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How to get plane into hangar up ramp slope

I can sure think of a number of things that could go wrong with doing that. I would never do that.

And in any event, it's expensive to do it that way with a tee hangar.

Dave
 
I can sure think of a number of things that could go wrong with doing that. I would never do that.

And in any event, it's expensive to do it that way with a tee hangar.

Dave

My hangar is 45' wide and 45' deep and my plane is just 24' wide and 21' long. I taxi in slow and don't even use the brakes, I just cut to idle and it stops. Anything that could go wrong could also go wrong when I'm taxiing it up to the hangar or to the fuel pump or to the FBO, so there's no additional danger doing this.
 
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Get a lightweight manual winch, less than $20; and a snatch block, less than $20; and a couple hundred feet of 550 cord, about $10. so, about $50 all in. Hook end of cord to tail tiedown ring, route cord through snatch block attached to back wall of hangar, then forward to the winch. Clamp winch onto tow bar near the handle, so you can guide with one hand while cranking winch with the other.
 
I sure got a lot of very good ideas in response to my original post. I seriously considered several of them, standing in my hangar and visualizing how they would work there. Ultimately, though, I took Jim T's advice, for the reasons he cited. [He said "Personally .......I'd spend the $1500 on a tug and get on with life. You have a lot invested in your RV12 and I don't imagine hangers come cheap in So Cal, so how big of a percentage of your overall investment would a nice tug be?"]

My hangar is 70 years old and wasn't very solidly constructed to begin with. Since then, earlier tenants have made modifications that seriously diminished the strength of the hangar. The hangar doesn't have walls or support beams strong enough to anchor a winch or a snatch block.

So I bought a tug from Minimax Aircraft Tug that came with a fork designed for an RV-12. Some assembly was required, but it didn't take long and was a fun project. The tug works perfectly to maneuver my plane into a cloverleaf-shaped hangar.

Then, as if to prove to me how feeble my hangar is, Santa Monica was hit with 35 to 40 kt winds last week, and the hangar doors got blown off their tracks, effectively locking my plane inside. The hangar door repairman came two days later with a crow bar, and he muscled the doors back on their tracks. But early this week, the airport was hit again with high winds that knocked the doors off their tracks a second time, again locking my plane inside. The repairman and his crow bar liberated my plane, and I used my new Minimax tug to move it to a tie-down spot, without having to start the engine -- something I could not have done with just a tow bar. The repairman is back at work today, doing some modifications that involve serious welding. So later today, or some time next week, I'll be able to put my plane back in the hangar, with the assistance of the tug.

Thanks to all of you who gave thought to my problem and took time to share your suggestions.
 
Santa Monica was hit with 35 to 40 kt winds last week, and the hangar doors got blown off their tracks, effectively locking my plane inside.

Hangers are not necessarily a safe haven. Hanger doors must run in an enclosed track so they don't come loose. New RV-12 with 2.0TT was destroyed in a sturdy metal hanger by microburst thunderstorm when doors unlatched from overhead track. Several planes wrecked...





 
Sam, on your Murray “Quad” Do you connect you towbar to the front for pushing or only on the rear hitch point?
 
Sam, on your Murray “Quad” Do you connect you towbar to the front for pushing or only on the rear hitch point?

Towbar for my RV-6 (taildragger) is connected to the front of the tug and the tug and plane backed into the hangar. I prefer this arrangement so I can easily watch the wingtips.
 
I just bought a 12V bumper winch from Harbor Freight. I intend to mount it o my hangar floor and run the cable out to my Cherokee tail tie down to bring it back up the slight slope. The other end of the hangar is flat and the RV is pretty light, so it’s not an issue there.
 
I’ve got an old Murray lawn tractor I want to use but it’s not obvious to me how a towbar could attach to the front of this one. Maybe I need a different tractor. Sam would you mind sharing a pic of your towbar mod and tractor attachment?
Thank you Sir.
 
I just bought a 12V bumper winch from Harbor Freight. I intend to mount it o my hangar floor and run the cable out to my Cherokee tail tie down to bring it back up the slight slope. The other end of the hangar is flat and the RV is pretty light, so it’s not an issue there.

Just a suggestion... you might want to mount the winch on the back wall of the hangar at an elevation of ~ 3'. This will prevent the tail of the plane from pulling downward and lifting the nose wheel making it difficult to steer with tow bar.
 
I’ve got an old Murray lawn tractor I want to use but it’s not obvious to me how a towbar could attach to the front of this one. Maybe I need a different tractor. Sam would you mind sharing a pic of your towbar mod and tractor attachment?
Thank you Sir.

Here is the simple mod to the handle of the towbar and the attachment to the tug. The front of the tractor was modified for the drawbar.
 

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The cable on the winch is long enough that even when fully in the hangar it should not have much of a vertical force component, but actually I think I won’t have to steer much because it should naturally stay straight when pulling inline with the center axis of the fuselage. My hangar is 40 X 80 with a door at both ends so don’t have the option of wall attachment.
 
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