Why are tugs so expensive?

JOhnH said:
I thought about. Would the rear tie-down hook be suitable for that?
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Not for my fiberglass plane. The tie down is not that strong, for a horizontal load.

I connect the winch cable to a home-made harness that pulls on my towbar. This way, the aircraft experiences exactly the same forces in the same places as when I push the towbar.
 
If you are going to push it out anyway tow it into the hangar 'backwards' nose first. Is there any reason, other then mental block, to back airplanes into (single plane)hangars when they are always pushed out and turned 90 degrees anyway?

NoHeat said:
Not for my fiberglass plane. The tie down is not that strong, for a horizontal load.

I connect the winch cable to a home-made harness that pulls on my towbar. This way, the aircraft experiences exactly the same forces in the same places as when I push the towbar.
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NoHeat said:
Not for my fiberglass plane. The tie down is not that strong, for a horizontal load.

I connect the winch cable to a home-made harness that pulls on my towbar. This way, the aircraft experiences exactly the same forces in the same places as when I push the towbar.
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My 185 amphib has the tail gear spring or stinger, it's got a loop end bolted on where the tailwheel normally attaches, old owner pulled it with a small tractor, worked great, with my current huge hangar I just push it out and in, don't have to be too precise.
 
ClimbnSink said:
If you are going to push it out anyway tow it into the hangar 'backwards' nose first. Is there any reason, other then mental block, to back airplanes into (single plane)hangars when they are always pushed out and turned 90 degrees anyway?
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have you ever been in a t-hangar and observed its shape ?
 
ClimbnSink said:
If you are going to push it out anyway tow it into the hangar 'backwards' nose first. Is there any reason, other then mental block, to back airplanes into (single plane)hangars when they are always pushed out and turned 90 degrees anyway?
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T-Hangars may cause an issue, but in general, no, no real reason. I did a turntable for an old man who built a new hangar for his 340. He could drive straight in to park, then next time he flew he'd start it up, run up one engine to spin it around, then drive out. Cost him a pretty penny lol, but your gasoline purchases paid for it.:lol: It worked slick but he did have to replace the office windows with some higher strength tempered ones.
 
JHW said:
have you ever been in a t-hangar and observed its shape ?
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Of course shape matters assuming it fits either way seems a mental thing to back in. Especially since plane is going to be pushed out and turned 90 degrees to start. Pure emotion to push in tail first.
 
ClimbnSink said:
Of course shape matters assuming it fits either way seems a mental thing to back in. Especially since plane is going to be pushed out and turned 90 degrees to start. Pure emotion to push in tail first.
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Not really, it makes it nicer and easier to work on the engine up front by the door much of the time. If the plane fit either way, I would likely decide by season. Taxi in, push out is my preference if I can't have a turn table.
 
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ClimbnSink said:
Of course shape matters assuming it fits either way seems a mental thing to back in. Especially since plane is going to be pushed out and turned 90 degrees to start. Pure emotion to push in tail first.
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so what does the "T" in T-hangar mean to you ? sure you could turn the "T" around, but it's going to take a lot of that emition you are hung up on to get the wings through the tail-width door
 
JHW said:
so what does the "T" in T-hangar mean to you ? sure you could turn the "T" around, but it's going to take a lot of that emition you are hung up on to get the wings through the tail-width door
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Dude we get the exception for T hangars and pole barns and whatever structural considerations are in the way. Obvious enough to not warrant mention. Given the space it would make as much sense to pull straight in then back out, same as most people that park their car in a garage.
 
Henning said:
T-Hangars may cause an issue, but in general, no, no real reason. I did a turntable for an old man who built a new hangar for his 340. He could drive straight in to park, then next time he flew he'd start it up, run up one engine to spin it around, then drive out.
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AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH GGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

Someone make it stop, please!

