lml@lancaironline.net Mailing List Archive

John, The nose pan sounds like a good idea. Another advantage, I would have a mower to mow the grass around the hanger. Let us know if you come up with an idea.

Larry Eversmeyer
Legacy RG still building

From:	"John Barrett" <jbarrett@carbinge.com>
To:	lml@lancaironline.net
Date:	09/06/2011 09:48 AM
Subject:	[LML] Re: Dragger for 4P
Sent by:	"Lancair Mailing List" <lml@lancaironline.net>

Sounds good in theory Hamid. I have tried it with an old Craftsman riding lawnmower. Have put a towing ball on the front and on the rear of the lawnmower. On the plus side, it's great to avoid the feet slipping on concrete and struggling to push the plane into the hangar. In practice, there is a HUGE drawback in that steering the tractor needs to have the nose wheel of the aircraft off the ground in order to work. The very short coupling of the turning response on the tractor combined with same on the airplane makes controlling the path the airplane makes difficult. I find that if I first pull the airplane forward with the tractor in reverse until I have a perfectly straight path centered into the hangar, I can get the plane in to the hangar with one pass maybe half the time. It's really easy to get the nose wheel turned beyond limits. On my Beechcraft Sierra it's lucky that a rod end bearing is the weak link. I broke two of those before I figured out it was going beyond the limits when trying to control the direction and the geometry. I think if you could figure out a way to build a nose wheel pan on the front of your tractor and winch the nose wheel off the ground into that pan, then the system would work well. Have been thinking about that and maybe will build one. John Barrett -----Original Message----- From: Lancair Mailing List [mailto:lml@lancaironline.net] On Behalf Of Hamid Wasti Sent: Monday, September 05, 2011 8:43 PM To: lml@lancaironline.net Subject: [LML] Re: Dragger for 4P DISCLAIMER: This is just an idea, I have NOT personally tried this. Most of the products like Dragger/Aero-Tow etc run for over $1K, some close to $2K. Yesterday at Sears I saw customer-return/refurbished "Lawn Tractors" for under $700 and new ones for about $900. Other sources likely have similar prices. You can buy one of these, remove the mower deck and do a little engineering to attach a tow bar and now you have a tug with a 15+ HP engine and electric start. You may be able to recoup some of your initial cost by selling the removed mower deck on eBay or Craig's List. Regards, Hamid Ronald STEVENS wrote: > I am using the Aero-Tow. I bought it for my old cirrus, but I could adapt it for the 4p. It is 5 year old and still works perfectly. > > It works really great and would recommend this. > > == Ronald > > On Sep 4, 2011, at 8:18 PM, Bob Rickard wrote: > > >> Fellas, >> >> I have the new dragger from Dragger.com and I don't like it. Do you guys like anything else for a 4P? >> >> Bob R. >> >> >> -- >> For archives and unsubhttp://mail.lancaironline.net:81/lists/lml/List.html>> > > > > -- > For archives and unsubhttp://mail.lancaironline.net:81/lists/lml/List.html> > > -- For archives and unsubhttp://mail.lancaironline.net:81/lists/lml/List.html----- No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG -www.avg.comVersion: 10.0.1392 / Virus Database: 1520/3879 - Release Date: 09/05/11 -- For archives and unsubhttp://mail.lancaironline.net:81/lists/lml/List.html