towbar

[Planegary]

thinking of making the turntable pivot and act as its own ramp that would go level as the tire went over the axle and then pin the turntable to the bar. Will have to remove the long bar and remake it. will have to look at the angle and see what looks like it would work best

[skykrawler]

Somebody said it..... the leading edge of turn table needs to be over the axle.  And maybe tilted away so when the wheel rolls in it is slightly over center until what ever will retain the wheel in place.  The bar will need enough lever arm to make lifting the nose doable.

[DonMuncy]

Congratulations. That is a very innovative and impressive. Do you plan on making your plans and parts list available to others. Are you planning on marketing it.

[Planegary]

[Planegary]

Don’t know why my video won’t work but it showed going around a 90 degree turn and the nose wheel didn’t move. All I have to do now is add a boat winch to the front to pull it onto the turntable. The wheel will turn on the turntable with 1 finger when using the hand towbar to show how easy it turns

[Planegary]

Am not planning on marketing it will be happy to give out parts list /building info to whoever wants it

[jetdriven]

On 11/9/2019 at 11:53 PM, RLCarter said:

Not sure how it would work but could you use a coil spring in the handle something like this? The spring would just bend is turned too tight

Just use a section of 2.5” PVC pipe. 

[Hank]

1 minute ago, Planegary said:

Don’t know why my video won’t work . . . 

Mooneyspace doesn't host video. You need to post it online somewhere, then paste in a link (youtube, vimeo, etc.).

[carusoam]

Video is working now...

Snazzy set-up!

Any challenges getting the nose wheel up the ramp?

Best regards,

-a-

[Planegary]

Yes there was challenges. Had to build a ramp and put a pin out front that slides into a pipe welded to the bottom rigid part of the turntable. This prevented the ramp and turntable from bucking up  that ruined the first bearing. After that it went smoothly. If you look closely at the pic you can see the pin coming out of the ramp

[DonMuncy]

I would like a copy of your parts list and any other specs. 

[Planegary]

Ok I will sit down in the morning and post it here. Let me know what you think about it

 

[DonMuncy]

2 minutes ago, Planegary said:

Ok I will sit down in the morning and post it here. Let me know what you think about it

 

I'm already impressed. 

[Yetti]

49 minutes ago, Planegary said:

Yes there was challenges. Had to build a ramp and put a pin out front that slides into a pipe welded to the bottom rigid part of the turntable. This prevented the ramp and turntable from bucking up  that ruined the first bearing. After that it went smoothly. If you look closely at the pic you can see the pin coming out of the ramp

Why not make a metal ramp on a hinge that folds up to hold the tire on.   Use a hitch pin to hold the ramp up.   The other thing to do is a drop axle design to lower the whole thing so you don't have to go as far up on the turntable.

 

[Planegary]

I tried a metal ramp. Felt it needed to be longer than I wanted for the fold up design. It is a drop axle design already

[Yetti]

so it is.   I have seen several that use a trucker's winch strap to pull the plane on the turntable.   might be easier than a winch.

[Planegary]

ok all here is my thoughts and parts list to make the towbar and please remember much of the metal used was scrap i had lying around

2   12 1/2 metal plates for the turntable 1/8 in thick

1  1000lb capacity bearing   search ebay for 1000 lb lazy susan susan bearing (i bought the cheap one)

2  solid rubber wheels from Lowes,  $34 each but had to have tires that could carry heavy loads

5/8 solid round stock axle material

1 in heavy wall square tubing ( length determined by how long you want the tongue) I used 5 feet

about 3 feet of 1/8 in  by 4 in strip steel for the cage for the tire

1 inch pipe  4 inches long

various small bolts and cotters i had lying around

additional 1/8 by 2 inch wide strip steel i used as a doubler on the bottom of the turntable and for the attach point to the tug

i drilled the bottom plate of the turntable to mount the bearing along with an access hole to bolt the top of the turntable on

i drilled the top of the turntable to mount the bearing and then welded the 4 in ribbon steel to the top turntable after bending it to cage the tire . dont forget to leave extra for the back plate to go in to secure the tire from rolling back out.  i did this by cutting an angular slot on both sides of the cage for the lock to drop into

i then welded the doubler of 2 in wide metal forming an X over the center of the bottom piece of the turntable ( this was done for added strength and to help spread the load when loading or unloading the plane

i then took the 5/8 round stock and put 2 inch drops  so the turntable wouldnt sit so high and i drilled holes thru the stock on each end for the cotters to insert to hold the wheels

i then welded the axle on the  2 in metal doubler part of the bottom of the turntable being sure to keep it on the center of the turntable

according to the tire size and how much drop toy put in your axle build the towbar part of the assembly using the 1 in square tubing so that when the towbar is hooked to your tug the turntable will sit flat

weld the square tubing part to the other side of the X on bottom of the turntable being sure it is perpendicular to the axle

weld the 1 in piece of tubing to the turntable opposite the towbar side of the X ( this will be where the ramp pin slides in so make it extend about 1/8 in past turntable so the ramp wont bind the turntable...this could wreck the bearing)

using a piece of scrap make 2 pieces if metal to weld to the other end of the towbar to recieve the towpin

using wood or other material make a ramp to whatever the turntable height you wind up with and mount the pin ( made from leftover axle material) on the ramp so that it slides in and out easily when the turntable is loaded

i am gonna add a winch mount on the front of the towbar to attacha boat winch but that is because my tug has no structure to pull from for loading.  your needs may vary

hopefully this is as clear as muddy water but maybe you can decipher from the photos earlier in the post what i was doing. if anybody need any clarification or addnl photos i will be happy to help

 

[DonMuncy]

Thanks

[KB4]

Here is a link for an open source code for a tug controlled by iphone.   His lazy Susan looks great.  Looks like this unit can be manual and 86 the electronics if just looking for a lazy susan tow bar. I think @DonMuncy elves could fab this and give us all the plans and build list. No plans but does have lot of pics and videos of different iterations.  

 

http://anthonydipilato.com/2018/06/08/aircraft-tug/