Anyone make their own electric winch to pull their airplane into hanger? New one run in the $400.00 with remote.

Bighorn wrote:Anyone make their own electric winch to pull their airplane into hanger? New one run in the $400.00 with remote.

Harbor Fright has some cheapie electric cable winches, 40 or 70 dollars, that even have a remote control. I have a friend who suspended a Fly Baby fuselage in his hangar using two of them... plenty strong. Strap one to the back of your hangar, make up a hook or strap that goes around the tailwheel, and you're done.

I use a 12v pos atv winch from Harbor Fright with a wireless remote : $50
Garden tractor battery (or any surplus one). : $30 (were $16 4 years ago.
Piece of scrap steel for a mount plate. : $0

I fab'd the mount to bolt to two hangar frame bolts in the floor.
(Sits on floor) Could drill in anchor bolts if need.

I charge the battery occasonially when leaving.

Used this for over four years since my back quit. C180

1st scrap battery gave up, the garden battery is over two years old.
Thanks for bringing this up, I will check the water tomorrow.

--Bill

This may sound like a dumb comment, but take care with using a winch. Most commercial versions have an automatic switch to stop the winch so that it won't accidentally pull the airplane into the back wall. A friend clipped the top of the tail of his 210 when he pulled it in without the overhead bifold door being quite up as far as it needed to be.

I recently bought a Lindbergh tug to move my airplane in and out of the hangar--old back is just getting too old. For safety, though, I bolted the chocks to the floor in case I didn't stop it quite on time. Sure makes it a lot easier for an old guy!

Cary

There is always the cheap option of a manual hand crank winch like on a boat trailer.......
They can be salvaged free off a boat trailer being scrapped.

I use one (with some solid mount pulleys to redirect forces) in my garage to store a canoe against a high ceiling completely out of the way. The winch winds up 2 cables, one to each end of the canoe.
Very simple and effective.

lc

Suggestion for this use:
As light a pull as an aircraft on a relatively flat surface, a thinner cable could be used than for heavy boats on an incline/boat launch. That way there would be room for more cable length on the spool.

Additional:
Oh, yeah. Somewhere I remember hearing that some exercise is good for us old codgers....
And, personally, I do better if my fun activities force a bit of exercise.

I use a 1,500 lb Harbor Freight (Chicago) winch in my hangar and it works great -- slow, but very strong. I hook a bogibar to my tail-wheel and then maneuver my Husky with the remote control from the winch while slightly tugging left or right on the incoming cable as needed.

Hey Bighorn,

What did you finally come up with on this? I'm now in this same dilemma of wanting to find a way help me get the 205 up the slope of my hanger when it is icy. I was going to go with a hand winch from Harbor Frieght, but after buying one and seeing how kong it will take to pull it in, that's not the solution I'm looking for. Their cheapest electric winch is $104 right now before a 20% coupon, but in reading about it, it pulls at about 6 inches per minute. That means it will take 20-25 minutes to pull it in. Not much better than the hand winch.

Also, anyone heard of any damage being done from pulling on the tail tie down ring? I've seen it done on a Ballanca I think in a YouTube video. I've read others saying it might be a better idea to use straps on the main gear and pull from it. Thoughts?

My cousin uses a hand winch on his 182 and it seems to work quite well, I've personally used it and it's pretty good no problems polling the tail off Cory. I put an electric winch from harbor frt. in my hangar bolted to the floor, takes forever to pull it in. I prefer to pull it in but I'm coming off of grass onto cement then into the hangar, most the time I've got help.

Grassstrippilot wrote:Hey Bighorn,

What did you finally come up with on this? I'm now in this same dilemma of wanting to find a way help me get the 205 up the slope of my hanger when it is icy. I was going to go with a hand winch from Harbor Frieght, but after buying one and seeing how kong it will take to pull it in, that's not the solution I'm looking for. Their cheapest electric winch is $104 right now before a 20% coupon, but in reading about it, it pulls at about 6 inches per minute. That means it will take 20-25 minutes to pull it in. Not much better than the hand winch.

