I’m going to be putting a 1962 182 into a very basic hangar...so basic that there is a truss running across it a bit too low for comfort that is supporting the roof and could make contact with the vertical.

In order to clear this I need to lower the tail which I can do by digging out a slightly lower path for the mains and raising up the path for the nose wheel. This however will be a PITA.

Is it possible or wise when considering possible collateral damage to take a PVC tube, cut it in half lengthwise, have someone lower the tail so the nose wheel fully extends and then strap this tube to the nosewheel strut such that it locks it in its fully extended state thus lowering the tail? How much would that strut extend beyond where they normally sit?

Thx!

Depends....Fully extended maybe 8" of chrome showing...have a buddy push down on the rear fuse bulkhead while you carefully lift on on the prop (Not spinner). Or carefully jack on the front tie down ring with a block of wood. Same method you would need to put the PVC pipe on. I take it this will be temporary? If in and out for flying, dig out the floor as you said or you will have an expensive accident, just a matter of time. 182's are much heavier than a 172 to lift the nose.

I'd say 6-8 inches of vertical extension at the nose would net a reasonable amount of overall clearance at the tail given the distance from oleo.

I've often seen a small ramp built to roll the nose over as it is pushed back. This seems like a simpler solution unless there is some reason you can't stack a few boards together in the appropriate spot.

I've seen someone make a hand tug dolly that lifts and holds the front tire off the ground for this very purpose. It had four wheels and a cradle that would wrap around the tire with a bottle Jack that lifted the nose wheel up.

Would be a bit of an elaborate build, but useful once you have it.

Get your local handy guy, a welder/fabricator/carpenter, bring him out to the hangar and show him jrolif's comment. The fact that you have to ask here means it's out of your league, no offence! It would be a fun little project for the right person and not difficult. Material cost would be about $100.00 max, total cost with the fab guy making good bucks per hour, $500.00 tops. It's something I could do in an easy morning, using material I have on hand. I made a cart for getting my T-Craft into a tight hangar using old wheels off a snow thrower and salvage pipe, total cost $0.00.

Another option, get your local truss company rep (they are used to making onsite visits) and it may be easier to modify the truss in place, they call it a field repair. They could show your carpenter how to safely do it, how to transfer the loads, and it could be a couple hundred buck or less total deal.

Keep in mind that if you fully extend the nose strut it will be on the centering cam and you won't be able to steer the nose wheel. Will not be a problem if you are only going straight in and straight out with the strut extended. The ramp to raise the nose wheel is a simpler to operate choice. Just a question but is this truss parallel or perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the airplane?

Tim

Thx for the replies so far! The truss is steel and perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the plane.

I think in the interest of time I am going to make a ramp / berm for the nose wheel and perhaps plan to hang 50-60 lbs on the tail tie down ring to being the nose up a bit then add the pvc to give it a bit extra clearance but keep it off the steering stop.

Can you air up the nose strut enough to create clearance for the tail without having to blead it off each time?

A steel truss is even easier to modify. I’d suggest getting a truss company out to look and determine what’s needed.

DJ Balla wrote:Thx for the replies so far! The truss is steel and perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the plane.

I think in the interest of time I am going to make a ramp / berm for the nose wheel and perhaps plan to hang 50-60 lbs on the tail tie down ring to being the nose up a bit then add the pvc to give it a bit extra clearance but keep it off the steering stop.

KISS

Good plan. Keep it simple!

MW

kg wrote:I've often seen a small ramp built to roll the nose over as it is pushed back. This seems like a simpler solution unless there is some reason you can't stack a few boards together in the appropriate spot.

Thank you for this. Im running into this problem myself. How to raise the front of my Amphibs.

Doesn’t work as well with amphibs. The ramps will line up with the mains so you have to back part way in, and then place the ramps between the mains and the nose. With the trike, there’s one ramp and you can set it and forget it. Depending on your hangar apron, may be able to secure it in place.

This is also a byproduct of installing larger tires .....on my 56 182 I made the upgrade and found I had the smallest clearance for my tail strobe....less than an inch...so the project got expanded to a low profile LED replacement....big tires plus old tail strobes and legacy hangers don’t always play well....

Your complicating it way to much...built a wood ramp for an Aztec with the same problem, just long enough and high enough to dip the tail under the door truss...worked fine for years.

The county-owned hangar I'm in is an old wooden T hangar originally built for tail-draggers and it had a beam going horizontally across about mid-airplane. With TDs it was no problem but it became apparent to the county that there were a lot of nose wheel airplanes that they had to accommodate so they cut that beam where the tail had to go in and put some angle braces coming up from the sides of these T-hangars to support the now cut beam ends. So anyway, for most Cessna nose-wheel planes it still isn't quite enough clearance to feel comfortable with so most of us have had to come up with a solution for the same problem you describe. I do what you had mentioned, I use a piece of PVC and it's cut lengthwise but not in half but less than that so it just snaps on to the strut tube. But the piece I made isn't just a straight piece, it's the bell (female) end with a piece glued in it so that it's thicker on the bottom so it doesn't wedge in that little space between the strut and the wheel mounting hardware. I'll have to get a picture and also measure it next time I'm at the airport, kinda hard to describe. So I just push the tail down until the strut extends and holds in that position and then snap my PVC piece in there. I only broke one $300 tail beacon before I figured this out and it's been working perfectly for 20 years or so since then. I also religiously put my gust lock in before I push it in because on the 1960 182 when the elevator is down there's a part of the elevator that's sticking up and well, with those aforementioned county-installed angle braces in there that 'sticking up' part of the elevator became vulnerable...ask me how I know about that one...ooops.