mtv wrote:Bogi Bar from Alaska Bushwheel.

MTV

Bogi Bar works great. I have two of them.

ABW Bogi Bar awesome on cub! Not so awesome for 180, pops off under pressure it takes to move around by myself on anything other than flat surface, we all know what happens when you are pulling on something as hard as you can and it lets loose, yup you fall on your ass

Retractable tail pull handles on the other hand are great.

Skalywag wrote:ABW Bogi Bar awesome on cub! Not so awesome for 180, pops off under pressure it takes to move around by myself on anything other than flat surface, we all know what happens when you are pulling on something as hard as you can and it lets loose, yup you fall on your ass

Retractable tail pull handles on the other hand are great.

Actually there are two Bogi Bar models, one of which is for heavier aircraft. It is a little harder to attach as it is held in place with a friction screw rather than spring loaded like the lighter model, but it certainly won't pop loose and land you on your butt.

Nizina, thanks good to know. Not sure how I ended up with the lighter version as I bought it for the 180, doh

Finally got the Tailwheel Transporter set up to use on the Pacer.

It will serve it's purpose and it's better than one guy moving the plane around without it. The Pacer is in a hangar with a concrete floor that leads out to a freshly paved apron. The Transporter works fine on those kind of surfaces but I don't think it would work well on gravel and probably not at all on grass.

The lift is not very high so the tailwheel must have plenty of air in it or the Transporter won't lift it high enough to move...it just squishes the tire into the rim. It's not a problem if the tire has the recommended air pressure.

The unit is a bit "tippy" at steep turning angles but it's not an issue.

The control is very good and you can make precise changes to the position of the plane with small, easy movements of the Transporter. It moves the airplane fairly easily but a 180 might be bit heavy. It's nice to be able to keep an eye on both wing tips at the same time as you move the plane. There is definitely a feel of "control" when you move the plane when using the Transporter.

Overall...it's not quite as easy to use as the videos on the website might suggest but it's certainly a huge improvement over moving the plane by hand...especially by yourself. I think it's worth it. Cheaper than hangar rash ; especially with the fancy iron that my humble Pacer shares stable space with with!

The Transporter works fine on those kind of surfaces but I don't think it would work well on gravel and probably not at all on grass.

Maybe you could install some big tires for off pavement.

[/quote]

You want to sell it? I need a small one.

Skalywag wrote:Nizina, thanks good to know. Not sure how I ended up with the lighter version as I bought it for the 180, doh

My grandfather was a clever machinist with a C140 as his personal plane. The tailwheel through bolt (the one that goes thru the center bearing of the wheel) was used to attach a telescoping bar with a t-handle. The business end of the bar was a 'Y' shaped metal piece of 4130 tubing that had 'rings' of tubing welded to the ends. These rings were just big enough in diameter to fit over the nut and bolt ends of the through bolt of the tailwheel. The 'Y' was about 2' long and had just enough flex in it that you could widen it enough to snap over the nut/bolt head. Now you are pulling directly on the tailwheel center bolt and can push or pull and turn the tailwheel as desired. I bought his 140, sold it years later to get a '48 170, then sold that to get a RV6. This towbar worked on all of them. The I sold the RV6 and the tow bar went with it. Now I will need to make another to use on my 170B. I will like have to pics and measurements form the guy I sold the RV6 to.
John

Soy, im thinkin a baby bush will eventually go on our cub so gonna hang on to it.

Boxing week sale, found a P-handle utility truck with 10" pneumatic tires for $30. Cut a "U" out of the center steel plate and attached a couple of aluminium angles using three AN3 bolts on each side. Cut another small "U" in the end of the angle to pick up the tailwheel axle bolt on both sides.

That's pretty slick! I've seen some towbars designed to lift the t/w off the ground, such as the taildragger dragger, but they need to be weaseled under the tailwheel somehow which always looked like a PITA when I've watched somebody trying to do it. I think my towbar is a "ground support" brand as sold by Spruce, uses a spring to keep it clamped on the ends of the axle- not all that positive an engagement as the spring isn't esp strong. I've never had it come loose when pulling but it's sure wobbled around like it was gonna. I think adding a bungee or rubber bands cut from an inner tube might improve it, just never got around to it yet. The bogi-bars look like they engage more positively, but never used one.

Gary;

Do you have a Scott or Maule tailwheel? If Scott, there are a bunch of options that cup the axle. The Maule tailwheel does not seem to have a good place to latch on to.

TD

Tom, Gary has a ABI tail wheel

I have used one of these for years to manually move my M5 in and out of the hanger.

https://www.sportys.com/pilotshop/tailw ... l?___SID=U

Fits a Scott tailwheel and pretty sure it will fit a baby bush wheel based on a Scott as well.

