Mighty Mooring Mount for Mowers Moving Mooneys

[Stephen]

Greetings gentlemen, 

Those of you who have fabricated a hitch for a mowing tractor to interface with a tow-bar, if you wouldn't mind posting pic of how you fabricated/braced the hitch mount to the tractor it might give me some creative ideas. 

I was planning on mounting a hitch to the font frame of this 22HP Craftsman lawn tractor which I got running for $250 (w/o a deck):

 

[gsxrpilot]

This worked well for me until I moved into a full service hangar with pull out service.

[takair]

I'm sure Paul would agree, you just have to be careful not to dent your truss by exceeding turn limits.  You have a tremendous amount of leverage with a tug...or a truck.

[gsxrpilot]

8 minutes ago, takair said:

I'm sure Paul would agree, you just have to be careful not to dent your truss by exceeding turn limits.  You have a tremendous amount of leverage with a tug...or a truck.

Yes! Absolutely. When I was using this rig, I only ever towed it in a straight line. I would pull the plane out of the hangar by hand and turn it to line up with the taxi way. At this particular field, the taxiway was gravel so I didn't want to run the prop. So I'd hook it up and pull it straight to the paved ramp. There were never any turns.

I'm quite paranoid about towing a Mooney around a turn.

[Stephen]

Thanks Paul; that will help. Like the end cap to prevent slipage 

Thanks Rob, I'll be careful; already painted turn limits with bright red indicator for SA

 

[DonMuncy]

I found the attaching a hitch to the front of a mower makes for extremely sensitive turn angles, whereas mounting it on the rear (and further from the steering wheels) alleviates the problem some. I admit the being able to see where you are going without looking back is nice.

[xcrmckenna]

The only modification I had to make on my tractor was weld four nuts to be able to mount the front post but the back post I made the adaptor to match the tractor set up. It used to have a yard plow on it before I stole it from work:)

Like@gsxrpilot I try to only pull it in straight lines or very wide turns. I pull it out by hand and line it up with the center line before I hook on to it.

I agree with@donmuncy I haven't been a fan of backing it up or pulling it from the front of the tractor because it makes very sharp corrections and the only time I had the guide for the over turn on the front gear pegged was doing it that way.

But it's great to make fuel runs or to the wash station, if we ever have summer for more than two days at a time. I'm the only one on the field with a tug and have gotten a few funny comments. I just tell them it's a Mooney thing and they wouldn't understand.....


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[Raptor05121]

I love that Cub Cadet!!! I want one so bad

[xcrmckenna]

I love that Cub Cadet!!! I want one so bad

How far you pull your plane to the pumps you are strong enough without one.....


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[yvesg]

Pourquoi sont-elles toutes nues?

[rainman]

If you can see my gallery, I have several photos detailing how my mower had trailer hitches placed front and back. Ray

[xcrmckenna]

If you can see my gallery, I have several photos detailing how my mower had trailer hitches placed front and back. Ray

Any chance I could get a better picture of the tow bar and how you have it connect to the landing gear? I'm thinking of ideas on upgrading my set up.


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[Stephen]

Thanks for the detailed photos guys!

[carusoam]

My aged Craftsman tractor has a pair of holes front and back to mount a tow ball hitch...

A tow bar with a ring on one end goes over the ball.

Remove the tractor's cowl look for the hole that is already there...

Best regards,

-a-

[Yetti]

Type this into google   craftsman lawn tractor bumper

Use the same mounting holes

For bonus points that Craftsman tractor looks alot like a MTD from walley world.   You could see if a MTD bumper would not fit.    Weld eye pad/ball mount to bumper,

done

[exM20K]

reviving an old topic.... I have a nice, extended towbar from Bogert, and it tugs the plane fine behind my MTD tractor.  However, for the life of me, I cannot figure out how to back the airplane with this rig.  Whichever way I turn the wheel or point the tractor, it wants to drive the nose gear through the stops.

Is there a technique I'm not getting, or is the only solution to mount a clevis receiver on the front of the tractor? I'm pretty good at backing a trailer , but the steerable nosegear messes that technique up.

thanks in advance

-dan

Edited April 22, 2018 by exM20K

[carusoam]

Dan,

See if this sounds familiar...

With my tractor...   a bit of weight on the nose allows it to better control things...

See if you can add about 20 Lbs to the front of the tractor.

 

Without the added weight the tractor tries to compress one way, the plane goes the other way...

Tractors aren’t well balanced machines.  They put most of the weight over the rear wheels including the pilot for best traction...

Unfortunately, there isn’t enough weight over the front wheels to control direction...

