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Mobility options with the gear legs installed

N546RV

Well Known Member
Looking to hear what people have done to handle this. After a lot of year spent on sawhorses, I'm working on installing the main gear legs on my -8 this week. One of the things I'd like to get out of this is an airplane that can actually be moved around the hangar with relative ease.

Initially I'd thought to go ahead and get the wheels in place and roll the plane around like that, but looking through the manual there's a bit more involved with getting to that point than I'd figured. I suppose there's also the option of only installing the axles and not brakes/fairing brackets/etc, but that seems maybe like overkill for a temporary installation.

So I'm wondering if anyone has done something like other temporary main "wheels" or some such? My neighbor has his -8 legs sitting in little three-wheel cup dollies, but the small wheels seem likely to hang up on any tiny item on the floor, and they wouldn't be able to go over the lip out onto my ramp if I wanted to move that far. Another option might be to modify a couple furniture dollies I have on hand, but I have't put a ton of thought into that.

Any other ideas to share here?
 
Philip

I used these. Designed for moving cars around. They moved out over the cobbles fine.

Regards

Peter

https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/awd1-automotive-wheel-dolly-pair/


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Cradle

I just built a cradle with wheels and set the fuselage on it. Easy to roll around and easier to work inside the fuselage because it is lower than if it were on its own gear.
 
It is really fun to see the plane on its gear and wheels for the first time. Putting the wheels on the legs isn’t a huge chore. Jacking the plane high enough to get the legs in is tricky but not that bad. It will give you a sense of accomplishment.
I used a motorcycle lift with a wood box built to fit the slope on the bottom of the fuselage.

After you do that and shown all your friends, take it back off the gear and put it on a cart and do everything you cal possibly do with it low enough to easily work on. Those little furniture dollies work well when it is on its gear to easily move around the garage or hangar.

Have fun showing off your plane to your friend!
 
I use these to support my RV8. Please note that after you install your engine, the weight of the airplane increases dramatically, and then you add the two wings to drill the rear spar. After that, you will be in and out of the fuselage many times so the two main gear will have to take a lot of weight. Because of this, I used the car wheel dolly.

https://www.harborfreight.com/autom...e-1500-lb-capacity-vehicle-dollies-67338.html
 

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