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Help with overall dimensions on an RV-7

Karee Brinlee

Active Member
Hey group,
You would think I could find this online but I have looked. I bought an RV-7 on its feet with horizontal stab and vert stab installed. Engine in place. Wings not installed.
I am picking it up Aug 12th and from what I hear, the horizontal stab is too wide for ODOT so I may have to remove or pull a permit.
My first thought is to flatbed it home carefully with lots of foam between wings laying flat below the loaded fuselage.

I need dimensions of the outside of tires right to left so I can make sure the trailer is wide enough to roll it up on.
Measurement from someone who owns a current built plane would be nice unless someone has a drawing I can see.
Also, how wide is the horizontal stab??
These questions may seem a little dumb but for the life of me I can not find it on the web.
Thank you in advance group. Happy flying and building. We will get this bird in the air in about a year I hope hope hope.
Karee
 
Dimensions

Hey group,
You would think I could find this online but I have looked. I bought an RV-7 on its feet with horizontal stab and vert stab installed. Engine in place. Wings not installed.
I am picking it up Aug 12th and from what I hear, the horizontal stab is too wide for ODOT so I may have to remove or pull a permit.
My first thought is to flatbed it home carefully with lots of foam between wings laying flat below the loaded fuselage.

I need dimensions of the outside of tires right to left so I can make sure the trailer is wide enough to roll it up on.
Measurement from someone who owns a current built plane would be nice unless someone has a drawing I can see.
Also, how wide is the horizontal stab??
These questions may seem a little dumb but for the life of me I can not find it on the web.
Thank you in advance group. Happy flying and building. We will get this bird in the air in about a year I hope hope hope.
Karee

No response?
Mine is in the shop. 81" center of tire to center.
Remove the HS and VS. Easy. No reason to take a chance on damage.
 
If you want to find the dimensions on the web, they are on Van's website 3-views for all models. The CAD models can be used to measure any dimension.

Otherwise, the 3-view PDF drawings in the individual plans can be printed to scale and measured with a ruler, in case the required dimension is not annotated.
 
81"

No response?
Mine is in the shop. 81" center of tire to center.
Remove the HS and VS. Easy. No reason to take a chance on damage.

Hi Larry,
Thank you. If I do it myself I will remove the tail section.. I agree, not worth a chance of hurting it.
I can get a guy to haul it for about 1300 bucks or I can rent a 26" uhaul for 600 and do It myself... Or for only 100 bucks a day rent a flatbed car hauler that is wide enough and do it.
I am leaning toward letting a pro do the transport and he is an A&P. Might be the best way to go.
Karee
 
The gear track can be narrowed by attaching a ratchet strap between the wheels and pulling together, don’t go overboard but a few inches is possible.
 
The tail is slightly wider than allowable without a wide load permit. I believe an 18 wheeler is 102" and the tail is like 108 or 110. If you're doing it yourself, you can probably squeak by without the proper permits, but if youre hiring someone that has to follow the rules, you'll either be pulling the tail or applying for wide load paperwork.

Wheel width is roughly 94-95". It will fit through a 26' U-Haul door (93" wide) with straps pulling it together. A standard open deck trailer has roughly 84" between the wheel wells, there's no way it's going to fit between them. If you get a 8.5' wide deck over trailer, the main gear fits fine. The tailwheel took the entirety of a 20' deck over in order to have room to strap the rear gear down. If you have a nosewheel, a 16 or 18' trailer should be plenty and the tail will hang over the back a little.
 
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Thank you

The tail is slightly wider than allowable without a wide load permit. I believe an 18 wheeler is 102" and the tail is like 108 or 110. If you're doing it yourself, you can probably squeak by without the proper permits, but if youre hiring someone that has to follow the rules, you'll either be pulling the tail or applying for wide load paperwork.

Wheel width is roughly 94-95". It will fit through a 26' U-Haul door (93" wide) with straps pulling it together. A standard open deck trailer has roughly 84" between the wheel wells, there's no way it's going to fit between them. If you get a 8.5' wide deck over trailer, the main gear fits fine. The tailwheel took the entirety of a 20' deck over in order to have room to strap the rear gear down. If you have a nosewheel, a 16 or 18' trailer should be plenty and the tail will hang over the back a little.

Interesting. Thank you for the helpful info. That helps a bunch. I think I will hire it done and just deal with the paper work while it gets loaded.
Karee
 
9’

The stabilizer out to out with the fiberglass tips on is nine foot. The states we haul equipment in requires a wide load permit after 8’6” wide but I would venture to guess that a lot of RV get moved with out a permit. Without the fiberglass you are probably right at 8’6”
 
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Here is my RV-7 on a car trailer

C453-AF28-8067-44-F3-81-DE-4700-BE43-F96-F.jpg
 
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