Tail Dolly for Tri-Lander

[Johnny C!]

Does anyone have any idea's for a tail
dolly for a trike Highlander?

I have a 1/2 tee with a 10x10 overhead door.
I will have to fold my wings when I put it
up. I am trying to work out a dolly to support
the tail when I fold the wings to pull it inside.
I am thinking about modifying this.

http://www.harborfreight.com/heavy-duty ... 69898.html

Of course I would remove the ball, extend the
latch point to match the height of the tail and
add some sort of cross pin capture device to
quickly latch it to the tail of the fuse. I am thinking
I will need to make a new skid for the tail that would
be more appropriate than the factory supplied skid.

Anyone have any input?

Thanks!

John

[SheepdogRD]

We have that HF unit, and it's definitely sturdy enough. We've hauled some pretty heavy trailers around with it. The handle components aren't a perfect fit, so there's a bit of side-to-side slop when pushing it hard. That would be easy enough to fix, but we haven't, as the slop hasn't detracted from its function.

The tires needed better sealing -- they leaked 'til we used ProSeal on them.

The primary issue we've had is the narrow wheelbase. If the tires aren't good and hard, tight turns are dicey. You might think about widening the axle, or building a comparable unit from scratch.

[messenger]

aircraft spruce has a taildragger dragger for about a 150.00 made for the purpose of moving taildraggers

[SheepdogRD]

What if you converted the tailskid to a tiny Sonex-style tailwheel? Then you could use a tailwheel towbar. Here's the towbar I made for a few dollars: http://www.wingsforum.com/viewtopic.php ... =45#p28956

[Johnny C!]

To messenger

My plane is a trike.

I want to support the tail and be able
to steer it when I fold the wings.

I have seen the skate board wheel at the
factory, but I want to keep the airframe
pretty level to eliminate fuel sloshing in
the tanks & out the caps.

I think the HF dolly is the way to go. I
have a good friend who is a pretty good
welder, so I think I'll work on that.


Thanks!

John

[chipper2128]

I had a tricycle gear Highlander for three years and parked it in a small hanger where I had to fold the wings. I found when the wings were folded that I could easily lift the nose off the ground and steer the airplane back into its parking space like moving a wheel barrow. Once it was in its parking position, I put a simple tail stand under the rear skid.

[Johnny C!]

I had a tricycle gear Highlander for three years and parked it in a small hanger where I had to fold the wings. I found when the wings were folded that I could easily lift the nose off the ground and steer the airplane back into its parking space like moving a wheel barrow. Once it was in its parking position, I put a simple tail stand under the rear skid.

Chipper,
I understand, like you, that it's easy to move.
Here is the tough part if I try to move it without
a dolly. When I fold the second wing, the tail will
settle downward. So I would need a stand to hold
it at that point. Then I need to remove that stand,
to roll the airframe into the hanger, preferably,
tail first. Then I would need another stand to sit
the tail on, once in the hanger. Doing all of this
while reaching under the folded wings to use the
fuse mounted handle.

A steerable dolly seems the best way.

Are you saying that your Highlander did not
tip backward when you folded the wings?

Thanks!

John

[chipper2128]

As long as I had only about 5 gallons per wing tank, it would not tip over backwards when I folded the wings.

I understand why you need the dolly if it won't stand 3 point with the wings folded.

[Trilander Ted]

I built, what I belive, was the first Highlander trigear and had the same problem with long wings folded and steering back into a narrow one half hangar while avoiding hangar rash. I developed (what I belive is a darn good system) by fabricating a special attachment that goes where the tail skid/spring mount fastens. The device workes on conventional and tri gear Highlanders. It's the key to fastning any thing else noteworthy ( I made one for my friend Gil Tucker) He uses it every time out on his trailer. I have NO desire to make more of them. Well I made video of the system and how it workes and my friend Mike put it on U-Tube I think. I think he might have put it on the forum a long time ago. It looks "Goofee" till you understand it. (Keeps the nosewheel up enough to steer backward whial the fuel stays in) and allows perfect center location with out traping someone behind the tailfethers. While I can build projects out of metal O/K , I'm in trouble on the computer, I need help if you need more infromation Trilander Ted



'

[mhcrowder]

Ted, Here's the YouTube video you mentioned..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dq5RTcRMOgA

==
Michael

[SheepdogRD]

That's ingenious, Ted... doesn't add much weight to the plane, and can be operated by one person. Very nice work.

[Trilander Ted]

Thanks for finding the tail dolly video for me. Another part of the "system" that is important is the conection to the maingear axels. I use the one inch holes in the axel tube to attach the cross beam (whitch carrys the load for the movement) leaver action type spring loaded engagement devices for ease of instalation. The extra length is not nessary unless you convert back to conventional gear. (Mine was conventional first, but wanted trigear for training purposes) I'm not sure how to hook up alumium spring gear to such a device. As you can see, the simple Harbor Freight auto jack is nessary to control the weight of the tail, but the cable attachments are for rigid tralier hauling/transporting. You do, however, need some "wiggel" at the attachment point on the spring perch. I wanted to make this video to show how I solved my hangar problem and give others ideas to help. My friend Mike loves to fly my plane and didn't edit out his "solo arround the patch", so if other questions surface I'll try and help. Trilander Ted