I have a problem. My RV4 only fits in my hangar
 if I insert it straight in oriented at 45 degrees.
 Getting quart into a pint pot.

 Otherwise the wing span is too long to go straight
 in. Dollies under the wheels work but you must jack
 up the airplane some how to get it on the dollies.

 Then I discovered the wheel pants cover so much of
 the wheel that the dollies will not stay under the
 wheels when moving the plane around. It is real easy for
 them to kick out from under the wheels. The pants also
 make it near impossible to jack it up in the first place.

 I finally came to the conclusions I need a CC engine
 host to get the plane in and out quickly. Harbor
 Fright have them for relatively no real money.
 Just U.S. dollars :)

 Since it must be precisely done I put channel
 rails on the floor to guide the CC engine hoist.

 Next problem was how to find a hard point
 on top of the airplane for the CC engine hoist to grab
 when the cowl is on.

 It is too time consuming to take the top
 of the cowl off every time I move the plane in or
 out of the hanger.

 What I came up with is a bolted on block of
 aluminum to Tracy PSRU adapter plate that
 extends up to just inside the top cowl skin.
 Screwed into that block will be a forged tie
 down ring from the Vans catalog. It screws in and out
 through a small hole in the top cowl skin.  I'll keep it in
 the airplane when not needed.

 The picture shows just a 3/8" hole in the PSRU adapter
 plate with a swivel fitting and clevis right at the moment.
 No block yet.

 An unintended advantage is it is real easy to rock
 the wings up and down and throughly mix the two cycle oil
 with the fuel :)


 ---------------------------------------------

 It is a bear to get it in and out of the hangar by myself.
 There is a lot of load on the engine hoist casters so they
 don't move very easily. The taxi way slopes up to the hangar
 floor which is flat and horizontal. That means I have to push it
 slightly up hill. I am thinking of shimming those steel channel rails so
 they slope down instead of up. That way gravity will automatically
 insert the airplane in the hangar :)

 Paul Lamar

 I bought one of the cheapest power winches from harbor freight, and
 fixed it to
 the floor at the back of my hangar with anchor bolts, added a lnger
 extension to
 the pushbutton control so it would reach to about 10 feet in front of
the
 hangar. Powered it from the battery charger. Pulled the plane straight
 in over
 ice and snow.
 C. Smith


 I took C. Smith's advice and bought a cheap $40 12 volt DC winch from
HF.
 The 110 Volt AC models were well over $100.
 I'll power the winch with extra long jumper cables from the car. The
 car is
 always there and the battery is kept charged by driving it back and
 fourth
 to the hanger. Mounting the winch on the engine hoist solved the problem
 of making the remote control wires longer. The cable first goes around
 the pulley and then to the anchor in the hangar floor. It pulls it self
 into the hangar by it's own petard taking liberties with the
 definition :)

 I was impressed with the elegant design of the winch with just a one
 stage planetary gear box driving the drum directly.

 Paul Lamar



Hi  Paul,
                     Looking at your problem, could you not hang a rail
from the roof rafters, I see you have a shelf hanging on the wall from
some chains, a piece of channel with a roller in the inverted channel
hooked to a endless chain or a ratchet type lifter, then you could pull
or push from the tail knowing the aircraft was going to slide straight
back, or whatever angle you wish?8-)
            John Burey

A bridge crane would be nice but it would have to extend out into the
taxi
way. I am not cutting a large hole in the hangar door :) Also I doubt
those roof trusses would take 1000 pounds. No point in pulling the hangar
down :)


Paul Lamar


Hi   Paul, Pulling the hangar down would only create more work for you:-P .
       John Burey.

It is a condominium association so that would be a huge political
blunder as well :)

Paul Lamar