Well, I finally got around to getting a solution to this problem. Figured I had better do it while it's nice outside and not leave it until there is ice on the ground! Besides, my friend had been holding on to his father-in-law's impact drill for about 8 months now waiting for me to be ready to do this! So, last week we met at the hanger and punched two small holes through the concrete floor, slightly angled to help them anchor in. The final design was the Harbor Freight winch mentioned above with the remote and one of their mounting plates. We used two 6" bolts to mount the plate. Those bolts also are the bolts that slide down into the holes to anchor it to the floor. It is designed to be removable when not in use. Just slide it in and out. The front bolt to secure the plate was shorter and I put a chunk of wood on it as a spacer (due to the slight angle that the long bolts went in on). This makes it sit solidly flat on the floor.

For attaching to the plane, I bought a cargo strap from Harbor Freight that has a loop sewn in on each end. Those loops I put over the left and right steps on the gear legs, with the cable clipped onto the middle of the cable. A loop was tied at the straps midpoint to avoid any movement. I'll probably put a D ring or something there just for ease of attaching the winch's hook.

The next day we gave it a try after flying. Worked like a champ! Pulled it in in a couple of minutes and with a load on it the cable spooled neatly (I had most of the 50 feet out). I'm pretty happy with the results. Hopefully this will make this winter flying a bit easier.

Very sanitary!

Build a box to cover the winch though. First drunk pilot walks back there, he's gonna bust a shin or trip over it!

Gump

Yeah, that's why we made it so that it can slide in and out of the holes, i.e. to be removable. That way it's easy to drop in for the dozen or less times a year that I need it, and can be stored on a shelf out of the way the rest of the time. Especially where it is right in the middle of the work area. When it's removed, it's just two small holes in the concrete. No hardware left behind as a tripping hazard.

good idea. you must get the ridges of ice in the winter right in front of the hangar door like we do.

Our hanger faces west, which helps. But between the 10 foot slight slope up from the taxiway, ice, and any left overs from when they plow, it can be more than I can do. Even in the summer if I've got full fuel and all our gear in, it's a nut buster getting it up that slope. So hopefully this will save me a hernia or my back...or both!

GumpAir wrote:Very sanitary!

Build a box to cover the winch though. First drunk pilot walks back there, he's gonna bust a shin or trip over it!

Gump

"drunk pilot" ?????

I have a Maule M4 220C and I'm looking to drop a winch into the back of my hangar. The previous hangar tenant left a few 3/8" holes so I measured down and the concrete floor is only 1" deep. I also have an exposed 4x4 vertically from the floor to the ceiling on the back wall.

I'm no physicist but I don't want to trial and error a winch ripping out of the floor with a plane load on there. Which one would be stronger? Not sure how many lbs of force is required to pull a 2000# plane or how much 1" of concrete can handle vs. a 4x4 beam.

Maybe use the holes in the floor for the winch and then tie it too the upright so both are carrying part of the load.

When needed, I've been using the stinger tie down ring to pull with winch (have a clip on that clears everything). Should I not be using that and if not what else is available?

wfd wrote:When needed, I've been using the stinger tie down ring to pull with winch (have a clip on that clears everything). Should I not be using that and if not what else is available?

That tie down ring is engineered to handle a vertical "tension" load, as when you tie down the tail. It is almost certainly NOT designed to handle as much of a side load (sheer) as you would have when winching at 90º to the intended load path. Connecting your winch to the tailwheel assembly would be a better approach, as it is designed to handle that type of load.

I disagree.
Unless you're winching the airplane up a hell of a slope,
you're not putting much strain on the tiedown ring by using it to winch into the hangar.

hotrod180 wrote:I disagree.
Unless you're winching the airplane up a hell of a slope,
you're not putting much strain on the tiedown ring by using it to winch into the hangar.

I watched a guy winch his plane into a hangar. Slope wasn't too bad, but the plane was pretty well loaded down. He failed to notice the rubber wheel chock that was in line with the wheel. Kept the winch going, and pulled the tie-down ring right out of the airframe. Can't remember what he told me it cost him to eventually get it fixed, but it was more than the purchase price of my airplane at the time...

Your airplane, your money. Go for it.

JP256 wrote:

hotrod180 wrote:I disagree.
Unless you're winching the airplane up a hell of a slope,
you're not putting much strain on the tiedown ring by using it to winch into the hangar.

I watched a guy winch his plane into a hangar. Slope wasn't too bad, but the plane was pretty well loaded down. He failed to notice the rubber wheel chock that was in line with the wheel. Kept the winch going, and pulled the tie-down ring right out of the airframe. Can't remember what he told me it cost him to eventually get it fixed, but it was more than the purchase price of my airplane at the time...

Your airplane, your money. Go for it.

You are right that you can pull the tie down ring out of the airframe on a nose dragger, but the tie down ring on the TW stinger that was mentioned in the post won't cause that kind of damage and wont cause more strain then is on it when used as a tie down. Its shear loaded both ways. So in the context of the original tie down ring post, it's totally fine to use it to pull.