Adjustable Tail Wheel

    After installing the main landing gear and the tail wheel brackets, I looked for an alternate to using the skate wheel and placing the tail section on the floor. Charlie Burton has an excellent tail wheel stand and I considered asking Charlie to build one for me. The problem was that Charlie lives on the West Coast and I live in Cincinnati, the cost for Charlie’s stand was more than reasonable, however, the cost of shipping would be nearly as much as the $49.00 transmission jack that I purchased at Harbor Freight. The transmission jack works very well, I took the fuselage outside for the first time last weekend. The jack has a pan with a bolt bracket on the side that fits the tail wheel bracket just perfectly; all you have to do is insert a bolt and nut. In the lower position the bottom of the tail section is 8 inches off the floor, in the upper position it is 29 inches off the floor. Weight capacity for the jack is 450 pounds. Now I can lower the jack for work on the tail section or for moving the fuselage out of the hangar (tail goes under the door with plenty of room to spare). For other work I jack it up. However, if you live near Charlie, be sure to check out his stand.

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