Anyone modify one of these car dollies to haul their Kitfox? Extend the hitch with a ramp and winch on top for the tail. Seems the tipping mechanism would work perfectly for loading.
Not for my Kitfox but did for my Sonerai. Just extended the tongue with a bolt on extension that had a channel welded on top where the tailwheel sat. The car dolly is gone but the extension is still sitting next to my barn. Worked great.
Having already built a couple trailers from scratch, I tend to think it would be less hassle to just buy some 2x2x1/8
steel tubing, and a couple torsion axles and build from scratch. Likely that dolly would not be wide enough (depending on
landing gear) and you would have to adapt for width as well as length. So at the end of the day you bought some
suspension components and some reusable steel, BUT you would still end up fabricating a trailer out of it.
Pick up a Mig welder, and a Chop Saw and you could build it pretty cheaply.
The downside to a trailer is ... I used the trailer below, exactly once and ended up selling it. Since
after using it to get the plane to the airport I don't have a use for it any more. So maybe I would
just rent a big flat bed if I had to do it again.
Many people have modified boat trailers as well. I did one this summer. It's a fairly heavy duty trailer, has 13" tires. Just saw another one just like it near me for $175. Tempted to buy it and fix it up for a plane, but time is limited. Less work, and cheaper then buying all the raw materials.
If the landing gear will fit, I'm not sure what is difficult about extending a 3x3 box tube tongue. I'd guarantee a stock kf4 would fit on one. The dolly I had could fit a full size truck or van and was a full 8.5 ft outside to outside of wheels.
I have looked at the modified boat trailer option. To tall and it doesn’t have that hinge point the dolly has. Also have to make ramps and pads behind the wheels of the boat trailer. On the dolly I would maybe have to narrow it and most likely add some suspension as dollys have none. It’s low to the ground and you don’t need to fool with ramps. I will need an everyday hauler for my fox when done.
I have one. Friend gave me some round tube steel to extend the tongue. My main gear just fit. My issue is that the tongue flexes so when I get much above 45mph, it starts to shake. I plan to add two more arms to stabilize the tongue. The nice thing is that I can quickly convert it back if I need to tow a car.
Thanks CoClimber. Was just looking for working examples and the trailering characteristics of them. My road to the airport is only 35 mph with a few bumps. May need some side bracing too.