tug to recommend
- Thread starter skidoo
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murphey
Touchdown! Greaser!
See if you can find a used PowerTow. I've had one for almost 10 years, and it's great. I've got an incline into the hangar, and without the tug, not possible for me to put the airplane back into the hangar by myself.
Another option is a used golf cart and put a trailer hitch on it.
Tom-D
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Tom-D
That's a great idea, the hydro static ones are the best. Zero turns are great too.
strip the mowing deck off and all other unnecessary items, place a hitch on the front and go.
A older self propelled rototiller works great too. strip it and make a tow bar for it. This BCS model is what I used because the tiller head detaches easy the handle bars rotate to the rear and the tow bar goes on where the tiller head came off. it would haul a loaded chieftain
http://cgi.ebay.com/BCS-Gardner-Rea...emQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item45f0563d95
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Everskyward
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Everskyward
We used an old lawn tractor on a C-206 and a C-320. It worked fine on the 206 but was a little too light for the 320, especially if there was any snow on the ramp. Also, pushing an airplane backward with a tow bar hooked to a tug takes a little practice.
Steve
En-Route
That's the problem with most lawn tractors on an incline, plenty of power, but not enough traction. My hangar mate uses an 4x4 ATV to push/pull his King Air C90 and even with 300 lbs of QuiKrete stacked onboard the wheels slip when he first starts rolling (in or out). Another thing to watch for is the angle of the towbar between the nosewheel and tug when attached. It needs to be fairly level for best results.
I'm saving up for one of these and hope to get it before the arthritis makes it impossible for me to shove my plane in and out (or I throw my back out). The hangar has raised door roller tracks which only adds to the fun.
http://www.lindbergh.com/aircraft-tug/
Another candidate is
http://dragger.com/
Both can handle wheel pants with little chance of damaging them.
The better walk-behind electric powered tugs will run in the neighbor hood of $1500 and higher. If you're on an active airport you might look into acquiring a shared purpose-built "community" tug and a good quality "universal" towbar that can handle a variety of plane weights.
If want to go bourgeois one of these is the ticket
http://tracetowbots.com/
I'm not big fan of the single wheel power tugs. Too slow when hooking up and disconnecting, and making short radius turns with an aircraft attached can be a problem. But there are a lot of them out there.
I'm saving up for one of these and hope to get it before the arthritis makes it impossible for me to shove my plane in and out (or I throw my back out). The hangar has raised door roller tracks which only adds to the fun.
http://www.lindbergh.com/aircraft-tug/
Another candidate is
http://dragger.com/
Both can handle wheel pants with little chance of damaging them.
The better walk-behind electric powered tugs will run in the neighbor hood of $1500 and higher. If you're on an active airport you might look into acquiring a shared purpose-built "community" tug and a good quality "universal" towbar that can handle a variety of plane weights.
If want to go bourgeois one of these is the ticket
http://tracetowbots.com/
I'm not big fan of the single wheel power tugs. Too slow when hooking up and disconnecting, and making short radius turns with an aircraft attached can be a problem. But there are a lot of them out there.
Steve
En-Route
ScottM
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iBazinga!
At our airport we are using a ford pickup truck as a tug these days. They have a arm, well actually several, that attach to the trailer hitch and that hooks up to the nose wheels. Seems a cheap alternative to a dedicated tug.
Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe
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Light and Sporty Guy
Chains and wheel weights. Or at least a pile of sand bags on each fender. Works for plowing snow...
weirdjim
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weirdjim
Been there, done that. Tweaks the hangar wall after a period of time, no matter how you try to reinforce it.
Jim
jesse
Touchdown! Greaser!
I think I've seen people bolt it to the floor with success. Trying to remember the configuration...
Everskyward
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Everskyward
Either that or have another person stand on the back. I think that's what we did.
Dean
Pattern Altitude
Old, cheap, electric golf cart. Then you can rig it as a jump cart too!
LuvFlying
Pre-Flight
I'm currently renting a (private owned) hangar that has the winch bolted to the floor. It's like a 1hp electric motor geared way down. The momentary on/off button switch is on a retractable cord. It works REALLY well.
TangoWhiskey
Touchdown! Greaser!
And a way to zip down to the FBO & back, bathrooms & back, on-field restaurant & back, etc.
Pegasus
Pre-Flight
Here is a company worth looking into. I have an older version that is gas powered and works great on snow and ice too.
www.aero-tow.com
www.aero-tow.com
Areeda
Pattern Altitude
We use the smallest E200 one of those for our SR22. Electric so it stays plugged in when not in use, but it works great.
Joe
TangoWhiskey
Touchdown! Greaser!
Arbiter419
Cleared for Takeoff
This is what they've got going on at Penn Valley...they use it on everything from 172s to a Hawker Beechjet. I assume it's pretty effective, but I've only ever seen it used.
Dan Thomas
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We use a Bolens lawn tractor. Bolens was the Cadillac of lawn stuff 20 years ago, and this one has hydrostatic drive and plenty of power.
But we get snow here. So we have tire chains for traction on the snow and ice, and the chains slip like crazy on the smooth concrete floor of the hangar. Trying to pull anything heavy gets frustrating. It's ironic: plain rubber works well on a glassy concrete floor, but chains are necessary on the glassy ice. There seems to be no perfect machine for our conditions. Even the Bobcat operators around here have to use chains on the rear tires and leave the front tires bare so they can operate on varying surfaces.
One local fellow had one of these for his Seneca:
But it had little to no traction. You have to bear down hard on the bar to get any grip at all if it's pulling. In reverse, the torque reaction puts more weight on the tire.
The Lindbergh tug mentioned earlier makes the most sense. It uses the nosewheel's weight to get grip. It's of no use to have a powerful tug if it can't grab the surface.
Dan
But we get snow here. So we have tire chains for traction on the snow and ice, and the chains slip like crazy on the smooth concrete floor of the hangar. Trying to pull anything heavy gets frustrating. It's ironic: plain rubber works well on a glassy concrete floor, but chains are necessary on the glassy ice. There seems to be no perfect machine for our conditions. Even the Bobcat operators around here have to use chains on the rear tires and leave the front tires bare so they can operate on varying surfaces.
One local fellow had one of these for his Seneca:
But it had little to no traction. You have to bear down hard on the bar to get any grip at all if it's pulling. In reverse, the torque reaction puts more weight on the tire.
The Lindbergh tug mentioned earlier makes the most sense. It uses the nosewheel's weight to get grip. It's of no use to have a powerful tug if it can't grab the surface.
Dan