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Whatca workin on part 3. Winter 2020

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Posted

Ok folks? Whatca workin on beside airplanes this winter?  Well im doing the re-rebuild of the pa12 and have 4 months left till spring mining season is back knocking at the door.  Course u guys know my Dad at 82yrs old had an elevator accident 3 yrs ago and it shattered both his ankles, one into 6 pieces, other into 14 pieces,  so hard to walk for him, and for me well i hate to say i have to take meds everyday to keep my legs and feet usable, they swell up, bruise up Turn black and blue and cant even touch them sometimes without pain, and its headed to my knees and elbows now, So anyways i decided that not only is a towbar an awesome thing to have to hook to 4wheeler or side by side is great. Ive always wanted an electric aircraft tug,  ran across this other day for free, its beatup, scratched up, upolstery ripped, but it works awesome.  So now for some brainstorming to have a seat, tail wheel pickup and lockin arm, 12v air compressor, and a 12v jumpstarter for the planes. 

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Posted

Now I can see some possibilities in one of these.  Might not be to hard to make a taildragger dragger with one.  Maybe a throttle grip that twists both ways for forward or reverse.... (look out Patey brothers with the airtugs buisness)  :lmao:  Seriously though, you got me thinking.  I can put my hands on one of those three wheel chairs.  JImChuk

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Posted

This one has a joystick for the control to drive it. 

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Posted

I was thinking about having handle bars, and an easy way to control it then.  Might be doable with the twist grip anyway.  JImChuk

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Posted

Hey Bucky,  I had another idea for the taildragger dragger.  A cheap ATV winch with a sprocket on the drum where the cable would usually go.  A sprocket on an axel right below it with a chain connecting the winch and axel.  With one of those small solinoids for reversing direction that you run with a toggle switch for forward or reverse.  I think I have a spare winch that I might have to give a try on.  JImChuk

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Posted

Not a bad idea, watch what silonoid u use, make sure its a constant duty one. 

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Bucky,  I had another brain storm.  If a guy took the rear part of a smaller sized snow blower, You would have the handle bars, frame, axel with sproket, bearings and wheels.   Weld something on the front to catch the rear tire, and rig up the winch to drive it with.   I found a winch today I had laying around, and know where there are some old snow blowers.  Might save my weary old back yet... :-)   JImChuk

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Posted


Hey I love projects keep it up.

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Ok, you have to promise not to laugh.... Here is what I came up with so far.  Better then I was expecting.  This snowblower has a two speed shifter in the axel, as well as neutral so it's easier to drag around.  Still waiting for the ATV winch to show up, had to order a new one, it will mount on the flat part with a pully split and mounted onto the winch drum.  (somehow)  May have to change the size of pulleys to get the speed right, but that's mostly experimenting till I find what works.  If you come at the tail at an angel, till the bolts line up with the tailwheel, and then swing it to the side, you will capture the tailwheel.  Not sure how that will work when I put the tail ski on, but I'll come up with something.  This should be a big help dragging the planes in, especially when on skis, cause the dolly wheels don't roll near as good as the regular tires, and the Chief is heavier as it is.  JImChuk

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Posted (edited)

Well, along the lines of repurposing above; I've been using a pretty simple hack with a length of aluminum angle. The HF trailer handling tool is now multi use.  It certainly could be improved upon which I'd done already had I a welder in the shop such as running the arm from the axle center point......and no, the t/w springs do not have to be disconnected - just demonstrating off the Avid C prjct.  YRMV.

Paul

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Edited by allonsye

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Posted

Well I spent a few hours in the garage, and just came in at 10:05.  But before I did, I ran this back and forth in the garage and I think it will work.  Battery location is temporary, It will probably end up behind the wheels.  It could push harder then I could hold in reverse, when I kept weight on it for traction, going forward with no weight on it it spun the wheels but the plane will add the weight and it should do fine.   It moved slow enough as well in low gear.  Lawn tractor starter motor reverses with an ATV winch switch.  I'll try it tomorrow, and then Mike and Mark Patey, look out....   :lmao::lmao::lmao:  Ya right!    The winch motor I was going to use was way to slow, and there is next to nothing for bearings in them on the drum, so that wouldn't have lasted long.  The starter motor spun pretty fast, but fortunatly , I had that big pully, and was able to mount it up.  Anyway.  laugh if you like.  I'll be laughing with joy if it works and saves my back....  JImChuk

PS  once it passes field trials, I may paint it....maybe.....  

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Posted

Jim will the tails of your aircraft clear this beast?  Looks like its going to be close sir.:2cent:

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Posted

Pretty sure it will clear everything.  I'll find out today.  It was -6 this morning, so I'm in no big rush to get out there.  

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Posted

Well I don't think the Patey boys have to worry about me overtaking them in the aircraft tug business, but this just may do me some good.  The handles are probably to short, especially with the heavier Chief, but it did work.  I'll mount the battery behind the axel and have some other 'refinements' as well, but it did work.  If nothing else, I'll give you guys a good laugh.  And I'm not as fat as that video make me look either!!!  :-)   JImChuk

Taildragger dragger - YouTube

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Posted

I've got a few things going.  First we picked up an old Sperry New Holland skid steer with a Kohler 25 horse Command repower.  Thing was oiling the plug on one side so I'm doing a real quick top end rebuild.  Only used it a few times before pulling the motor so I'm pretty pumped to get back at it.  We've got some land and lots of stuff needs moved around and done.  Want to get a wood splitter mounted on it so I can just hang the beam out over the wood and move down the line.  Want to freshen up the drive and lot a bit too.  Next I picked up an old Ford V4 engine off a buddy from work.  These powered many cars over in Europe along with the Saab Sonnet here in the US.  They are pretty rare engines over here but were marketed as industrial motors powering some Ford CL and Mustang skid steers along with other odd ball equipment.  I have a thing for weird engines and drivetrain stuff.  And the big project I'm working is my 1967 Land Rover Series IIA with the Safari top, rare tailgate rear (rather than the full door), FJ40 Axles and a Chevy 305 swapped back in the day with a Scottys adapter.  It also has the Fairey overdrive and the saginaw power steering off what ever the 305 came from and the power boosted brake master from the '78 and up FJ40 Toyota.   On top of all this I'm trying to figure out how to come up with a few grand to go buy this pile of airplane parts to try and build me an avidfox flyer.

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Posted


Dig the tail tug.  Moving the batter to the back will help.  Might also make a mount for a pillow block bearing on the end of the motor shaft to give it some good support. Might make the motor bearing last longer.  I love this idea as I have been eyeing an old snow blower for the exact same thing!

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Posted (edited)

I did move the battery to the back, just transferring the pics from the phone to my PC now so I can show what it looks like.   It did kind of struggle some though pushing the plane out on skis.  Plenty of power, but spun some.  I have tire chains, but then it might spin easier on the cement in the hangar.  We shall see.  The dolly wheels were dragging on the skis some though, so that didn't help.  I'll post up the pic once I get it downloaded.  JImChuk

PS  part of the cluster of wires in the second picture is the trickle charger on the battery.  Also, the little piece of channel bolted to the back end of the battery tray swings up and rests against the battery to move it, but keeps the battery level when parked so nothing runs out of it...

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Edited by 1avidflyer

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Posted

You guys are creative geniuses! I love it, Keep it up!

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Posted

You guys are creative geniuses! I love it, Keep it up!

I see you're easily amused.... :lmao: Thanks,  JImChuk

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