Also, anyone heard of any damage being done from pulling on the tail tie down ring? I've seen it done on a Ballanca I think in a YouTube video. I've read others saying it might be a better idea to use straps on the main gear and pull from it. Thoughts?

http://allenmachineco.com/pages/data/airplane.htm

Hey Grass Strip

I finally bit the bullet and bought one from Allen Machine. link above. I also went with the longer cable and the 75' remote. I hate to admit at the age of 60 I'm not as strong as I use to be. The 206 is hard to move around by myself. all the extra came to about $450 and well worth every penny. 75' out gives me plenty of room to get close when I taxi in but keep all the prop wash out of the hanger. I can stand far enough back and watch both wing tips as in goes in, I have a foot clearance on both sides.I have grass up to about the last 10' prior to entrance into hanger. I do have 26" mains so that helps as well.
I do have a hanger at the local airport. We are luck, it's only $80 bucks a month. There I bought a Habor Freight winch which is o.k. but when funds permit I'm going to change it out to and Allen Machine winch. It is more money than what I had originally planned to spend but it was made for this purpose and does and excellent job. Good service and prompt delivery from factory.
Sucks to get old.... but with the winch I can move the plane by myself with out worrying about damage to plane or body

I have the Allen Winch in my hanger and it works great.

In case the motor refuses to shut off at the appropriate time however, I keep a razor knife next to the unit in case I have to cut the line.

MAU MAU wrote:I have the Allen Winch in my hanger and it works great.

In case the motor refuses to shut off at the appropriate time however, I keep a razor knife next to the unit in case I have to cut the line.

That looks like a pretty slick unit, how many feet per minute would you estimate it pulls?

Plugging my little tug I previously mentioned, here's a pic:

Couple of advantages over a winch: I can move the airplane both in and out of the hangar, and I'm not tied to the length of a winch cable. I've been using this now for about 6 months--it came in April, but my airplane was down for a couple of months. Throughout the nicer weather, I used it a lot, and it worked super well for me. I typically pull the airplane out and turn it perpendicular to the hangar row with the tug, but because it's harder to steer pushing, when I taxi in, I turn the airplane so that it's a straight shot into the hangar. The tug has to push the airplane up a pretty fair slope--2 or 3 guys can push the airplane up the slope, but I can't by myself without the tug. The tug does it easily.

I had purchased it with a set of tire chains, although I had no real hopes that it would be able to move the airplane through much snow. But a few weeks ago, I had the chains on it and pulled the airplane out over ice and about an inch of snow without difficulty--something I would have had to do with my long tow bar and my car in the past (I have a front hitch on my RAV4). When I came back after flying, I turned the airplane as usual and then discovered that the snow in the center of the area between the hangar rows was about 4" deep--I was sure I'd have to use the car. But I hooked up the tug anyway just to try it--and although it spun its wheels a little, it did the job!

Very impressive little machine, and it sure has made moving the airplane around a lot easier. Us old guys need all the help we can get!

Cary

Have been using this electric 1500 pound winch for several years it works perfectly no battery to worry about just plug it in slow but ok so can't hit anything button on remote stops as soon as you let go

Trade a Plane has had aircraft hangar winches listed in their ads for years. We put eight of them in our T Hangars in FAI, and they've worked flawlessly (and used harder than most) for almost 20 years now.

MTV

I've thought about the tug route, but I think that there is enough slope that the tires would spin on ice when I'm heavy. That's why I'm focused on the winch idea.

I have come up with a game plan with another HF winch that I think will work. I'll post details if it does. Since I really only need this (for now) when there is ice, I'm trying to avoid spending the cash on the Allen one.

Thanks for the updates and info. I'll post results.

Grassstrippilot wrote:I've thought about the tug route, but I think that there is enough slope that the tires would spin on ice when I'm heavy. That's why I'm focused on the winch idea.

I have come up with a game plan with another HF winch that I think will work. I'll post details if it does. Since I really only need this (for now) when there is ice, I'm trying to avoid spending the cash on the Allen one.

Thanks for the updates and info. I'll post results.

GSP

If you go the 110v route I see HF has a wireless remote now that is "New" since I looked. Cost $20. Don't know how far it works though and if the winch shuts off if you get out of range.

Could maybe get by for $150 ..........I do like my Allen Machine one though, just need to save for the next one. So far this "Old Fart" can still move the 7AC around without anything or any help

When I put my 180 on amphibs I bought a Badlands ATV winch (I think the 2000 lb model), added wireless remote, lawn tractor battery, and battery minder. Total cost was I think about $200. Works well, speed is about as fast as I would want when pulling my plane. I think about a foot per second. I'll take a picture when I'm at the hangar.

BTW, in the wireless remote, the winch only runs while you are holding the button down. Just let go and it stops. If you go out of range it stops.

Hey Skyjeep,

Thanks. This is actually the winch I just bought today. It now comes with a wireless remote and I think I've got a good plan for anchoring it. I should have it up and running by mid week and will let everyone know how it works.