jacking solutions for Kitfox's

[catz631]

Lowell,
How about inventing something to jack the wheel in the air for the bush gear ? This sure would be helpful for checking the brakes,greasing the bearings,etc.
I currently use a small floor jack and use the 1/4 inch of protruding axle on the other side of the wheel. It is VERY precarious ! I was thinking about a device like I used to use on my Cessna 120. It attached to the spring gear with a couple of bolts and made a flat surface to put a jack under.
Maybe a split tube,device with a flat plate welded on and attach it to the down tube where it attaches to the axle cluster ? You are a great inventor !
Dick

[t j]

A couple photos to get the Kitfox jack ideas flowing.

[catz631]

Thanks TJ ! What a simple solution ! I need a brain transplant.
Dick

[napierm]

I have a similar question for the Grove gear. The brake line fitting at the bottom of the gear is right in the way of a very good jack point. There are are clamp or slip on jack points but if I do leg fairings ala Ray Ward these won't work either.

[HighWing]

In the olden days just after the split that saw two partners go separate ways, that resulted in two competing companies, Grove and Hammerhead, I bought my spring gear. As I understand it the Hammerhead guy was the one that developed the gun drilling equipment and took that with him. I bought the Hammerhead gear as I didn't want to pay extra for the gun drilling.

Now to the point. I didn't like the brake line exit at the bottom of the gear leg with the plastic pigtail because I thought it to be in a very vulnerable location. I asked if it could exit on the back of the gear leg. The answer was yes. They drilled and tapped a hole exactly between the bolts holding the axle. The hole intersected the gun drilled hole and a 1/8" NPT plug was used to close out the bottom hole. In ten years and 900 hours including a hard landing that destroyed the airframe but didn't touch the gear, it never failed. As for the plug, I know somewhere there are plugs that use a hex head hole for tightening if you don't want the square plug extension interfering with the jack. This could be a fairly easy retrofit and a worthy annual project.

Lowell

[akarmy]

For the Grove gear here's what I did. You can also search the archives for many posts on ways to jack up various types of gear setups.

http://www.teamkitfox.com/Forums/picture.php?albumid=108&pictureid=1376
http://www.teamkitfox.com/Forums/picture.php?albumid=108&pictureid=1377

[Dave S]

Andy & all,

I don't want to embarrass anyone; but I would hate it more if someone got hurt and nobody said anything.

The wood blocks for the jack to hold the gear look great. Makes a nice recess to hold the top of the jack and keep it from sliding.

Take a look at the orientation of the cement blocks - with the cement blocks on their sides. Cement blocks have very little strength on their sides - if using cement blocks for this purpose - put them top side up and put a 2 X 10 under the jack - better yet - stick to wood blocks. Cement has tremendous compression strength - very little tensile strength - on their sides the blocks can easily be placed under tension between the webs and crush under very little weight.

They guys who do hand chops to break cement blocks and impress the rest of us hit them on the sides - the weak point between the web - never see them karate chopping a cement block from the top.

No offense - just don't want anyone getting hurt.

Sincerely,

Dave S

[akarmy]

Good catch on the blocks Thanks! I'll swap them around next time I use them.

[Av8r3400]

I have a set of jacks that I got from Airdale (http://www.airdale.com) that work wonderful. They go from the floor to the lift strut attach point on the wing (the front to rear tube connecting the two lift struts). Much safer than a lego-style stack of wood blocks and a bottle jack...

Brett designed them to lift an Avid/Kitfox to attach floats.

[akflyer]

I would like some pics of said jacks.. I have come up with some creative ways to get the floats on and off, but if he has a set of jacks that work well, I would be very interested in getting a set.. Especially since I will be coming off floats soon!

You have my email if you dont want to post for all to see.

[akflyer]

For the Grove gear here's what I did. You can also search the archives for many posts on ways to jack up various types of gear setups.

http://www.teamkitfox.com/Forums/picture.php?albumid=108&pictureid=1376
http://www.teamkitfox.com/Forums/picture.php?albumid=108&pictureid=1377


This also looks like a great solution for those with grove gear. I know the kitfox is pretty light, however, you may consider making the block out of a good high grade piece of plywood. I once used a bottle jack to lift my boat up slightly to slip a piece of carpet on the trailer bunk.. I used a block of wood like you have pictured... then the wood block split. Made a nice hole in the bottom of the boat in a area I really did not want a thru hull fitting :mad:. Not a good way to treat my poor 68 Chris Craft plank boat. Boy are the mahogany planks expensive and a pain in the butt to replace!

[Spook712]

I have a set of jacks that I got from Airdale (http://www.airdale.com) that work wonderful. They go from the floor to the lift strut attach point on the wing (the front to rear tube connecting the two lift struts). Much safer than a lego-style stack of wood blocks and a bottle jack...

Brett designed them to lift an Avid/Kitfox to attach floats.


Could you post or mail some pictures of those jacks please ?

Thanks,
Tuna

[Av8r3400]

10882

This is what I have now. I'll try to remember to take a few more when I get over to the hangar.

[AirFox]

No jack necessary.

[Floog]

Pictures say it all.

[Spook712]

How and where can I support it best during a gear exchange?

Any experiences?

[Floog]

If I were to drop the gear, I would do it by supporting the aircraft at the lift strut bracket point as shown in AV8R's picture.

[t j]

To take the landing gear off my model 4 I have two saw horses. One is the right height to just fit under the very front of the fuselage. With that one in place under the front of the fuselage I lift the tail up about so the fuselage is in level flight with the front of the fuselage resting on the front saw horse and the main wheels are off the floor then slide the second saw horse under the rear of the fuselage.

Put a board long enough to reach from the floor to the wing tip under each wing tip to stabilize it while you are removing and replacing the gear.

Be very careful using jacks or props under the strut attach fittings or anywhere under the wings for that matter. One slip and there's a nice hole in your wing.

[rosslr]

Scott, where is the lift point on your system? It's hard to see on the photo.

r

[AirFox]

Hi Ross, I have 8"by 8" blocks on the top of the screw jacks. They sit were the diagonal meets the firewall. The blocks have 10 degree slope to match the fuselage. I am going to put a 2" by 8" the width of the fuselage across to distribute the weight a little better.

Worked out great for rotating my tires. I didn't even need a jack to lift. The screw stand did the trick.

Scott

[Av8r3400]

Wing Jack photos.

10885
The legs are 5' long. The threaded rod is 36" x 3/4" diameter. The cradle on the top it 18" long. The tube the threaded rod goes through is 18" long. The towel is to cushion the cradle from scratching the paint.

10886

10887