Tall Tails

[DonFromTX]

I am about to change plans, and put the tail on in my home garage rather than at the hangar. Vans specs list the height as 8 ft 4 in, oddly my garage ceiling is 8 ft 4 3/4 inches!
I am intending to raise the nosewheel on a platform to enable working on it. Has anyone done this and if so, how well did it work out?

 

[BigJohn]

That will work. Put castors on your platform and you can still roll it around. Just don't let the nose wheel slip off. Crunch!

 

[DonFromTX]

Thanks John. By just eyeballing the drawings, I should be able to lower the tail two inches for every inch I raise the nose wheel. Of course getting it all out thru the garage door will require even more nose wheel raising (will need to drop the tail at least 14 inches).

 

[engineerofsorts]

I used a modified moving dolly

I made use of a small Harbor Freight moving dolly (http://www.harborfreight.com/movers-dolly-93888.html) and screwed a plywood box on it what was wide and long enough to slip the wheel in. With the combination of dolly and box, I believe the nose was elevated about 8 inches, and that made it very easy to roll out of the garage, easily clearing the 7' garage door.

 

[DonFromTX]

That was exactly my plans. Great to know it will work well.

 

[Mich48041]

Another option is to tie the tail down to a weighted dolly. 80 -100 pounds on the dolly ought to do it.
Joe Gores

 

[DonFromTX]

Thanks Joe, another good idea, but I think it dolly will work better for me, easier to move around which I will need to do.