Trucking an airplane

[zaitcev]

I'm thinking about transporting an airplane by a Penske truck (possibly -- not sure if 89" tail would fit). It's a fabric-covered airplane, about 600 lbs. I'm going to take wings off, roll it in using two long 2x10 boards (or equivalent), and hang wings on the sides of the truck box, inside.

Is this a good idea?

Where do I best buy foam to wrap wings under the straps and what kind? I was thinking Home Depot, since I need the ramp boards anyway.

 

[1600vw]

One airplane I sold was trucked kinda like this. The new owner went to harbor freight and purchased some tarps. He then went to wallyworld and purchased some pillows.
He took each wing and slung it in a tarp and attachedd the tarp to the side of the truck with the pillows being against the inside.
When he got home he called and said the trip was a great easy trip. Nothing was damaged.
The best way to haul a bird by truck if the bird fits in the truck. Its the tail that will give you the problems. We lucked out and the EAB Avenger fit great.

 

[Henning]

Unless the tail is too wide, you can get around the height issue by putting the nose wheel on a ramp stand usually.

 

[Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe]

6" fiberglass insulation to wrap the wings and whatever else you need to pad. Lots of volume per $.

 

[Henning]

6" fiberglass insulation to wrap the wings and whatever else you need to pad. Lots of volume per $.

If you use FG, put a sheet between it and the paint.

 

[kyleb]

I'm thinking about transporting an airplane by a Penske truck (possibly -- not sure if 89" tail would fit). It's a fabric-covered airplane, about 600 lbs. I'm going to take wings off, roll it in using two long 2x10 boards (or equivalent), and hang wings on the sides of the truck box, inside.

Is this a good idea?

Where do I best buy foam to wrap wings under the straps and what kind? I was thinking Home Depot, since I need the ramp boards anyway.

I've moved two airplanes that way. Get some blocking to use as chocks on all three wheels. Screw the blocking to the floor of the truck and chock the main tires fore and aft.

Then use straps or ropes to snugly tie down the airplane by whatever hard points you have. You have to secure it side by side and fore and aft. I had the tail tiedown come loose on one of my moves. The mains were secured well enough where it wasn't a problem.

Wings need to be padded - the back of a box van is a rough ride.

Have fun!

 

[Tom-D]

buy a sheet of pink foam insulation cut as required to use as padding, ratchet straps are the best for holding the wings to the truck sides.

get a truck with a lift gate, set the main gear on the lift gate and raise to get the fuselage into the truck.

Flat bed trailer much easier..

largest box van U-haul has is a 26' a 170/172 won't fit.

 

[docmirror]

Free carpet behind any retail carpet store in any town. You can nail it, you can stitch it, you can stack it, and it's free. The side of the truck has a latching rail, get some wire hangers, and stab them through the carpet then sling the wings. Don't know about the tail in the truck but most big trucks are 8.5' outside width and just over 8' inside, so that would be ~96". Don't forget the cut down for the rear door.

 

[zaitcev]

Flat bed trailer much easier..

Impossible to find one that's big enough and uses a 4-pin connector, and impossible to adapt vehicle 4-pin to trailer 6-ring or 7-pin (opposite direction is possible). Also gear is not tall enough to put 2 wings one on the other under the airplane, so need to put some kind of unstable support under mains. That's probably possible to overcome. Lack of decent truck is not so easy.

 

[Tom-D]

Impossible to find one that's big enough and uses a 4-pin connector, and impossible to adapt vehicle 4-pin to trailer 6-ring or 7-pin (opposite direction is possible). Also gear is not tall enough to put 2 wings one on the other under the airplane, so need to put some kind of unstable support under mains. That's probably possible to overcome. Lack of decent truck is not so easy.

use two 2X4s and a 2X6 to make a "U" channel 6" longer than the gear spread and screw it to the trailer to carry the main gear. and the same to carry the tailwheel.

did great when we moved the F-24

 

[docmirror]

Strangely enough, I'm out in the shop building a perfect trailer for this job. I'm going to trailer my new plane home with the wings off. It's 15.5' long, and 8'10" wide for the gear and tail. I'm a bit over the highway maximum, but I doubt any patrol is going to have a measuring tape handy.

 

[flyingron]

When the Gopher engine in my Navion blew up, I went and retrieved a 24' flatbed trailer from the restoration shop. They already had a jig to hold the wingless fuselage and saddles to hold the wings on it. I had the maintenance shop pull the wings and eppenage off and place them on the trailer. I then team drove the thing non-stop 26 hours with Margy (we had an airmattress in the back of the Suburban). It does attract attention pulling an airplane down I-80.

Cy Galley and his buddies at Emergency Aircraft Repair at Oshkosh have put more than a few airplanes into U-Haul trucks to go home. He'd be the one I'd ask. I've got his email around here somewhere.

 

[zaitcev]

U-Haul is just a shade too narrow for me. Carlson's tail is 89 inches wide and it's not folding (easily). That comes to 7'5", and U-haul's door is 7'3". They also lack liftgate. Penske's truck is supposedly 7'10" wide at the door, and can be had with liftgate.

 

[richas]

use two 2X4s and a 2X6 to make a "U" channel 6" longer than the gear spread and screw it to the trailer to carry the main gear. and the same to carry the tailwheel.

did great when we moved the F-24

How do you get the thing up or down from there?

Rich

 

[Tom-D]

How do you get the thing up or down from there?

Rich

To get it on I had a ditch to put the trailer wheels in and rolled it on.

to get it off at the new hangar, we used an arm lift crane (no engine) lifted it and drove the trailer out from under it.

The new trailer is 8' wide, 21' long and has ramps and winch.

 

[zaitcev]

In the end I used ratchet straps to hang wings and tie the airplane down. Pillows from Wal-Mart protect wings from banging upon the sides of the truck.

To cushion the wings where straps were, I used strips of glass fiber insulation. I bought a water heater blanket and cut it up. It had a plastic attached on one side, so I made it face the wing fabric.

 

[BillTIZ]

Strangely enough, I'm out in the shop building a perfect trailer for this job. I'm going to trailer my new plane home with the wings off. It's 15.5' long, and 8'10" wide for the gear and tail. I'm a bit over the highway maximum, but I doubt any patrol is going to have a measuring tape handy.

They may measure it when you go to DMV to register the trailer. Around here trailers need permanent serial numbers on the frame. They check for DOT standards with home made trailers.