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Motorized Tailwheel Towbar Recomendation

grubbat

grubbat

Well Known Member
After years of towing my tailwheeel RV-9 with the “taildragger dragger”, the reality of age has reminded me that the days of pulling the RV around manually are coming to an end. On level ground or short distance is no problem. But with a slight incline, well, time for some help.

If you have some type of motorized Tailwheel towbar, please share your experience. What works, what to look for, reliability, and so forth. I don’t need it to travel with. Just at home to tow rv around side of hangar up an incline and back.

Thanks and look forward to reading the feedback.
 
I know of what you speak in regard to the RV getting heavier the past few years! :)

There are purpose-built towbars available and they seem to work well. However, many of us have re-purposed various engine-powered devices and they can also work well. Riding lawn mowers are an option as are small ATV's. I had an old Murray mower handy and have been using this mule for a few years now and it pulls my RV-6 effortlessly. I use the old towbar to attach it to the tailwheel.
 

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Do a search here for “Towbar” or “Tug”, and sit back for hours of reading…..

Or….we’ve got an article in the hopper at Kitplanes on how to build an electric tug - I built one a couple of months ago to validate the article. We don’t really need it for any of the RV’s, but it sure is nice pushing our Tundra around!

Sorry - don’t know what upcoming issue it will be in…. Not my department these days!
 
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Best Tugs is expensive but the nicest motorized tug I’ve ever used. I have their small version for my RV8a and will never go back. I also operated one of their 12k tugs. They are all very well put together. I’ve used many different electric and gas rigs with rental aircraft but best really outshines anything else. Very professional.
 
Absolute +1 for Best Tugs. I understand the attraction of the home-built tug for those who love to tinker, but I found tremendous satisfaction in ultimately un-crating and using a tug that is meticulously engineered and ideally suited for the sole purpose of moving my airplane around.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YKJO7DHFQg

..
 
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I've got one of these for my Cessna 180. Works perfectly and lets me check clearance while moving the plane. I intend to use it for my little RV-3B because the hangar has about a one inch lip at the entrance.

Dave
 
Probably my best project for 2022. One finger towing.
.
 

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David Paule said:
I've got one of these for my Cessna 180. Works perfectly and lets me check clearance while moving the plane. I intend to use it for my little RV-3B because the hangar has about a one inch lip at the entrance.

Dave
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A mate in the next hangar has one for his Bird Dog, it works very well, slide it under and drive it around remotely.
 
Time to kiss and tell Dan. Nice design. Tell me about the wheel and axle?

I’ve got pieces of a redline sidewinder that I could use for something if I could figure out the axle/wheel issue.


DanH said:
Probably my best project for 2022. One finger towing.
.
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Carl Froehlich said:
Dan - don’t tease us. How about details?
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grubbat said:
Time to kiss and tell Dan. Nice design. Tell me about the wheel and axle?
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See Dan's post #31 and his subsequent posts in this thread:


Desert Rat said:
Holy cow. between $2,500-$5k for a electric towbar? I gotta start making those things.
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Maybe Terry could make a few of Dan's design for some of us (But for less than $2500)! :D
 
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