Need powertow (or similar) for Mooney

[Parker_Woodruff]

Good news is I now have a hangar at Sun 'n Fun.

The bad news is it's an uphill push and literally impossible for me to move the airplane on my own on the slick surface & incline. Now I see why just about every airplane in this hangar has one of these tugs sitting next to it.

If you or anyone you know is anyone trying to get rid of one, let me know.

Also, if anyone has experience with one of these, I'd be interested to hear a review.

http://www.minimaxtugs.com/Mooney_Tug_p/010mooney.htm

[Piloto]

I had the same problem specially when full of fuel. I bought the Robotow and I am happy with it. Check it at

http://www.robotow.com/ I added 3" wheels to it instead of hand carrying it.

José

[Parker_Woodruff]

Any experience with one of these? A lot more affordable...and one guy next door has one for his C182.

http://www.minimaxtugs.com/Mooney_Tug_p/010mooney.htm

[flyboy0681]

I had the same problem specially when full of fuel. I bought the Robotow and I am happy with it. Check it at

http://www.robotow.com/ I added 3" wheels to it instead of hand carrying it.

José

It must be a Florida thing. I have one and so does Fantom.

[fantom]

<<If you or anyone you know is anyone trying to get rid of one>>

There's a reason you rarely here about "someone trying to get rid of one"

If you can't locate a good used one locally, you yourself a favor and set the strongest power tow available, not the cheapest.

[fantom]

<<If you or anyone you know is anyone trying to get rid of one>>

There's a reason you rarely here about "someone trying to get rid of one"

If you can't locate a good used one locally, you yourself a favor and get the strongest power tow available, not the cheapest.

[FloridaMan]

Looks like it'd be way cheaper to make your own. The front wheel of the Mooney with the tow bar hole actually seems like it'd make it real easy to fabricate something.

If you want, we could make a quick project out of it. There's no sense in tugs costing so much.

[Hank]

Someone posted here a year or so ago about buying an old riding mower, removing the deck and welding attachments front and rear to hook to the nose gear like a regular tow bar. Old riding mowers are cheap, all you need are four wheels, a seat and a functioning engine [even one with an obvious power loss will still push your plane!].

[FloridaMan]

I was thinking some steel pipe fittings you could thread together, rig up an old airplane tire, a DC motor and a battery -- sort of like the tow bar that comes with the Mooney, but with a wheel on it that you can use to lift the plane's front tire off the ground and a DC motor with some sort of drive to the wheel. www.mcmaster.com has the parts for anything you could dream up to transmit power and motion. If you wanted to get creative, you could probably take a set of bicycle sprockets and crank and make a real WTF contraption to walk the thing in with.

[Parker_Woodruff]

I was thinking some steel pipe fittings you could thread together, rig up an old airplane tire, a DC motor and a battery -- sort of like the tow bar that comes with the Mooney, but with a wheel on it that you can use to lift the plane's front tire off the ground and a DC motor with some sort of drive to the wheel. www.mcmaster.com has the parts for anything you could dream up to transmit power and motion. If you wanted to get creative, you could probably take a set of bicycle sprockets and crank and make a real WTF contraption to walk the thing in with.

I like your thinking. In the absence time to work on projects right now, I ended up ordering a Robotow. In some spare time (and next year's budget allowing) I might try to acquire an old ATV or something and rig something up.

[Hank]

Old ATV's are $1000+; new riding mowers can be had for $500, old ones for ~$100 if you aren't picky, and they'll fit into the hangar better, too.

[DonMuncy]

If any of you are interested, the plans for the tow I designed and built are available to anyone who wants them. You can see mine on my gallery.

[BigTex]

Hi Don, that's a really nice tug. If you plans available, I love to have a copy. My email is frang_tx@yahoo.com if you want to email me how I can obtain a copy.

Thanks,

Gary

[rainman]

I had an old riding mower and removed the citing deck and my buddy welded on trailer hitches front and back. It cost about $120 total and works great. The pictures are in my gallery. Rainman

[ToddDPT]

Don,

I would love a set of plans as well. You can email me at todd@pro-pt.net

[DaV8or]

I always plug the Redline Sidewinder. It's light, folds up and you can take it with you. Downside is, it's really expensive.

[Hector]

This is what I use since my hanger is also slightly up hill and is hard to push my plane into place. I bolted a $99 electric hoist (see picture) to the back of the T-hanger and extended the length of the switch with an extension cord. Now I just hook the hoist to the tail ring and use the tow bar only to steer. Tow bar on left hand and switch on right hand and I ease her back into place as easy as pie.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[AcclaimML]

anybody know which is lighter the robotow or the sidewinder? I know the sidewinder is suposed to be about 20lbs but the website doesn't mention weight.

[DaV8or]

anybody know which is lighter the robotow or the sidewinder? I know the sidewinder is suposed to be about 20lbs but the website doesn't mention weight.

The Sidewinder is lighter. It's about 21 pounds with battery and it's more compact. Big downside is it's significantly more expensive. At the time I bought mine, my bad back was really acting up, so I looked for the lightest one possible and paid whatever it was going to take to get the plane in the hangar and even move it around on the road. It really is nice, but I get why not too man people have them.

[duke]

just waiting for my sidewinder to arrive. Chose it over robotow because sidewinder claims it will move plane 400 yards vs robotow 400 ft. It

also has li ion battery vs sealed lead acid.

[Parker_Woodruff]

I ended up finding a pre-owned PowerTow 40EZ and buying the Mooney adapter from the manufacturer.

So far, so good.

[DaV8or]

just waiting for my sidewinder to arrive. Chose it over robotow because sidewinder claims it will move plane 400 yards vs robotow 400 ft. It

also has li ion battery vs sealed lead acid.

You will really like it. I can't say I've empirically tested it, but I would guess it will go 1200ft on a charge.