Lifting the nose wheel

[konstantin_azarov]

Hi all,

Is there any way to lift the nose wheel off the ground that doesn't involve an engine hoist, and is less sketchy than raising the entire airplane on jacks? I saw references to loading the tail, but it seems like with a IV-P it requires excessive weight (upwards of 300 lbs).

Best,
Konstantin

[tomthibault]

Hopefully you all ready have a weighted tail stand. To do a normal gear swing you need one anyway (or use the engine hoist).
My process is to connect the tail stand and raise the MLG jacks a few inches. This will raise the nose right away, so it isn't sketchy.

[Dan OBrien]

Hi all,

Is there any way to lift the nose wheel off the ground that doesn't involve an engine hoist, and is less sketchy than raising the entire airplane on jacks? I saw references to loading the tail, but it seems like with a IV-P it requires excessive weight (upwards of 300 lbs).

Best,
Konstantin

Here's how we lifted my ES at Flight Metrics' shop. The contraption in back is just a barrel filled with concrete and telescoping square angel with holes that allow putting a bolt through the tie down ring at different heights. The IV folks will know better, but I would think for a gear swing you might want something more stable than the padded jacks under the spar that you see on my wings. I don't have jack points, but I'll guess that most IV builders (and probably many ES builders) put them in.

All Photos - 1 of 1 (3).jpeg (119.9 KiB) Viewed 1659 times

[Dan OBrien]

Here's a better pic of the square angle embedded in the concrete-filled barrel.

All Photos - 1 of 1 (4).jpeg (127.33 KiB) Viewed 1657 times