I have a bottle jack, a floor jack, and a little wedge plate that goes on the gear leg of my 180 that I use to jack it up for tire changes. Some combination of these tools had worked well in the past, as the tire off to tire on transition has never required more than four or five inches in change between tires (8.50s to 26 inch GYs). Now I want to switch between 31" Bushwheels and 8.50s. Has anyone found a good setup for a change like this? A high-lift jack might be the hot setup, but doesn't constrain things very well if there is any lateral translation while it is up. Anyone use high-lifts for jacking planes?

Sometimes get the plane on jacks to switch my tires is spookier than flying!

I have found a 6-8" block of wood under the bottle jack helps but still spooky.

I also have found that letting most of the air out of the 31's or 29's helps.

Akt

I'd say only jack them one at a time, and chock tailwheel and the grounded main solidly.

I've had a couple close calls when jacking up the 170, especially going from small to big tires. The plane wants to move laterally away from the jackpad and fall out the higher you raise it. What I do now is clamp the pad to the gear leg on each side with a couple c-clamps and that seems to do better. I have some thick rubber I use between the pad, clamps, and gear so I dont damage the gear leg. I usually use a hydralic floor jack that will lift high enough with a block of wood on top that the point of the jack pad kind of digs into and is more stable than being metal to metal.

Zzz wrote:I'd say only jack them one at a time, and chock tailwheel and the grounded main solidly.

It can be scary, and I always chock all wheels other than the one in the air.

Good idea to let all of the air out of the AKBW during swap. Your plane is looking really sweet in the new paint AKT!

robw56 wrote:I've had a couple close calls when jacking up the 170, especially going from small to big tires. The plane wants to move laterally away from the jackpad and fall out the higher you raise it. What I do now is clamp the pad to the gear leg on each side with a couple c-clamps and that seems to do better. I have some thick rubber I use between the pad, clamps, and gear so I dont damage the gear leg. I usually use a hydralic floor jack that will lift high enough with a block of wood on top that the point of the jack pad kind of digs into and is more stable than being metal to metal.

Pics!

Once you get to 31" its time for a set of lifting eyes and a hoist.

Every plane that comes into my shop gets a set of lifting eyes.

Rocket

rocket wrote:Once you get to 31" its time for a set of lifting eyes and a hoist.

Every plane that comes into my shop gets a set of lifting eyes.

Rocket

That's interesting. What do lifting eyes for a Maule look like? Where do they attach?

I'm building a Bearhawk and this seems like a good idea while I've got the fuse bare.

robw56 wrote:I've had a couple close calls when jacking up the 170, especially going from small to big tires. The plane wants to move laterally away from the jackpad and fall out the higher you raise it....

Same here. Usually at the start the gear is spread from taxiing in to the tie-down area. I find it helps to start with the bottle jack canted slightly so that as you lift, the gear can rebound and settle into a neutral stance. At this point the jack has settled from a canted position to a more-or-less vertical position. At this point I lower the gear back onto the ground, re-set the jack square and true, and lift again, straight up. Lift higher, not lower, on the gear leg to minimize the spring tendencies of the gear.

Another way is to have a custom-fit, stout board that spans the inside of the gear legs. Works great with a floor jack.

As for your big tire question, this may or may not be an option for you, but I've changed wheels and skis of differing heights by parking on either snow or sand, getting the plane in the air, and then removing or adding material beneath the wheel/ ski as needed.

Bogert Aviation has nice jack pads for various setups, BTW.

Main thing is don't forget to undo the wing tie-downs before you start jacking!

I bought a couple transmission jacks, $200.00 ea., bolted in a 2' extention. Put a lifting point under the wing just outside each strut. Little pricey for some, but you can share the expense with a friend or two . Works great, no more worries. The jacks are on wheels so they are easily moved around. Can jack up one or both sides, solid as a rock. On my buddies 175T/W he had to put some weight on the tail, but worked great.
Gary

Another way to address your original question: Jack in stages. Jack the plane up 5", place blocking under the 8.50, lower 8.50 onto blocking, place separate blocking under the jack, lift again. To go to smaller tires, reverse this process (more-or-less), but start with the jack extended nearly all of its range.

And if it's windy, do yourself a favor and save the outdoor, bottle-jack, gear change operations for calmer day.

