Electric aircraft towbars

[Southern Cross]

I am looking for a battery powered towbar to assist me to move a tailwheel aeroplane in and out of the hangar. Does anyone have any experience with the AER008 Aero-Pac APT4000? Any other suggestions for suitable products? Max weight of the aircraft is 2100kg. Located in England and I'd prefer a locally supported unit, which probably rules out the Aerotow 'Lil Sherman I have seen and liked.

Thanks in advance for any input.

[englishal]

We made one out of an electric caravan mover - Mr Shifta. Worked well and pretty cheap too.

[IO540]

This is not a helpful post but I looked at this several years ago.

All the units I recall were made in the USA. I preferred an electric one but none of the US firms would ship it without the (car) battery, which was silly and just made it very expensive on the shipping.

This one and this one were recommended by some TB20 owners in the USA, FWIW. No idea of availability over here.

[Zsolt Szabo]

Try this link SchleppMAXXE 1.0
I have been using for three years, works perfect, I would recommend the turf tires, if You operate on grass field.
I hope, this help

[Cusco]

When researching an electric mover for our Arrow a few years ago I actually telephoned a number of US companies but not one of them would give me an assurance that they would work on damp/wet grass, the main reason for our needing one.

They all cost approx £1500-2000 on average not including shipping

We eventually bought a second hand 36 volt battery powered 4 wheel two seat golf buggy for £600 in the UK which does the job admirably and is still going strong.

(We do have mains leccy in the hangar which of course is a pre-requisite.)

?worth googling or contacting your local golf clubs................

[Oldpilot55]

If you are pulling the plane into the same location each time a fixed winch could do the job, too. You do say there is electricle in the hangar.

[dont overfil]

We got ours from Red Box. £1150 plus VAT.
Depending on ac next size down may do.
UK supplier.
D.O.

[Dawdler]

You might be able to make something out of this.
Mr Shifta 3 Caravan Mover | eBay

[IO540]

The other bizzare thing I remember when I was looking into this is that the electric models were not variable speed. Only the petrol ones were. Hard to believe...

Something to check, anyway.

[Cusco]

If you're thinking caravan mover you've got also to consider a tow bar with a spring damper in push and pull directions with a 50mm/2 inch ball clamp at mover end.

It needs this as sudden jolts in a high powered but not variable speed mover risk damaging nose leg and if not approved for the job your insurance company might have a view...............

EDIT: Ooops: just spotted OP wants to shift a taildragger so noseleg caveat above doesn't apply..............

[austerwobbler]

Auster tug

I made my own tug out of a 10 hp ride on mower ! I made a draw bar with a jockey wheel to take some of the weight off the rear of the mower and a cup that opens in to to take the tail wheel of my Auster j5g with a ratchet strap to lock closed. Pulls and pushes the plane no problem and also comes in hand for cutting the grass round the doors of the hangar :-)

[englishal]

Ours was a Mr Shifta 3. We welded a tow hitch to one end of a bar and made a tow bar end for the other end. Worked really well with no risk of damaging nose gear (has two speeds - really slow and walking pace). If I recall correctly it cost us about £300-400 all in.

We recently flogged it on eBay as we sold the aeroplane.

[lotusexige]

Many years ago our CFI gave us his thought on this. If it is a case of just getting the plane in and out of its own hangar arrange tha hangar floor to have a slight slope so that the plane will roll out. No need to even thing about a concrete floor, just three rows of paving slabs to suit the undercarriage of the aircraft. Then have a winch at the back of the hangar to pull the aircraft in and it just rolls out. He was talking in terms on a hand operated winch.

[Cusco]

I should imagine winching a tricycle u/c aeroplane backwards by its tail skid carries some risk of stressing the airframe if the direction of pull is anything but directly along the long axis of the fuselage.

This presumably would be less of a problem in a taildragger.

[Southern Cross]

Electric towbars

Thanks for all the advice. The aeroplane has a tailwheel that only castors through 180 degrees not 360 - unusual I know, but those Russians had method in their madness, its just that it wasn't always discernable to all...

And so a winching arrangement wouldn't work as the tailwheel needs to be positively guided when reversing. And the aeroplane will invariably go into a different slot in the hangar every day...

Given its weight, without a towing device, its a 2 / 3 man job to handle the aeroplane and I am rather hoping to be able to fly when the hangar is not otherwise manned - ie most weekends...

For those interested, the Aerotow 'Lil Sherman from the US is a fabulous piece of kit, with variable speeds and big grooved tyres, so it is able to convert torque into traction. But by the time its shipped here, its not that cheap any more. I will follow up on some of the other suggestions. There is a large electric forklift in the hangar, but I forsee eventually putting a fork through a control surface, so I want something a little less potentially damaging....