Hi Greg,
I made my jacks from Harbor Freight hydraulic cylinders with flat bottoms
and welded up stands around them. A lot of work and the cylinder hydraulics
don't hold up all that well. Also they are not as stable as the expensive
commercial ones. We were jacking up the plane outside for gear checks in
Redmond a couple years ago and light winds were really scary. I only use
inside the hangar since then and have modified them to make them a little
more stable. They are workable and now I'm pretty comfortable with them,
but investing in some good ones is not a bad alternative. The aircraft has
to go up so high and the jack points are close enough together that light
lateral forces will cause things to sway and wobble - makes me pucker
sometimes.
The episode in the photo was on concrete apron that was not at all flat -
that added to the instability and was not a good plan.
John Barrett
N31VP
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