distance between wheels

Anyone know the distance between the wheels after install? I would like to know if I can get it in the trailer I used to transport wings. I would like to get as much work as possible done at the house, including hanging the engine thru finishing the cowling. It will be much harder, if I have to find an different trailer to move.


Thanks

I can measure for you tomorrow but any flatbed without wheel wells should work.

This one was a bit long, it was just what a local guy had available:



Also, a number of folks have had a flat-bed tow truck do the move.

For a 14A, it is short of 8', more like 7' and 8"

I was measuring it for the exact same reason, trailer but I have lots more to do before getting there. Heck, I even don't have engine, prop or avionics yet

Thanks for the measurements. the airport is 25 miles away, so I have to figure out how much I can assembly at house before moving. Ideally as much as possible. I would like to put on the engine, which requires the gear to be on, so I need to plan now.

7 feet

I'm doing the same thing on an RV-7A and the gear are 7 feet apart. So as said earlier a flat trailer without wheel wells should work. Maybe even a U=Haul car trailer. I'm taking 3 pieces from house to garage. Fully built fuselage and 2 wings.

Considering the distance to airport and the amount of work to be done after hanging the engine, I will have to figure something out.

The trailer I have access to is 7' 6" wide. So I have a couple of questions.

1. how hard would it be to put the gear on after mounting the engine? I local guy did this with a -10. Like put on the nose gear and support the rest of the plane with 2 by 4s or 2 by 6 via the spar bulkheads.

2. Can I put on the main gear and not the wheels and transport that way? The plane should fit in the trailer this way without the wheels. no idea how to put the wheels on later.

3. suck it up and find a flatbed wide enough to fit the plane with gear on.

Any ideas?

Thanks
Ken

I have not moved my plane, yet, and not to sound snarky, but I vote #3. I think it would be very difficult to install the gear after the engine and would be very risky to try to move the plane without wheels.

My plan is to hire a tow company with a tilt bed car hauler. Just winch the plane on and secure. I will haul the wings in their wing stand inside of an enclosed trailer - a friend's motorcycle trailer.

From experience (our airport is about 30 miles away) build until there isn't anything left to do at your house.

It's exciting to have it at the hangar but like others say work slows down considerably. We get up early every day and go spend a few hours at the hangar then off to regular work.

There is still a lot to do during final assembly and rigging and you'll regret not taking care of the little things at your house where you can spend 10 minutes on something because it's just downstairs in the garage.

Seriously, do everything until you simply can't do any more.

We *mostly* followed that advice and it's paying off.

Edit: Also, consider the hangar probably doesn't have air conditioning or heat .. we have been good until about noon here and then it's no longer fun (Alabama).

Edit (2): it would be worth finding another trailer if you can get more done at your house, others have mentioned flat bed tow trucks do the trick and I've seen plenty of pictures to confirm.

Transporting

Nice thing about tow companies with a flat bed tow truck is they have insurance to cover you. Also know how to fasten it down. Have seen pictures on here of some trailers with aircraft on them that I wouldn't even own let alone use.

Do as much as possible at home. If you have the room, at home, mount the wings and check the flight controls and all the electrical systems. It is not hard to install wings with hardware bolts at home.
Have the engine ready for first start, cowlings done, ready for flight.
Tail installed, controls rigged including a check of the electrics.
Complete all tail and intersection firings.
If the tail is too long to transport, take it off, there are not really that many fasteners.

If you want to get flying you could do the wheel and gear farings on rainy days at the airport, they are not required for first flight.

Doing the work at home will save you many, many hours of driving back and forth to the airport.