TD

I use the same as TomD

The first, manual, towbar was made with a long handle shaped in a way to use it standing up and not crouched. Also made to clear the tail feathers of the C170B it was first intended for. Two foam covered handles and a ring welded on large enough to fit over a 2" hitch ball to use with 4 wheeler or truck/car hitch. I was based at a grass strip and this made pulling the plane out of the hangar a snap even if on straight skis. We had buggies to lift the skis and that was fine on hard ground, but once on the snow, it was very hard to push or pull this bird; putting it on the hitch made the job a cinch. I did not try to push with a vehicle or 4 wheeler. I just pulled the plane out of the hangar with a wide turn, unhitched the bar, parked the SUV and I was ready to go. Upon returning, I taxied the plane up onto the hard surface, installed the buggies and pushed the rest of the way in using the push-pull handles.
In the "not winter" seasons I would taxi swing the tail towards the door opening and pull it in using the towbar. I have used it with several other planes.
https://www.backcountrypilot.org/images/originalphotos/6830/4957/332e89a260c9ed8d84237059.jpg
https://www.backcountrypilot.org/images/originalphotos/6830/4957/b491ee7cde224a333f6ff6bb.jpg
https://www.backcountrypilot.org/images/originalphotos/6830/4957/03eee30eb0305a704530c9b8.jpg

The second was made using the "rear-end" of a snow blower. It has reverse and forward transmission:
https://www.backcountrypilot.org/images/originalphotos/6830/4957/799be12acc27c1059afff72f.jpg
https://www.backcountrypilot.org/images/originalphotos/6830/4957/f37891c69347880b95c603f6.jpg

You will notice that both units attach with rings or tubes over the axle nuts on the Scott TW. Very positive and no weak spring problem.
Yes, it does mean getting down on one knee to use the adjusting screw, but that takes a couple of seconds and a lot easier than huffing and puffing with a short handled towbar.

Grizz

An old thread reopened. I really liked the idea of tcj's shovel tow bar, but I didn't like how far he has to bend over to use it. I wound up buying a tail-picker1 for a couple hundred bucks. It worked OK for several years, but the solid rubber tires really beat up the cantalevered axle frame each time I went over the tracks for my sliding door. I did weld repairs on the danged thing too many times. Here's what it looked like when I finally gave up. It just wasn't worth rewelding any more


So, I went back to TCJ's shovel idea, but thought I'd build one from scratch. So I did a little 3D model that came out like this:


I bought a bunch of square and round tubing and started cutting and welding
https://i.imgur.com/J5uSEFkl.jpg


I added wheels and a slightly angled shovel platform. The angles of the handle was modeled to match the angle of my Maule rudder. It was also long enough that I didn't have to ben over to use it. I added one of those ratcheting tie-down straps to pull the tailwheel onto the shovel platform.


And the results worked pretty well. The 8" balloon tires really helped getting over the rails for the hangar doors.


Still, there was a fair amount of work pushing and pulling, so I thought adding an electric motor would be a good idea. I'm not getting any younger and my back certainly isn't getting stronger. So I bought a 24V, 300 W motor, battery pack and controller and installed all of that. The scooter's drive gear I attached to the wheel had a freewheel (like on a bicycle) so the wheel could coast moving forward. That meant reverse on the motor wouldn't work, so I brazed the halves of the freewheel together. That did the trick - but the motor didn't have enought torque. The 300 W power rating was at 3,000 RPM. That meant the puny motor only put out 0.7 ft lbs of torque at initial rotation. I put a prybar on the wheel and found out I needed at least 10 ft lbs of torque to get the plane moving. BUGGERS! So, I bought a 48 V, 1 kW motor with a new controller and battery pack. I had to tear off all the old mounts and put new ones on to add the bigger motor and battery pack..


This time it all came together and the tug works like a champ. I added a polarity reversing switch to the circuit for forward and reverse and now it's a piece of cake getting the plane in, and out of the hangar. All of the power set up (motor, motor controller, throttle grip, drive gear etc.) came from the electric scooter market, so parts were cheap. All together, I have about $265 in this thing (forgetting the cost of the failed first motor setup). It was a fun project with happy results. No more huffing and puffing to move the plane around. You can see that I don't have to put any weight into moving the plane forward now. All smiles here. Thanks for the inspiration tcj!

You're welcome Flyhound. There was a guy on the kitfox forum years ago that built one very similar to yours. His private grass airstrip was a half mile down a narrow dirt road through the trees from his house and garage where he kept the Kitfox, so he welded a trailer hitch to the top of the handle on the towbar and a trailer ball to the top of the rear rack on his 4 wheel ATV. Then he would fold the wings and pull the airplane down the road from house to airstrip.

Just one question, Gary.....
do you ever leave your hangar unlocked when you're not around?

Lucked out as high bid on an online auction. About $4K new got it for less than a thousand. Unit was at my airport and used for Nevada department of wildlife Cessna 206. They auctioned off this tug and N1FG that Arnold Aviation has now. Quiet battery power with an onboard charger. I lock the tail wheel then drive forward to lift it on. It has a strap and winch good for nosedraggers. Works exceedingly well.