 

use caution... a combination of uphill, a hangar lip, and light front wheels can lead to the tractor trying to crash the tow bar into the plane...  short tow bars are more likely to allow for the tractor to crash the cowling...

 

use caution... the compression of the distance between plane and tug may cause the nose wheel to move quickly to the red line.  The tow bar or the nose gear is going to be at risk of bending...  hopefully the tow bar gives first....

Does this seem to ring a bell?

I have simplified the procedure to only back the plane straight in.  Coming out on a curve is perfectly easy.  Following the same arc in reverse wouldn’t work without weight...

PP thoughts only, not a tow operator...

Best regards,

-a-

[DonMuncy]

My experience is that hooking the tow bar to the rear of the mower works better than the front, for backing. Also a longer tow bar makes backing easier.

[Mooneymite]

Has anyone figured out how to build a tow rig which doesn't use aircraft nose wheel steering to turn?

Many FBO;s use a tug (mostly for jets) which secures the nose wheel onto a rotating plate.  The nose wheel stays straight regardless of which way the tug turns.

Because of the limited turning radius of the Mooney this system is ideal, but I have never seen A do-it-yourselfer duplicate this type of tow bar.

[ragedracer1977]

29 minutes ago, Mooneymite said:

Has anyone figured out how to build a tow rig which doesn't use aircraft nose wheel steering to turn?

Many FBO;s use a tug (mostly for jets) which secures the nose wheel onto a rotating plate.  The nose wheel stays straight regardless of which way the tug turns.

Because of the limited turning radius of the Mooney this system is ideal, but I have never seen A do-it-yourselfer duplicate this type of tow bar.

I can think of same ways to do it, but getting the wheel up onto the platform would be a challenge.  Maybe figure out a way to adapt this to a towbar?

I’m not sure how the wheels would hold up though.  

 

 

[DonMuncy]

11 minutes ago, Mooneymite said:

Has anyone figured out how to build a tow rig which doesn't use aircraft nose wheel steering to turn?

Many FBO;s use a tug (mostly for jets) which secures the nose wheel onto a rotating plate.  The nose wheel stays straight regardless of which way the tug turns.

Because of the limited turning radius of the Mooney this system is ideal, but I have never seen A do-it-yourselfer duplicate this type of tow bar.

Because the type of tug that doesn't use the Mooney nose gear, requires the nose gear to be lifted off the ground, the complexity and necessary weight of the unit would make it quite difficult. I'm sure with enough time and resources (parts and materials), I could design one, but I'm afraid the cost would be too prohibitive. 

[Mooneymite]

53 minutes ago, ragedracer1977 said:

I can think of same ways to do it, but getting the wheel up onto the platform would be a challenge.  Maybe figure out a way to adapt this to a towbar?

I’m not sure how the wheels would hold up though.  

 

 

 

Thanks.

Yes....except that the ones I've seen are for car sized wheels.  They won't  squeeze the nose tire because it's too small.

That would be a great adaptation if a towbar were attached....  except I sucked at backing 4 wheel hay wagons.  

[gsxrpilot]

I've used a four wheeler, a lawn tractor, and a pickup truck to tow my plane around. I found the longer the tow bar, the easier it is to steer the plane. Then two years ago helping JD & Laura move into Russel's old hangar, we came across one of these tugs. It wouldn't start and the tire was split open and falling off the wheel. After a bit of work, it's great running little tug and by far the easiest I've ever used to move the Mooney and steer it forwards or backwards.

[Igor_U]

22 hours ago, exM20K said:

reviving an old topic.... I have a nice, extended towbar from Bogert, and it tugs the plane fine behind my MTD tractor.  However, for the life of me, I cannot figure out how to back the airplane with this rig.  Whichever way I turn the wheel or point the tractor, it wants to drive the nose gear through the stops.

Is there a technique I'm not getting, or is the only solution to mount a clevis receiver on the front of the tractor? I'm pretty good at backing a trailer , but the steerable nosegear messes that technique up.

thanks in advance

-dan

Dan,

in my experience, it is very difficult to backup a tractor with steerable nose wheel of the plane. I have a similar setup as you describe (Troy-Bilt riding mower) and had to install the welded mount with hitch ball in front of the tractor to backup the plane into my hangar.  Please see the pictures.

 

Tow bar attachment detail:

 

FWD mount with hitch ball.

 

Aft view, showing towing hitch installed.

I use this setup mainly to push the plane into the hangar due to ramp being steep and it takes two person to roll it in. Tow bar is Ebay purchase and quite massive. It can be extended which should make steering easier but it takes more effort to attach it to the plane nose gear.

 

 

[MyNameIsNobody]

Caution runaway alliteration alert...