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Winching my RV-9A into the hangar

tailcreek_flyer

Active Member
Last time I asked this question I was tugging my project onto a tow truck for transit to the hanger. Now with winter ice out in front of the hanger I am unable to single handedly push the 9A back into the hanger. Uphill grade doesn't help the problem. A few locals suggested studded boots.
I read earlier tonight that the aft tie down ring is not the spot to tug on. Slings around main gear legs may be ok this year as they aren't streamlined yet but given they slope in the direction I am pulling, would that be a problem?
My hangers slab floor sits about 3 inches above the grade of the ramp. I have four foot long ramps to get in and out of the hanger with.
Any suggestions for winching or a ramp that makes the grade? Its only winter for half the year here, so its not always a problem.

Cam Andres
RV9A with Aerosport IO360
 
Tractor

I wonder if an old repurposed riding lawn mower with chains on the tires, a hitch on the front and a modified tow bar would be a good option?

I think pushing it would be easier than pulling it backwards.
 
In the other thread, Ban's said they wouldn't use the tail tie down ring to pull it uphill in the soft sand. The relatively small amount if force to get it up your ramps cannot be compared to pulling it uphill in soft sand.
 
I understand your pain. My ramp has a very slight slope and unless the ramp is clear of snow/ice, my little gas powered tugger will not have the traction to push the plane (non RV) up the very slight slope. It's all about traction in winter.

A fellow hanger owner uses a winch to pull his plane (non RV) back into his hanger. If your plane was squared up with the ramp (so no side loads) I could not imagine that carefully winching your plane back into the hanger would cause any damage. Maybe fabricate a sling that fits between the main's and then use that as a winch point.
 
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If you have a way of fastening a loop of rope to both main gear, without any risk of damaging the brake lines, that should be a good way to go. Have the rope long enough to form a good vee shape, and put a pulley in the middle of it with your tow cable attached. This will keep the pull on both mains about the same, even when you are making steering corrections with the tow bar. The trailing nature of the mains work to your advantage, as you want the ropes to be at the bottom ends anyway. You'll need to have the winch control in your hand while you manage the tow bar on the nose wheel.

Another possibility, depending on your hangar, is to tow it in nose first just enough to get the mains in, and then spin it around.
 
If you have a way of fastening a loop of rope to both main gear, without any risk of damaging the brake lines, that should be a good way to go. Have the rope long enough to form a good vee shape, and put a pulley in the middle of it with your tow cable attached. This will keep the pull on both mains about the same, even when you are making steering corrections with the tow bar. The trailing nature of the mains work to your advantage, as you want the ropes to be at the bottom ends anyway. You'll need to have the winch control in your hand while you manage the tow bar on the nose wheel.

Another possibility, depending on your hangar, is to tow it in nose first just enough to get the mains in, and then spin it around.

edit: ha - walked away for a few minutes while doing this post, and I see aeroaddict beat me to the sling method.
 
Last time I asked this question I was tugging my project onto a tow truck for transit to the hanger. Now with winter ice out in front of the hanger I am unable to single handedly push the 9A back into the hanger. Uphill grade doesn't help the problem. A few locals suggested studded boots.
I read earlier tonight that the aft tie down ring is not the spot to tug on. Slings around main gear legs may be ok this year as they aren't streamlined yet but given they slope in the direction I am pulling, would that be a problem?
My hangers slab floor sits about 3 inches above the grade of the ramp. I have four foot long ramps to get in and out of the hanger with.
Any suggestions for winching or a ramp that makes the grade? Its only winter for half the year here, so its not always a problem.

Cam Andres
RV9A with Aerosport IO360

There is an RV-6A here at KDVT that gets put into a small tee facing forward at an angle. Doesn?t look possible but works very well. Your wing span may not allow this but it would allow you to pull it in by the nose wheel if it fits. Larry
 
Hangar-mate has an 8A. We came up with a plan to use a disused lawn tractor to move this airplane. No-go. You can put chains on the rear wheels and get traction but the thing still won't steer. As soon as one of the aircraft mains hits a bump the nosewheel skips sideways and the lawn tractor just goes along for the ride.

Much better to go with the converted snow blower option for more direct control.
 
I read earlier tonight that the aft tie down ring is not the spot to tug on.

