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Tie down rings - how much weight can they support


jrwilson

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Tail tie downs are subject to various forms of wear depending on the owner and the environment.  After 50 years of unusual care the threads of an individual Mooney's tie down, may not hold the way it did when it left the factory...

The tail tie down on many Mooneys has been modified by being ground flat on the bottom matching the surface of some runway.

With this type of random history, a pilot would want to know the condition of the thread and bolts he intends to use before relying on them to support the plane over his head... probably why the recommendation is to not use a smallish single point of failure as a means to jack one's plane up...

PP thoughts only, not a mechanic...

Best regards,

-a-

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1 hour ago, Mooneymite said:

Wing, or tail?

No clue, but Mooney doesn't  recommend tying the tail down when on jacks any more.  I wonder if "something" happened?

Did they ever recommend tying the tail down when on jacks?

This is the kind of thing pilots and shops do for convenience. Another example is ground handling by the prop. Neither McCauley nor Hartzel allow that. But what do they know?! 

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Maybe the answer is a combination tail tie down, engine hanger, and prop sling. My POH says use prop sling. There was some sort of SB saying don't jack with the tail tie down and I've read of case cracks when the weight of the plane is supported by the engine bracket. Seems like we need giant air bags or something.


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Tail tie down.   On jacks it will lift 2 bags of 80 lbs of saccrete.   So I bought two more to keep it down.   Since the fronts are designed to keep the wings on the ground and the wings can create at least 2700 lbs of lift.  So divide by 2 (or 3)  and then an then some cosigns or tangets for the angle.   or some other math.

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