Wing Support?

[flyguy]

I have found a gizzmo sold by Harbor Freight that I think might possibly work OK for supporting my wing. It is listed as a support/cargo bar but I couldn't get a link to transfer. They are on sale for 9.99 and the part number is 95746-obka if you want to search it on their site. I was thinking 2 of them as the weight rating is 66 lbs. Anyone want to check it out and give an opinion? Would appreciate it.
Darryl

[PT13Pilot]

Re: Wing Support?

Darryl,
Are you talking for doing the strut AD, just to support them? For the BC12 I just did, 2 6 foot ladders worked perfectly. Put the tail on a sawhorse to level it, not critcal to be perfect. I took 2 4 foot 2x4's and wrapped them with a towell. I used some scraps to block up the padded 2x4's to the angle of the wing. Strapped the padded boards and blocks to the top of the ladder, I used bungee cords. They lightly wedged under the first rib and it stayed that way for over a week while I did the fitting AD, pulley replacements, etc. You've probably got at least one ladder around, and I bummed the other from a friend.
I looked at the harbor freight lock bar. 2 things, it doesn't have a very large footprint, top or bottom. Wobbly or can see the other end punching through the wing if it slips off. I'm sure with a base modification and a larger support for the wing, it would work ok.
CJ

[flyguy]

Re: Wing Support?

Thanks, I've had my wing off, but do not remember how heavy it was, pretty light as I remember. Yes, we do have two matching step ladders in the hangar and lots of 1" styrafoam (sp) sheets so I've considered doing it that way. Thought I would modify the top with crossbar and eyebolts on the H.F. support. I was thinking of the advantage of having an adjustable device mostly.
DC

[Garry Crookham]

Re: Wing Support?

Darryl

I made a couple of wing supports out of some 2x2x1/8 inch angle iron and a couple of eye bolts. It only took a few minutes to put them together (bolted them together) and held the wings very securely. I posted a picture of them under the Strut Inspection Results thread on 11-19-07 if you're interested in viewing them.

Garry Crookham
N5112m
Tulsa

[Larry Lyons]

Re: Wing Support?

Using step ladder with and old pillow on top worked great for me. I asked around to assure myself that the bird would stay on her wheels with one wing on and one off. So that is what I did, took off the right wing first, then went around and removed the left wing. Of course this was after leveling her up by tying the tail to the rafters. The 65 is still mounted of course and, as I had never done it before, I had 5 other people there to help stabilize everything as we moved forward through the job. Went with out a hitch in a dark, dirt floor hanger with no electricity. A wing only weights about 100 lbs. and with four people hanging on to it, no problem!
Larry

[Robert Lees]

Re: Wing Support?

Good thing you had the engine on. She will not stay upright with engine and one wing off!

[flyguy]

Re: Wing Support?

Garry, Yep thank you. That is where I got the idea of using a cross beam with eyebolts. Nice design. I actually have a drawing of one I made similar to your design, but fabricated of 2x's and 1x's with a piece of aluminum angle on top. Still was considering something that came fabricated with an adjustable height mechanism. Kinda like the idea of using 2 ladders also. Prettly stable. Always good ideas here.
Darryl

[jstall]

Re: Wing Support?

This is simular to Garrys, deal, I used his idea and expanded it alittle, this
one is out of square tubing, and is adjustable, also used hardware from
local COOP, eyebolts were 1/4 in, and I welded a cross tab so that the
bolt would not protrude up into fabric above the strut attach point

JS

[tawadc95]

Re: Wing Support?

I could spend time hanging out in your hangar!
nice plane ,nice hangar,not much more to ask of a hobby than that!

[flyguy]

Re: Wing Support?

Thanks for the pix and ideas. Nice plane, sure looks good with the wheel pants.
Darryl

[wlas]

Re: Wing Support?

I posted this before, here it is again. This is an old car jack that I made into a wing jack, it has two bolts welded at the top that fit over the strut end at the wing attach fitting, in the winter I carry it in the plane to jack the plane up and clean the skis off or to get me unstuck from overflow or to just put my skis on. In this picture I am changing struts out and using a 2X4 on the wing rib to hold the wing up, the board has two holes drilled in it for the bolts to fit into.

[Guest]

Re: Wing Support?

Larry,

Looks to me like you have an F19 white plastic headliner.

Is that correct?

Any clue where you can get replacements?

I have the F19 headliner and wondering where its replacement will come from when the time comes.

Dave

[Forrest Barber]

Re: Wing Support?

We made the vacumn mold here in Alliance in 1970 the factory still has , it uses Royalite . Easy to repair , some had the Taylorcraft logo drilled into the area where the speakers were located.

[fearofpavement]

Re: Wing Support?

regarding the harbor freight cargo bar referenced in the first post of this thread: I have one of these (they are for keeping cargo in a pick up truck box from sliding fore and aft) and do not consider it to be suitable for holding up T-craft wings for a number of reasons.

For our strut removal we used wing jacks for a high wing aircraft and put a 2x6 on top of it. We drilled a hole large enough for the top of the jack pad to go through and then nailed that onto another longer 2x6 that we padded and shimmed with styrofoam blocks and cushions. (ie, old sofa cushions). Holding up the wings can be done lots of ways, I just wouldn't recommend the cargo bars.

[flyguy]

Re: Wing Support?

Thanks for the further input. I am likely to go with one of my 2 X 4 and metal angle/box crossbar idea. I've gone trough several design versions on paper and they all look like they would be stable. They do keep getting more simple as I progress to the next one. I guess that is good.
DC