Cam Andres
RV9A with Aerosport IO360[/QUOTE]

I am not sure why the hold down ring is not considered strong enough? It is designed to help keep the airplane from blowing away. I saw a ring that had been distorted on a 6a, but that was from bouncing it off the pavement. I would try the ring. the load of pushing or pulling the airplane is not that high. I can think of all kinds of damage that could be done to main gear fairings that seems a lot more onerous to me.
 
tail ring structure???

....they put tailwheels back there sometimes, don't they?
the tiedown ring is a LOT closer to the structure than the far end of the nosewheel, or the mains for that matter, if we're talking comparable torque!
For the really curious, put a 2x4 across a bathroom scale, sling it to the plane, ( nose or tail) and see what breakout force is needed to start your bird rolling. I think you'll be surprised how little it is.
powered winches can be bad, without total control, I'd suggest a hand boat crank that winds in a strap. you can stop, start, and really feel the load if something is amiss.

( just dreaming i HAD a hangar, so I'd have this problem!)
 
I read earlier tonight that the aft tie down ring is not the spot to tug on.

Cam Andres
RV9A with Aerosport IO360

I am not sure why the hold down ring is not considered strong enough? It is designed to help keep the airplane from blowing away. I saw a ring that had been distorted on a 6a, but that was from bouncing it off the pavement. I would try the ring. the load of pushing or pulling the airplane is not that high. I can think of all kinds of damage that could be done to main gear fairings that seems a lot more onerous to me.

I bent my tail ring taxiing through a little valley at Oshkosh about 10 years ago. I bent it back by hand very easily. It will not survive towing the plane up an incline of any amount.
 
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rear tie down strength

The rear tie down anchor is obviously designed to sustain a vertical load, which places all the fastners in shear simultaneously. A horizontal force will just peel the anchor fasteners off one at a time.

Roger
 
Winching the 9A

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I am going to try a few ideas presented here. I'd like to try a small winch to pull her up the four feet of incline. I don't care if its slow as it will be much quicker than waiting an hour or so for someone to come by and help me. I'll try the aft tie down ring and mount the winch a few feet above the floor level.
I don't feel comfortable pushing the aircraft up the ramp by the nose gear. It seems the spring in the nose gear works against your efforts to get the mains up the ramp.
As soon as the mains are on the hanger slab, its a piece of cake. The nose wheel ramp takes a lot less effort.
I have a second hanger at the airport for my 701, it has the opposite problem. The apron is higher than the hanger pad and it takes a huge pull to get the aircraft out of the hanger but a piece of cake to tuck it away. In the spring that hanger gets a few inches of water in it and the wheels get frozen in the ice so the RV can't live there.

Thanks again
Cam Andres
RV9A with Aerosport IO360
C-FTLL
Flying now, love this airplane
 
This worked for me.
Harbor Freight has a small 12V wench with a wireless remote controller. Not fancy but works fur ~$50.
I used it to pull my RV9 up on the scales for my initial W&B. The rise was only about two inches up to the scales over a 4 ft ramp I made.
I anchored an eyebolt into the wall stud about three ft above the floor. A strap to move the wench away from the wall, a small table to set the wench on and then connect the cable to the tie down on the tail. Without the table the wench is pulled up suspended and twists with no control, supporting it on the table holds it at the tie down elevation and stabilizes the process.

Hook your towbar to the nose wheel to steer and push the remote button and follow the RV in. Most of the force required is to start moving.

Should work for you as the first 10 - 15 ft of pull is what is needed.

Good Luck.
 
electric winch caution!!!!!!

some friends, who are pretty smart guys, had a faulty switch, and winched their 172 into the back of the hangar, smunching the rudder, aileron, etc. Many thousands to fix it all.
Think about rigging a simple 'dead-man' safety where the winch pulls the power plug when it gets near any danger zone.

what's that saying I love....." Dumb stuff happens, .......I know, I've seen me do it!"

priceless!
 
Have you tried taxiing straight in?

Faced with the same dilemma, and a considerablysloped turf "ramp" up to my hangar, I learned by experience the best way is to taxi in under power, shut down, get out and pull her through a 180 by the prop. My hangar is 36 feet wide and has plenty of clearance to do a 180, and it takes even less width to do a three-point turn. On flat, level dry concrete, it's a one man operation. Passengers ask how they can help, and I tell them, stand out of the way and watch.
 
