Jacking an RV-6

Here is one method to jack an RV-6.

Van uses a hose clamp on the hinge pin to gear leg / axle behind the brake disc. If this clamp is placed with the screw bump down, it can be used as a jack point.

I have a CHEAP auto hydraulic floor jack. It slides under the clamp and I can jack one wheel up to remove the wheel / tire. I have numerous 6" blocks of 4" X 4 and 2 X 4. Once the tire is off, I use these blocks as cribbing to hold the axle off the floor so that the jack is not supporting the weight of the aircraft. The tire can now be rotated or changed on the wheel. Once done, it can be reinstalled or the other side can be jacked up and installed there.

The hose clamp also works on the newer fiberglass gear leg fairings that I now have. I got the idea from the old metal gear leg fairings.

I have also tried the jack kit that Van sells. I found that the ANGLE supplied BENDS the first time I used it. The hose clamp jack points are on my airplane all the time. They are cheap, light, and strong. Other than one time, there are the only thing I have used to jack the airplane for the past 8 years 1,776 flying hours.


Gary

Ok, I posted the two largest maintenance issues that I have had and one tip. I will now shut up and see what issues others have had.

Jack Points

I used a piece of 3/4" pipe about 18" long. I slide it into the inside of the axle and then used a hydraulic jack about 1' out from the wheel and jacked it up. I then slide the wheel off the axle and onto the pipe then lowered the axle down onto some blocks of wood. Lower the jack and then pull the wheel off the pipe. Reverse to put it back on. Very inexpensive way to lift the plane.

Axle nut

I heard about the pipe in axle approach, but it seems like I'd have to remove the axle nut first (before jacking). That didn't seem like a great idea at the time, but I'm not sure now. Is there any problem with removing the nut first to get the pipe in?

Tried this method last night, and other than my 20 year old el cheapo floor jack springing a leak, it worked well. I didn't want to put weight on the hose clamp, which wasn't positioned to take the weight anyway, and ended up bending a very small part of the aluminum fairing. I want to replace those with the glass fairings anyway, so no big deal. I need to get a 4x4 and cut some blocks before I'm comfortable leaving it on the jack for any length of time, but the progress was encouraging.

RV6_flyer said:

Here is one method to jack an RV-6.

Van uses a hose clamp on the hinge pin to gear leg / axle behind the brake disc. If this clamp is placed with the screw bump down, it can be used as a jack point.

I have a CHEAP auto hydraulic floor jack. It slides under the clamp and I can jack one wheel up to remove the wheel / tire. I have numerous 6" blocks of 4" X 4 and 2 X 4. Once the tire is off, I use these blocks as cribbing to hold the axle off the floor so that the jack is not supporting the weight of the aircraft. The tire can now be rotated or changed on the wheel. Once done, it can be reinstalled or the other side can be jacked up and installed there.

The hose clamp also works on the newer fiberglass gear leg fairings that I now have. I got the idea from the old metal gear leg fairings.

I have also tried the jack kit that Van sells. I found that the ANGLE supplied BENDS the first time I used it. The hose clamp jack points are on my airplane all the time. They are cheap, light, and strong. Other than one time, there are the only thing I have used to jack the airplane for the past 8 years 1,776 flying hours.


Gary

Ok, I posted the two largest maintenance issues that I have had and one tip. I will now shut up and see what issues others have had.

Click to expand...

Use a wing jack

I tried the method you mentioned - once. The hoseclamp slipped, the plane fell, and the jack caught on the brakeline and ripped it open. And I spent the weekend re-installing my brake line. Fortuanately, the wheel was on the axel, or the damage could have been much worse.

I think the proper way to jack an RV is to screw a bolt into the tiedown ring hole under the wing and use a regular wing jack. Seems like I paid about $100 for mine.

Wing jack price

Cheapest wing jack I could find on a web search was at least $300. Ouch! Do you remember where you got yours?

jonbakerok said:

I tried the method you mentioned - once. The hoseclamp slipped, the plane fell, and the jack caught on the brakeline and ripped it open. And I spent the weekend re-installing my brake line. Fortuanately, the wheel was on the axel, or the damage could have been much worse.

I think the proper way to jack an RV is to screw a bolt into the tiedown ring hole under the wing and use a regular wing jack. Seems like I paid about $100 for mine.

Click to expand...

If you have an engine hoist, just wrap some webbing or rope around the engine mount, lift, remove wheels, and set the gear down on blocks. I do several annual condition inspections on RVs each year and this works best for me.
Mel...DAR

Ah, found one:

http://www.aircraftjacks.com/Shop/1.htm

Seems worth it. Any reason to buy two?

Dgamble said:

Cheapest wing jack I could find on a web search was at least $300. Ouch! Do you remember where you got yours?

Click to expand...

The Jackhouse also sells great wing jacks. Two is nice 'cause you can get all the wheels up at once and the plane is level, making the plane less likely to tip.

Here are photos of mine on jacks using a weight and chain connected to the rear tiedown to hold the tail while jacking the wings. Using this method during construction gets the plane in the proper attitude to align the fairings and pants.

If you can find some partners, share the expense. This is the best and safest way to jack up the plane.

Roberta

a cheap effective jack

I went throught some back issues of the "RVator and found a whole article on home made jack ideas. The idea I chose involved adding a pipe to a garage jack with caps at both ends of the pipe, secured with a bolt. This effectivly created a large spacer up from the floor jack to the wing tie down ring.

My version is slightly different then the one from the article. On the top end, I used a cap with a large circular flange on it; added padding from on old buffing wheel, and just slid it over the the tie down ring on the wing. It works great for simple jobs, but I don't have a double jack set up so I don't know about that benefit.

I used two inch galvanized pipe that I had cut to 19 inches and threaded at both ends at Home Depot. I also bought two caps, one regular and one with the flange. I used a 3/4 inch bolt with two washers and nut for the end that went into the jack lifting point. I had to get the pipe cap drilled out by a local machine shop to about 7/8 inch. The guy used a unibit, which is an amazing tool. I didn't have a half inch drill, so I just found some body to help me out. A drill press would have probably worked fine. On the copilot side the wide flanged cap with padding works perfectly, but on the pilots side the pitot tube is very close the the tie down ring, so I have had to customize the flange on one side to fit it on (hack sawed it).

I already had the jack so the whole project cost me about twenty bucks.

I would also say that my floor jack is a large one (overkill) so the diameter of the hole for the bolt could be different on the smaller floor jacks.

good luck

Cheaper jack

We found you can buy a jack like the ones pictured from Harbor Freight company for $40 dollars each. 2 of those, some 1/2" conduit pipe and a couple of short 2 x 4's and 2 hose clamps will make very nice jacks for a total of under $100. Definitely the safest way to elevate the front wheels.
Roger Hirschbein
N418WK
"Woodman"

The Very cheapest jack

Well call me cheap but..
I just put my back under the wing spar, near the tip. Push with your legs and you can hold it long enough for a helper to slide the wheel off and put three 2x4 under the axle.
I actually nailed some short 2x's (about 1 3/4" apart) on a longer 2x to hold the axle.
Changed both tires last week.
I'm not young or a weight lifter, but don't try if you have a bad back.

Mark
RV-6