Which tug to buy?

[Mcstealth]

My Brother-in-law has a new to him Cessna 170. Smooth flying plane that I am crap at landing correctly, so far (tail wheel endorsement). The damn thing is a pain in the butt to hand pull/push into the hangar. I want to get him the correct tug.

Advice would be appreciated. 

Thanks and Merry Christmas. 

David. 

Edited December 23, 2023 by Mcstealth

[Hank]

Most taildragger owners that I see stand just in front of the horizontal stab and push it where they want it to go. It would be an unusual tug to hook up to the tailwheel.

[LANCECASPER]

18 hours ago, Mcstealth said:

My Brother-in-law has a new to him Cessna 170. Smooth flying plane that I am crap at landing correctly, so far (tail wheel endorsement). The damn thing is a pain in the butt to hand pull/push into the hangar. I want to get him the correct tug.

Advice would be appreciated. 

Thanks and Merry Christmas. 

David. 

Be a good brother-in-law David, get him a Redline Sidewinder tug . . . . .  attached to an M20J 

And then offer to fly it to keep it "exercised" as long as he covers insurance, hangar, maintenance and all fuel

[GeeBee]

For most tailwheel single engine the Bogert tow bar is more than enough. You pull rather than push and providing your shoes have traction it is more than enough. If you want "wimp wheels" then BestTug has some options. You need to know what type tail wheel you are using, i.e. Scott 3200.

 

[PeteMc]

I've been looking at powered towbars and I've seen some power towbar/mini tugs that you place the tail wheel on and move the plane around.  Regretfully I couldn't find it again on a quick search, but they are out there.  

When I run across it again I'll post the info (if someone else hasn't already or you find it yourself).

 

[PeteMc]

Neither of these are the one I originally saw, but they are out there.

In the big green bar on the Powertow site you'll see Hookups and that's where the Tailwheel mounts are.  https://www.powertow.com/ThunderVolt-12-Volt-DC-Aircraft-Tug-_p_17.html

There's also the Best Tug Alpha, but you'd need to reach out to them to figure out the connection,  https://www.besttugs.com/alpha

[Mcstealth]

On 12/24/2023 at 11:45 AM, GeeBee said:

You need to know what type tail wheel you are using, i.e. Scott 3200.

 

This is the size of the wheel?

[A64Pilot]

15 hours ago, Mcstealth said:

This is the size of the wheel?

It’s actually who made it, it’s the most common tailwheel out there.

Scott years ago sold it to Alaska Bushwheels, so now the parts you buy etc are for an AK Bushwheels 3200, parts are identical, but I think they paint theirs gold.

Trivia but Maule invented the steerable tailwheel, before his they didn’t steer.

BAS I think makes handles that go into the tail boom for ground handling, Maule has a bar that attaches to the spring so you can pull it around and someone else makes one with two little wheels you put the tailwheel tire onto.

https://basinc-aeromod.com/tail_pull_handles.php

Bigger heavier aircraft like a Steerman, T6 and crop dusters are towed by a big V shaped probably 15 ft long tow bar that attaches to the mains.

But 99% of us do what Hank said, I had the Maule tow bar but rarely used it just did as Hank said, if your having trouble with the 170 your doing it wrong. My Maule with an IO-540 was much heavier than a 170.

To push forward you push the door post and pull on the strut if needed to keep it straight. I push the rudder on my 140 as I can steer a little that way. Ideally you push a tailwheel backward though.

I have more conventional gear time than a nose dragger, I prefer them myself, anybody can land a nose dragger

[GeeBee]

On 12/26/2023 at 12:43 AM, Mcstealth said:

This is the size of the wheel?

As AH64 said, it is the make and model of the tailwheel unit. They look simple but they are actually quite robust and complex units mounted in a carefully engineered position. Things like caster angle etc. come into play. Tailwheel engineering could fill volumes.