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RV-8 fuselage on gear moving via box truck. Recommendations?

D

designerX

Well Known Member
New owner will be picking up my RV-8 fuselage (wings, tail, etc.) next week and plans on moving the entire kit in a 26' enclosed moving truck. The fuselage is on the standard gear (with no hubs/wheels) and standard tail hook (with standard tailwheel.)

Should the very aft portion of the fuselage be supported with foam blocks or is it fine for the standard tailwheel to be on the truck floor? I'm guessing the moving truck suspension will be very stiff with only several hundred pounds of wings, tails, fuse, etc.

Also the wings are currently in a cradle (the type with plywood airfoil shape and foam) not the type of cradle with fabric straps.

Any experiences of helping the kit arrive unscathed is greatly appreciated!

Thank you in advance,
Stan
 
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As a data point, when Stewart moved my QB wings and fuselage, they hung the wings in blankets on the side walls of the trailer. The fuselage, stuffed with parts boxes, was in some sort of padded cradle on the floor. Good luck!
 
You should be able to more your entire project as is. Make sure the craddle is padded where the wing sits. The fuselage is really light without the engine and it should be okay. It's tail heavy so it won't tip forward.
 
I moved my 7 twice using a 26' truck when it went in for painting. Wings were in a similar cradle which was strapped to the truck wall. Fuse was filled with ailerons, flaps etc and strapped to the floor on the gear and TW. H & V stabs and rudder were strapped to the end wall after being wrapped in blankets. Worked out great with no damage at all.
 
RV7 To Go said:
I moved my 7 twice using a 26' truck when it went in for painting. Wings were in a similar cradle which was strapped to the truck wall. Fuse was filled with ailerons, flaps etc and strapped to the floor on the gear and TW. H & V stabs and rudder were strapped to the end wall after being wrapped in blankets. Worked out great with no damage at all.
Click to expand...

There was a deleted thread recently (deleted because it discussed litigation) about a tailwheel kit that was sold and shipped in a truck, on the landing gear. I believe I read that the fuselage sustained some damage at the aft end. I don't remember the details but it sounded like the seller implied that the tail structure should have had some kind of additional shipping support, as opposed to simply resting on the tailwheel.

I've had Stewart ship my RV-10 on the gear (twice, unfortunately) with no damage, but the RV-10 is obviously not a tail dragger.
 
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Tail wheel bolts!

Stan

First check the tailwheel mount is bolted. It normally gets the final bolts when the vertical stab is fitted so temporary bolts will need to be used otherwise the mount will damage the rear bulkhead.
Leaving on the gear with the wheels only locked down is best. That allows for the fuselage to bounce a little on the gear legs.

Regards Peter
 
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When I moved my -8 in a box truck, I strapped down the tail wheel. This was the wrong move. The bouncing up and down damaged the rear bulkhead near the stinger, and it had to be replaced. I’m not sure what the proper method is, but what I did, wasn’t it.
 
Lots of RV builders damaged the rear bulkheads during moves by not putting in three bolts temporarily to hold the tail wheel mount to the bulkhead.

From many discussions on VAF: The very best way is to use the tail wheel and spring with only the tail wheel tied to the truck. The moving trucks are setup to carry much more weight than an RV. The acceleration the aft fuse sees is high. But at the last minute I had to take mine out due to the truck length. This was a 40 mile move and the 1/8” silicone cushion I used was cut through three layers.
 

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thanks for the replies

Thanks for sharing your experiences!

I was thinking somewhere over the years I had read about an issue of tailspring bulkhead damage due to dynamic movements that happened on a truck (which weren't possible in landing scenarios.)
 
Load tail first, near the cab. The back of the truck experiences the worst compressive forces when hitting a bump. It makes sense when you look at where the truck wheels are and how much the back hangs over the rear tires. Longer the truck, worse the force at the back.
 
Penske

When I moved my RV-7 project, I used one of those yellow Penske box trucks. It had wood plank floors which allowed me to screw down anchors wherever needed. That helped out.
 
I gotta 2nd the recommendation to remove the tailwheel and fork and bolt the tail spring down to something. Also, the main mounts will try to crow-hop on bumpy roads if you don't tie them down well enough. I would figure out some way to use a tension type restraint as well as wheel chocks that are lag-screwed into the deck of the box-truck.

Not and RV. But, similar landing gear:

37734368796_b929f6e87b_z.jpg
 
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