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Henning said:
T-Hangars may cause an issue, but in general, no, no real reason. I did a turntable for an old man who built a new hangar for his 340. He could drive straight in to park, then next time he flew he'd start it up, run up one engine to spin it around, then drive out. Cost him a pretty penny lol, but your gasoline purchases paid for it.:lol: It worked slick but he did have to replace the office windows with some higher strength tempered ones.
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Henning, I believe almost all of your unusual stories,
but this one ... I dunno? Have you been visiting Colorado lately?
 
jsstevens said:
Pretty spiffy!

I wonder how much it costs?
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15 years ago it cost about $8.5k in materials and extra costs in pouring the slab, and I charged $5k and was done in a week paying my helper $1k of it. There would have been some electric cost running the welder that I didn't see.

It's just a freaking wheel, it's not that tough.
 
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Henning said:
15 years ago it cost about $8.5k in materials and extra costs in pouring the slab, and I charged $5k and was done in a week paying my helper $1k of it.
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What's the actual turntable made of? Is it manually controlled or smart enough to shut off in the correct position? I assume either belt or gear reduction for the motor. If it's gears it could a little while to stop, but I guess it wouldn't move far enough to be an issue.

Anyway, as I said pretty spiffy! You'd want to be careful to keep the hangar clear of junk to avoid clipping a wing or tail on the tall toolbox...

John
 
Wow, that's a tight fit too, he is just off the center line and his wing looks awful close?!
 
jsstevens said:
What's the actual turntable made of? Is it manually controlled or smart enough to shut off in the correct position? I assume either belt or gear reduction for the motor. If it's gears it could a little while to stop, but I guess it wouldn't move far enough to be an issue.

Anyway, as I said pretty spiffy! You'd want to be careful to keep the hangar clear of junk to avoid clipping a wing or tail on the tall toolbox...

John
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You'd also want to keep the hangar clear of anything that could become airborne from the prop-wash.
 
JOhnH said:
You'd also want to keep the hangar clear of anything that could become airborne from the prop-wash.
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If it were me, I'd shut down before spinning, but you'd still have to deal with it when exiting. My only airplane owning friend with hangar always pulls his out and turns it down the taxiway by hand before starting. But he has a lot of stuff in his hangar. But it's all airplane related. Sort of. Yeah.

John
 
jsstevens said:
What's the actual turntable made of? Is it manually controlled or smart enough to shut off in the correct position? I assume either belt or gear reduction for the motor. If it's gears it could a little while to stop, but I guess it wouldn't move far enough to be an issue.

Anyway, as I said pretty spiffy! You'd want to be careful to keep the hangar clear of junk to avoid clipping a wing or tail on the tall toolbox...

John
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Steel and concrete. It's just a slab with a center pin in a pair of bearings inside a pipe with a close but not interference fit.that pipe is in a hole in the middle of a 10" deep circular pit. At the outer edge of the pit is a 6"-12" sloped moat 8" wide flowing into a 24" deep sump with a pump. Inward from the moat is a 6" wide ring of 12gauge steel with another concentric ring of steel about 1/3 way out from the center. For the wheel I had 1/8" plate cut into arcs to form a 8"wide ring of 20' in diameter. I welded those, then I welded a 5" strip of 1/8" riding 4" above the base. Then I added the spokes of 3" T section to the pin. Then I tacked in some steel screen, a sheet of plastic, and some lath. I build typical rebar structure and weld it to the spokes, rim, and pin. On the bottom of the spokes are some 4" wide, 6" tall, steel rollers. The entire assembly drops in the pit and then pour the concrete to finish it off.

These days the most difficult part, forming the plate ring, is super simple with CAD/CAM process cutters.

This one was unpowered since he could use asymmetric thrust to spin it. Yeah, the hangar needs to be secured, the shop and office doors were closed, nothing stayed in the hangar.
 
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timwinters said:
AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH GGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!



Someone make it stop, please!



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DENIER!!!!

I'm sure Henning will be along shortly to describe how the pilot would put a JATO bottle on one wing and turn the 340 into a carnival ride.
 
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