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Car Lift for TW?

dmat

Well Known Member
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OK, so I know there are some folks who have used a 2 post car lift to house 2x trikes but I wanted to see if anyone had a tailwheel on the top?

I hate to see my 6 outside but no hangars available and I need figure out a way to fit it on top of my 6A.

The Aerolift, while perfect, are so expensive and I see they are hard to sell down the line. So my thought is a 2 post lift would do the trick.

Any experience from someone who has done it would be greatly appreciated!

D
 
What about a sling and a wench system? Is the roof structure good for it? I am thinking 2 slings and a spreader bar to keep it level.....
 
There are lots of places in Europe that use cables and boat trailer winches to hang their planes from the ceiling of hangars.
 
Hey DeeCee! That hoist would work. Do you have any build plans or know of someone who would have a set?

Thanks,
D
 
Trusses

Note that none of the hoists in the thread shown seem to be hanging from trusses. I don’t think trusses are designed to take weight suspended from the lower boards.(can’t recall proper name)It won’t be hard for someone with more knowledge than me to chime in if that is correct
 
Just curious.....would insurance carriers get heartburn if your plane was parked below a hoisted plane? Maybe not if the lift is a commercial device but I wonder about a unique (untested) design.
 
dmat, unfortunately no plans available... as you can see, different hoisting systems were engineered and custom built by professional companies around here. AFAIK, most components such as motors, pulleys, chains, cograils, etc, are available in the industry.
A simpler cheapie solution could be designed using 3 electrical hoists... assuming the rafters or whatever roof is strong enough. We have a couple of those plastic canard toys (aka Ez ;)) on the field hanging on a single elec hoist, backed-up by a relief cable once up.

Re insurance requirement, all aircraft on hangers need TP cover... though the only event I know of, happened when an aircraft lift, for reasons unknown to me, tipped and dropped its load with dire consequences :eek:
 

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WHy Wouldn't This Work?

If set in a T-Hangar of sufficient depth, you should be able to bring a plane in nose first and raise it high enough to fit a TW RV underneath. Lift shown has a lifting height of 72 inches (likely about 66" clear underneath) and a "drive thru" dimension of 101". Should be fairly easy to configure the lifting arms to handle a trike on top with a TW backed in underneath. I would suspect that moving the posts further apart should be a possibility with some minor effort. Attaching lift pads similar to Aero Lift and fixing arm positions should be pretty straight-forward as well. When you no longer need such a lift, there's a good market for used equipment.
Terry, CFI
RV9A N323TP
 

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Just curious.....would insurance carriers get heartburn if your plane was parked below a hoisted plane? Maybe not if the lift is a commercial device but I wonder about a unique (untested) design.

I don't think your underwriter could complain unless they asked a pertinent question which was not honestly answered.
 
A cheap post lift is rated 8-9K#, so half is 4.5K and are ~$3K. Fabbing the cradle would require some additional investment. Another pump would give you 2. Build 2 sell 1 and not cost you much. The footing to anchor the post will require work. Most slabs are 3-6" and you'll need more than that to carry a point load of 2K#
You won't want to hang anything from the bottom chord of a roof truss. I would check to see what the truss load is designed for before I would hang anything from the top of one. Most are not designed initially for those additional loads.
 
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