Powered towbar

JC150

Pre-takeoff checklist
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JC150
When I was at oshkosh last summer I saw a towbar which had a motor and pushed the aircraft without you needing to push it.

I did a google search and found multiple brands out there. I was wondering if anyone here had one and which one they recommended? I have a Piper Arrow and I'm trying to find something under $1000. Is that possible?
 
I have a 15 year old craftsman mower as a tug and a towbar. Pulls the Twin Comanche around just fine. You might try a used one. Someone sells one that is cordless drill powered. It runs on the nose tire.
 
I have a 15 year old craftsman mower as a tug and a towbar. Pulls the Twin Comanche around just fine. You might try a used one. Someone sells one that is cordless drill powered. It runs on the nose tire.

Interested in this
Your mower goes in reverse?

I am looking for a powered tug but I am looking for something more DYI (Read Cheap Azz)
 
Interested in this
Your mower goes in reverse?

I am looking for a powered tug but I am looking for something more DYI (Read Cheap Azz)

Easy enough to attach a trailer hitch to the end of the bar, and then mount a trailer ball to both the front and rear of the mower.

If you want to see DYI; come by my hangar someday and I'll show you what our group cobbled together.

I might have the various parts you need at the yard. Just add your ingenuity and what ever else in that mad scientist lab you call a garage.
 
When I was at oshkosh last summer I saw a towbar which had a motor and pushed the aircraft without you needing to push it.

I did a google search and found multiple brands out there. I was wondering if anyone here had one and which one they recommended? I have a Piper Arrow and I'm trying to find something under $1000. Is that possible?

Used golf carts can be pressed into service as tugs for light aircraft.
 
Interested in this
Your mower goes in reverse?

I am looking for a powered tug but I am looking for something more DYI (Read Cheap Azz)

If your are referring to the cordless drill powered towbar - this seems to be it. Not cheap, though: http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/pspages/redlinesidewinder.php

As suggested in the other thread: Hook it up to your car is the cheapest solutions. An old ATV, golf cart, sit on lawn mower or maybe a mobility scooter would be the cheapest stand alone solutions.
 
Like this...

$10 at HomeDepot...
 

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Like this...

$10 at HomeDepot...

Put a safety catch below that hook into the truck hitch so it does not pop up. I would not rely on the weight of the pipe to keep it down.

That is a great use of a few pipe joints.
 
When I was at oshkosh last summer I saw a towbar which had a motor and pushed the aircraft without you needing to push it.

I did a google search and found multiple brands out there. I was wondering if anyone here had one and which one they recommended? I have a Piper Arrow and I'm trying to find something under $1000. Is that possible?

Look at the Sidewinder, it's basically a cordless angle drive drill that drives a skateboard wheel as a friction wheel on the plane's nosewheel. I borrowed one from a guy who uses it on his 421 to move my 310, worked excellent. I figured I could build it for <$400 including the drill, very simple rig.
 
Put a safety catch below that hook into the truck hitch so it does not pop up. I would not rely on the weight of the pipe to keep it down.

That is a great use of a few pipe joints.

I thought about that, but only use it to pull the plane about 100 yd. across the gravel taxiway to the asphalt ramp. It's dead level and rolls very easy. There is almost no tension on the bar. It's been working fine for almost 2 years now. And keeps me from having to run the prop on the gravel and the dings that go with that.
 
I have two vthrust tuggers (don't think these are made anymore) that use a drill to drive it's wheels. This was purchased because most of the other small tugs are too hard for my wife to handle.

My hangar at CJR is on a severe enough slope that without the tug it takes me pushing hard on the wing and my wife working the non-powered tow bar to get the thing back in the hangar. Pulling it out isn't so much of a problem, but it's easier to use the tugger anyhow.
 
Many folks at my airport have mounted electric boat winches in the rear of their hangars and just connect the cable to the rear tie down point and let the winch pull the plane back into the hangar. They power it with a 12V battery charger. Cheap and simple.
 
I was the recipient of a nose tugger with an old engine. Did not want to start. Harbor Freight for a $90 motor. When the budget allows, this
10623.jpg


Some 3/4 inch pipe, Some bike chain and gears off old bike cassets. Will make for a portable tug. $220 for the right angle battery drill
 
Many folks at my airport have mounted electric boat winches in the rear of their hangars and just connect the cable to the rear tie down point and let the winch pull the plane back into the hangar. They power it with a 12V battery charger. Cheap and simple.

With a winch, I would suggest replacing the steel cable with some braided polypropylene line. This allows a weak stretch point should a wheel stop on something allowing time to get off the button before the full pull hits the airframe.
 
around here some people buy old snowblowers in the summer and weld a towbar to them.

I saw plans on ebay for an electric tug that looked OK once, naturally I can't find them now.
 
Thanks Henning, now I know what to do my snow blower once I move to North Carolina.
 
Many folks at my airport have mounted electric boat winches in the rear of their hangars and just connect the cable to the rear tie down point and let the winch pull the plane back into the hangar.

How do they keep the nosewheel straight? Seems like you'd still need to be holding a towbar on the nosewheel to steer, so when who operates the winch?

We have one of the lawn mower type tugs... it's a small Briggs and Stratton engine on a blue metal platform that wraps around the nose wheel. Works well enough, but I assume >$1000.

There's a guy down the row who has a remote control electric tug... sort of like a big Roomba vacuum... that moves his Cirrus around. Looks fun, and I know it's expensive!
 
How do they keep the nosewheel straight? Seems like you'd still need to be holding a towbar on the nosewheel to steer, so when who operates the winch?

We have one of the lawn mower type tugs... it's a small Briggs and Stratton engine on a blue metal platform that wraps around the nose wheel. Works well enough, but I assume >$1000.

There's a guy down the row who has a remote control electric tug... sort of like a big Roomba vacuum... that moves his Cirrus around. Looks fun, and I know it's expensive!

All of the hangars at my field have a manual crank winch. If you pull something from the tail it tracks straight.
 
The rototiller I still use to till in NC. There's just no snow to blow.

The guys I know who winch in to the hangar do use the tow bar to steer. Either they have a remote for the winch or they've rigged up a stop so that the tail kills the winch when it hits the position or in one case, he's pulling a big waco taildragger so he's steering it from the back anyhow.
 
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