Removing wings by yourself?

[mhorowit]

I see Hank’s description of how to remove a wing with five friends (move the lawnchair, dear) as well as Rob’s similar adventure.

Has anyone had to remove a wing solo? I saw on someone’s restoration site where they had leveled the plane in anticipation of replacing a wing, but no details.

Also, again solo, how do you move the wing around in your workshop i.e. from horizontal to standing on it’s leading edge, or placing it in a jig? - Mike

[Dick Smith]

Re: Removing wings by yourself?

Mike, re: Removing a wing by yourself...I would never attempt it without at least 3, at the absolute minimum...you've got too much value wrapped up in a wing.
You can find yourself in a bind or twist that you can't "get away from". I can visualize a system that would probably work for 1 guy, but you've got too many friends to mess with it! I like to have 1 "spare guy", that can float around to deal with the little things that can crop up...I can visualize some ol' guy like me...holding up the outer end of the wing while the other guys try to insert bolts and deal with struts and props and other stuff...and then I start to get lightheaded from holding my arms overhead for several minutes and then I hear the sound of the wing hitting the floor, the wooden prop tearing through fabric...and Oh!...that bent wing attach point...! Wings...that's what friends are for!! How does that song go..."I fly like an eagle...You are 'the friends' beneath my wings...!" Bill has it right at 5! Dick

[Robert Lees]

Re: Removing wings by yourself?

Turn the plane upside down and remove the fuselage.
That's the only way I can think of.

Rob

[N96337]

Re: Removing wings by yourself?

I've done it Mike, with a cherry picker and lots of straps and padding...but that was because there was NO alternative!! It worked one time for me, but looking back, I'd have been much smarter to wait for a couple friends to help, but I wasn't too worried about keeping the finish nice. I'd stripped the ailerons, and it took all day to get things the way I needed them.
Once off the aircraft, I've hauled them "bottom to bottom", with tubing linking between the strut and butt attach points, and they seem to ride pretty well that way..ya just gotta use lots of padding under that bottom wing. When they come in the shop, they get thrown in a "rotator" to be worked on.
JH

[mulwyk]

Re: Removing wings by yourself?

Mike:
I've seen 3 people remove a wing, but we coulda used 4 or 5. (Actually the 5th person wouldn't have much to do but could be put in charge of curseing and yelling "Wait, wait...No! Not that way! No! My left, not your left! Hold it there! Don't move...wait, wait OOOOOh! No!! I said don't move! Go left! No!! not my left, your left!" well, you get the idea)

I move wings around the shop usually with 2 people, the wife and me. But I've also moved them solo quite a bit. For solo I have a 12 ft. long wing storage "shelf" bolted to the wall. The shelf is the same height as my sawhorses so I can slide the wing horizontaly off the sawhorses until the leading edge is on the shelf...then tip it up vertical and lean it against the wall.

Once you get the cover off don't use sawhorses, instead clamp the wing in a vertical jig with the leading edge up and the trailing edge about 6 inches above the floor. Then you can work on both sides at once and do a complete disassembly, replace the spars, and re-assembly without ever taking it out of the jig.

Bob Gustafson

[Robert Lees]

Re: Removing wings by yourself?

With the engine installed, the plane will remain upright on its own with one wing removed.

It won't with the engine off! (and no I did not learn this the hard way!)

Rob

[mhorowit]

Re: Removing wings by yourself?

Once off the aircraft, I've hauled them "bottom to bottom", with tubing linking between the strut and butt attach points, and they seem to ride pretty well that way..ya just gotta use lots of padding under that bottom wing. When they come in the shop, they get thrown in a "rotator" to be worked on.
JH

I assume this is illustrated in the photo with the truck?
I see two supports at the butt end; probably connecting to the attach fittings, but the fittings are at 90^ to those supports. What did you do? Also I notice the wings have a spacing between them. What's going on between the wings? At the strut attach points? - Mike

[N96337]

Re: Removing wings by yourself?

Mike, I made an upside down "T", and it was tall enough to have the flat plate on the top of the canopy of the pickup, and the upright had tubes coming off at 90degrees to fit into the spar butt attach pieces, just like it's bolted to the airframe. The strut fittings had pieces of square tubing installed between them and bolted in somewhat the same way..it really works well, and puts the load at the fittings, where it's designed to be..probably not designed exactly for that, but it works .
JH

[Richard Boyer]

Re: Removing wings by yourself?

My father and I did this using Rob's method. I got laughed at with the Pins that Rob says to make (I defended you Rob and we were vindicated!!). I put the pins in by myself and then set everything up and had a briefing on what to do and what not to do. Getting the bolts out first and using the pins made removal VERY easy.

I removed the pin from the struts first and then from the fuse. It was light and easy to move around and place on the saw horses.

Getting it back on was a VERY different story!!!!

Richard Boyer
N95791