Z,
not to be flip but the only Mauls out here in western AK I've seen have been wrecks. No one out here in Western AK owns one and all the guys who did wrecked them and ended up in Supercubs. I'm not saying they didn't wreck their cubs ether. Now that I think about it I was in an engine out in a M7 with a shit load of water in an cracked outboard tank. Mowed down a whole row of those tall orange poles at PAKN with the flashing lights on them. It would be cool if someone here would post a photo of their Maul lifting eyes cause now I want to know.

A guy down in Ugashic has a Cherokee 180 with the float kit on it that I would like to get my hands on. If I do Ill let you know where the lifting eyes go.

Spam can lifting eyes are really expensive from the mothership but take less then thirty minutes to drill the two holes and install them.

I have run into a problem installing lifting eyes on some T-crates so i just loosen the wing root fairing, slide them outboard, and use a set of doubled up 1/8 cable loops in leu of the FA Dodge parts I keep on hand to install.

I NEEVER lift by the motor mount or engine hoisting ring unless stuck out in a tundra swamp, swatting white soxs and skeeters, using a spruce tripod, duct tape, ...

I'm a float, ski, Beaver,Otter, bushy kind of A&P so I don't touch anything with a low wing as a rule. Im not much of a web forum poster ether but I am stuck in the shop waiting for the late leaky Float Beaver to get here

Rocket

Lift rings for most airplanes go on the bolts which connect the forward wing spar to the fuselage attach point. That requires a 90 degree twist in the tab itself. Very simple.

More important is to make sure you use a spreader bar on the lifting harness, so that you don't pull the fuselage tabs together......it's remarkably easy to fold the top deck of the airplane up, and seriously increase wing dihedral.

Here's a link to Atlee Dodges lifting tabs for Cubs:

http://www.fadodge.com/index.php?option ... :wingparts

Heavier airplanes need lift rings on both forward and aft spar attach points.

MTV

I had a tall bottle jack and jack pad that I used on the spring gear of my Citabria. It was stable and easy to use. I have used a short bottle jack and blocks of wood. That was a scary experience!

Lifting eyes are great if you have a means to lift with a spreader bar. I found the tall bottle jack to be a good and safe alternative.

A professional floor jack works great...the longer arm versus a cheap one means there is very little fore/aft motion during the lift, there is no need for a block, and pushes a lot more straight up rather than swinging up with a shorter arm, and it has a ton of stability fore and aft. While I use mine on my 182 wheels, I also used it on a 195 recently with the big wheels, and it easily went from lifting the gear resting on the floor to up in the air for the big wheels in a few seconds without any drama. The arm on mine is about 3 1/2' long. They go for a couple or three hundred bucks, have rubber cushions, wider stance, bigger casters for getting over rough terrain, etc.

I have had good luck with our 170 using a jack from Bogert Aviation.http://bogertaviation.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=garden_flypage.tpl&product_id=10&category_id=6&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=23
We have 180 gear, and the biggest problem is the legs splay when you start to lift. Usually requires lifting a little, setting back down and then repositioning the jack. I swap out 29" ABWs for 8.50s a few times per year and it has worked well. Always a little scary when the wheel is off the axle and it is just hanging there in midair. I would never try it outside, I think a little gust of wind would make for a bad day.
Jim

Another source for the Jack Pads that looks a little cheaper.

http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/t ... ckkey=6724

I have found these pads to work better if you use a c-clamp on the pad to make sure it doesn't move once jacked up in the air. Otherwise, I have had a little trouble with it moving. I carry the jack pad and a bottle jack in the 180 in case i have to do field repairs (happened to me a couple of times) and make sure I have a c-clamp too.

Glad I'm not the only one who dreads jacking up the 180. I have the Bogert jack pad and also their axle support stand. As soon as the wheel comes off I slide this thing on and can breath somewhat easily again.

To everyone that has a Bogert jack pad, may I recommend a roll of 1" UHMW sticky tape. You can get it from McMaster Carr or on Amazon. Really helps with releasing the pad from the gear and preventing harm to the paint.

It helps to have heavy machinery handy

You'll notice I didn't use chocks on the other tire...I meant to, just got a little ahead of myself. The tailwheel is "anchored" such that it won't kick out to one side or the other. This setup is fairly stable, and I'm gonna make an adapter for the forks to be able to lift both sides at once without being able to rock from one side to the other. The forks aren't long enough as they are, and the forklift would hit the spinner...or at least be too close for comfort.

I just got done mounting new wheels/brakes/tires, and now going through the arduous process of adjusting the toe-in.