who he bought it from ? Any ideas where it came from ?

Thanks Steve McDonald
mcdo360@bellsouth.net