Moving an 8

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Has anyone moved an 8 by trailer.

I am thinking I will need to pull the wings off my 8 and trailer it o my new location. Wondering if anyone has trailered one log distance?

Pulling the wings will be pretty straight forward, but one question 8 have is leaving the tail on or removing it.

 

[D-Dubya]

Lots of reports on that here on the Forum, and just as many opinions. How far will you be moving it? How fast will you be going? And what's your tolerance for risk?

For reference, I moved my RV-7 (same empennage as an 8) from my house to the airport on a flatbed trailer towed behind a pick-up truck. The trip was plotted out mostly over four-lane roads so other people could go around us, and the posted speed limit was never above 45. It was only about a five mile trip and we never went above 30 mph. The wings were of course off, but the tail was installed--including control surfaces. They were taped and clamped so they couldn't move, and an observer watched everything from the back window of the truck the entire time. The main wheels were chocked and the gear strapped and double-strapped to the trailer so it couldn't hop around with bumps or braking. The wings did not have the control surfaces on them and were moved flat on the trailer. Other than getting a lot of stares and people taking pics with their phones, it was kind of anticlimactic. Which is a good thing.

If the move were longer or on roads that our driving slowly would have presented a hazard, I would have rented an enclosed truck or trailer. However, unless the truck has a powered lift gate, getting the plane into the back can be a task requiring some planning. Watch some "fails" videos on YouTube if you want to see people mess up their prized cars and motorcycles that they're trying to load using flimsy ramps.

 

[DanH]

Chip, I've hauled literally dozens of airplanes, long distance and local. I use a modified 16 foot I've had more than 30 years, or a newer lowbed gooseneck with drive over wheelwells.

Tow slowly? Nope. I limit speed to 80...seriously.





Folks worry about damage on the highway, but that's nothing really. The real risk of damage is loading and unloading, so the key is having the right equipment, particularly good ramps and a winch. And you need 102" wide...car trailers and similar are too narrow between the wheelwells.

With an open trailer the tail can stay on. With an enclosed trailer most tails will need to come off. Note the A-frame for the tailspring. Positive fixation, longeron level.

Sometimes it's not so easy to remove the wings from an RV. I've seen a lot of crushed seat ribs aft of the spar in the side by side models for example. The A models have main gear weldments blocking easy access to drive out the spar bolts. Etc, etc. You can ugly up a nice airplane if you're not careful.

 

[D-Dubya]

Wow! On a trailer at 80?? You've got a much bigger set than I do. Set of trailers, of course.

 

[DanH]

It's not a crazy requirement. If you're going any distance, the interstates are mandatory. It's a 75 mph world, so you equip accordingly. The airplane doesn't care. The key is vehicle stability.

Almost 50 years ago, as a young truck salesman in an upscale community, I built a following among rich ladies who wanted to tow horses. I pushed what I called "Sunday night rigs", overbuilt tow units that allowed tired ladies to drag their equine buddy home from the show after a cocktail or two.

The long wheelbase dually in the picture above is a pretty good example. It's more truck than strictly necessary, but it's rock solid out there in the left lane.

 

[rv8ch]

The long wheelbase dually in the picture above is a pretty good example. It's more truck than strictly necessary, but it's rock solid out there in the left lane.

Dan, I might be wrong, but I think you are under-rating your skills and experience and possibly over-estimating ours - at least mine.

My personal experience doing this was bad. I bought an expensive high quality trailer to move my aircraft to the paint shop and then to the airport, and honestly didn't feel comfortable going over the speed bumps in my neighborhood, much less on the highway at 130 km/h, no matter how well attached it was to the trailer. I punted, sold the trailer, and hired some professionals to move the aircraft. For me, it was a wise choice. YMMV.

I will need to pull the wings off my 8 and trailer it o my new location.

Have you considered hiring a ferry pilot? No idea of all your circumstances, but if it's a flying RV-8, moving by air is pretty fast and easy...

 

[DanH]

Yes Mickey, I've been doing it a long time, and I didn't say it was easy...but for perspective, I'd rather drag an airplane on a trailer than a recreational vehicle trailer (less weight, lower CG, etc.) and there are roughly 10 million of those in the US, behind non-professional drivers.

Then we have horse trailers, boat trailers, 4 wheeler trailers...and of course, box trailers. I dragged this one almost 1200 miles over a day and a half last week, because a fellow bought one of the Tango Flight RV-12 kits and I promised to deliver it.



Again, the real damage risk is loading, securing, and unloading.

Here's a tip. See this Mustang II, and my RV-8 in the previous post? The customized trailer has wheel stops at the front corners, so taildraggers can easily end up too far forward for best stability...the CG of the airplane is about halfway between the rear axle of the truck and the trailer axles. It's OK dragging across town, but not so great at 75.



On this trailer, a nosewheel airplane always pulls better because the airplane is shifted aft on the trailer by two or three feet. The CG of the package is closer to the trailer axles. I'll chock a small taildragger like a Kitfox in a similar aft position just to gain stability. Perfect would put the CG just forward of the axles, much like we want the CG of our airplanes to be just forward of the aerodynamic center.

 

[esco]

To Dan’s point, lots of ways to do this, and the damage risk -loading, securing, unloading- is very controllable.

In a former life, I moved one of a kind, million dollar equipment sets 5-500 miles in an enclosed truck with powered lift.
As we loaded and secured my boss's career and company credit card, it became routine for our boutique IT projects.

My fuse (emp, wings, tools, canopy…) moved from one home to another ~7 miles, in a truck very easily and safely. With engine (gear, avionics, emp…) installed, will probably leave the garage for an airport the same way. Heck, we might move homes again before it gets to the airport.

 

[bifft]

Was only from my house to the airport 11 miles away, but didn't have any problems. Tied it to the landing gear (with no fairings). Took the wings in separate trips just hanging out of the back of the Tahoe with a red flag on it. Wouldn't do the wings that way if going far.