REFLECTOR: What height for jacks?

Jack Prock jackprock at wavecable.com
Sun Jan 15 21:20:29 CST 2012


Hi Reiff,

The XL-RG wing spar is approximately 39 inches off the ground at the wing root, and a little over
40 inches at the spar tip. 

I bought two inexpensive bottle jacks and built jack stands out of a 4x4 and some angled
pieces of 1 inch plywood. Total cost for two and the wood, about $75.  The bit of a pain,
is trying to attach the bottle jacks to the end of the 4x4. I used structural epoxy at first,
but this is a bit fragile and the bottle jack popped off when one of them fell over. I then
drilled two holes in the bottom of each and drove screws through them into the end
of the 4x4. The screws are not under much stress, since all the force is vertical. 

The travel height for the jacks depends a bit on what you are going to use them for. 
I think if you go with 8 inch jacks, you should be fine. 
I have two scenarios where I use them:

1)    When working on the gear, you don't want the whole fuselage sitting on jacks that
    may fall over, so I use (another builder gave me) two small saw horses that are made 
    out of wood. I put wheels on the bottom, so  they can be moved around. The other builder
    had created a saddle for the fuselage by building up some wood and then using some
    triax to form to the fuselage. These work great and I have a lot of confidence when working
    on the gear that I can be inside the fuselage working with the gear up, and the fuselage
    is not going to slip off jacks. ( I can send you pics if you want)

2) The second use, is to lift the fuselage off the gear legs and place them into furniture
    moving dollies. My garage is not huge, and using these dollies, I can move the fuselage
    and engine sideways to anyplace in the garage. 

Jack
XL-RG,  2000 hours and still counting!!
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Reiff Lorenz 
  To: reflector at tvbf.org 
  Sent: Sunday, January 15, 2012 9:46 AM
  Subject: REFLECTOR: What height for jacks?


   

  My recently-started kit is in Sebastian right now. I'm headed back there in a few weeks. In the meantime I'm looking for projects here at home.

   

  I've started buiding a set of jack stands from 4"x4" fence posts with bases made from ply-wood triangles. Since my plane isn't here, though, I don't know how tall to make the stands. 

   

  Can someone tell me: what's the vertical distance between the ground and the bottom of the main spar on an XL-RG. Also, how much travel (lifting distance) should the bottle jacks mounted on the stands provide?

   

  Any advice on the brand of bottle-jack and the best method of mounting them would also be appreciated.

   

  Thanks!

   

  Reiff Lorenz

  XL-RG, 15% done



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