900 mile transport (wings off)

[avgas]

Hey all! I’m joining the club! I’m off on a mission this week to pick up my Classic IV-1200. I’m from Lloydminster, Alberta, Canada and I’m flying commercial to Victoria BC and hauling her home in a U-haul. It’s been in storage for the past decade and the wings are currently off. I have a few questions/requests for advice from the group as far as securement for transport.

-I’m planning to fabricate some basic wooden frames to transport the wings along the wall of the truck (leading edge down). I plan to wrap the lumber with foam and or blankets to minimize the rubbing and bumps. I will likely “wedge” the frames to each wall by putting 2x4s across the width of the floor and fastening them to the frames on either side. Then secure the tops to the walls however feasible.

-the fuselage is sitting on grove spring gear with a factory tail wheel assembly. I’m going to build a full width of the truck wheel chock out of 2x4s and secure the fuselage to the truck as best I can. I notice that most folks that transport, build a frame to raise the tail. I would have assumed this is to mitigate the increased load on the tailwheel (if the wings are on, and folded back)? Is it necessary with the wings off?

Any insights or advice is greatly appreciated! I’m super pumped to get this bird back in the air! Cheers!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[avidflyer]

If the wings are off, I would think you don't need to worry about the tail spring much. Maybe 50 lbs at most now, verses maybe 150 with the wings folded of weight on the tailwheel. I used carpet to make a sling to haul wings that were strapped to the side of a truck. Ends of the carpet were fastened to a couple of 2x4s that ended up fastened to the wall at the top of the wing. JImChuk

[avgas]

Slinging the wings is a great idea! Perhaps even a tarp of some sort? Being 900 miles from home, I'm somewhat limited to the resources I have access to, so carpet might be tough to find (short of spending a fortune on new stuff).

[rcbif]

If it has removable wingtips, you could put a few feet of padded PVC in the end of each wing spar and hang from the walls with pads between the wing and wall. Have your locations to get shipping materials all plotted out along with backups.

[avidflyer]

Slinging the wings is a great idea!...

Probably any carpet or flooring store would have some old removed carpet they would be happy to give you so it doesn't fill their dumpster. JImChuk

[t j]

Measure the door on the van before you load the fuselage. The Horizontal stab is 8 feet wide.

Be thinking how you will attach the wings to the sides of the van. With the grove gear the tires may be pretty close to the sides so you will have to hang the wings high enough to clear them.

Be aware of the pitot tube while hanging the wings.

Secure the prop so it can't rotate in transit. Yes it can. Some fellows here were transporting a cub in an enclosed van. Somehow the bouncing caused the prop to rotate and it poked a hole in the top of the van.

Take a cordless drill and some deck screws of different lengths. You'll find lots of uses for them.

[rv9ralph]

I transported my Model 3 from California to Idaho in a 26 foot U-Haul. I loaded it in tail first. I removed the wings, flaperons and horizontal tail. I have Grove gear, they fit in with about 2-4 inches on each side. I removed some of the floor bolts and replaced with eye bolts to strap the wheels down using ATV wheel ratchet straps (purchased ahead of time). I had the tail on a raised surface without load on the tailwheel and anchored it as to not allow up down nor side to side movement (the carry through holes are great for this, they are 5/16 ID. The wings were hung from the side of the van using ratchet straps, care must be given to not put pressure on the ribs, flaperon attachments and pitot tube. I also slung the horizontal tail and flaperons on the sides.

By only using the wheels to hold down the fuselage the weight is sprung on the gear legs and it will stay secure.

It arrived without any damage.

Ralph

[DesertFox4]

Sounds perfect Ralph. Your method is spot on.

[Neil Rupp]

I just got back from a 1500+ round trip to pick up an Avid using a 25 ft cargo trailer. I put the wings in wings rack slings. The tail feathers under the airplane separated by blankets. Strap the struts down so they won't move at all. The reason I say the obvious is I thought I did a good job but yet the one end some how got against the wing and put a 6" hole in the fabric. Neil Rupp

[avgas]

Well, made it back in one piece! Made some frames out of 2x4’s to cradle the leading edges and strapped the wings to the walls with ratchet straps. Used copious amounts of padding and blankets where there was any chance of contact. Thanks for all your inputs, I think I used bits of each one!

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20191014/ffec306c42b2f627bff99a4dd286d109.jpg


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[DesertFox4]

Glad it made the trip in good condition. Enjoy your model 4.