So what about using the steps as tug points?

If you have electric in hanger Harbor freight has 2500 lb winch on sale $49.99.....
We have the metric equivalent in Canada called Princess Auto. They seem to have most of the same hardware on hand as HF. Cross border shopping only saves when you can pick it up and take it home with you.

So why not use the steps as tug points? Its attachment to the fuselage is significantly stronger than the aft tie down ring.

Cam Andres
 
Faced with the same dilemma, and a considerablysloped turf "ramp" up to my hangar, I learned by experience the best way is to taxi in under power, shut down, get out and pull her through a 180 by the prop. My hangar is 36 feet wide and has plenty of clearance to do a 180, and it takes even less width to do a three-point turn. On flat, level dry concrete, it's a one man operation. Passengers ask how they can help, and I tell them, stand out of the way and watch.
No Bill, there is first a 2 inch depression and then a 3 inch lift to the surface of my hanger slab. The ramps are 10 inches wide. I would be asking for a wreck if I tried to taxi in.
I am going to try pulling in forward and then do the 180. My hanger is 40 wide so that may work. That would put my feet on dry concrete for all of the tough pull.
Cam Andres
 
How about using the 2 wing tie downs as a place to attach the winch? Put a loop of heavy duty rope or cable on both wing tie downs, then attach a pulley on the line and winch back from that pulley. The wing spars should be much stronger than the single tail bulkhead that supports the aft tiedown.
 
How about using the 2 wing tie downs as a place to attach the winch? Put a loop of heavy duty rope or cable on both wing tie downs, then attach a pulley on the line and winch back from that pulley. The wing spars should be much stronger than the single tail bulkhead that supports the aft tiedown.

The wing tie down points are designed for loads in the vertical direction. I wouldn't use them for a horizontal load.

The gear would be my choice.
 
Last hangar, I used a 4:1 block and tackle to pull my C180 into the hangar. Easy but used about $80 of marine line and blocks to make it. Worked quite well.

Dave
 
Just one more data point

I was wearing my ice cleats last night when I slipped and fell, separating my shoulder and sending me to the ER for the evening.

The winch idea never sounded so good. Be sure to post installation pictures for me.
 
We have the metric equivalent in Canada called Princess Auto. They seem to have most of the same hardware on hand as HF. Cross border shopping only saves when you can pick it up and take it home with you.

So why not use the steps as tug points? Its attachment to the fuselage is significantly stronger than the aft tie down ring.

Cam Andres

See this post; if done properly, the steps are fine for this, within reason of course.
 
Just one more data point

I was wearing my ice cleats last night when I slipped and fell, separating my shoulder and sending me to the ER for the evening.

The winch idea never sounded so good. Be sure to post installation pictures for me.
Sorry to hear of your fall Bob. Falling on ice and concrete hurts a lot. We are into another polar vortex up here so it's another week of bitter cold then hopefully some more flying. By then I should have the winch figured out.
Cam
 
See this post; if done properly, the steps are fine for this, within reason of course.

Thanks for the confirmation of the thought of using the steps as tug points Alex. As you said, they take those 240 pound passengers without complaint, a 50 pound pull up close to the fuselage should be no issue.

Cam Andres
RV9A with Aerosport IO360
C-FTLL
Flying now and loving it
 
Thanks for the confirmation of the thought of using the steps as tug points Alex. As you said, they take those 240 pound passengers without complaint, a 50 pound pull up close to the fuselage should be no issue.

Cam Andres
RV9A with Aerosport IO360
C-FTLL
Flying now and loving it

Well, the steps do indeed complain - a lot! Search for cracked steps and you'll be busy for a long time! Keep the tow locations snug against the fuse and I suspect it'll be fine.
 
If I wanted to pull my rv back into the hangar and was not satisfied with all the prior ideas then I would use the inboard part of the wings. Fashion a wide piece of material that would take the load on the leading edge of the wing. You can make it as wide as you think nessisary. It would pass over the top and bottom of the wing and lead back to conect to a harness to the winch. Sorry no drawings available at this time. :cool:
 
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