Lifting a SC?

CptKelly · Nov 9, 2005

Guys,
What is the best and easiest way to lift up a SC when installing Atlee safety cables? There is a steel plate that bolts to the cabane V through both bolts, so both sides have to be off the ground. I don't have a A-frame, and I hate to make one up just for a single use.

Mike

behindpropellers · Nov 9, 2005

NOT by the engine lifting ring!

You can sling straps around the engine mount by the firewall. Turn your prop horizontal in case you drop it.

Float lifting rings are nice but another project in itself.

Scruffdog · Nov 9, 2005

Lift rings on the leading edge of the cockpit above the windshield.

Alex Clark · Nov 9, 2005

Remove the wing root fairings. Run tow straps around the main wing spars. It works pretty good. Just make sure the whatever hoist you are using has a metal bar to keep the straps seperated.

I use a chain hoist hooked to a beam in a local hanger.

I have seen one guy borrow a front end loader and use extended forks to lift a cub.

I once jacked up my old J-5 with a couple of 2x8 pieces covered with lots of carpet (behind the gear along the bottom) and some saw horses.

I ran it up on some planks, and then used the boards and a handy-man jack to move it up another couple inches. Then we blocked her up and pulled the gear. It was kinda tippy and you REALLY have to make sure that you have her tail up on something that you can tie off or secure.

I still goofed up the fabric doing that. And I would not do it on a nice plane.

Dano Bardwell · Nov 9, 2005

lifting cub

hey guys Atlee makes lifting tabs that go on the wing root/wing spar, about 100 bucks , easy to install & use & makes lifting very SAFE!

mvivion · Nov 9, 2005

CRITICAL!!!! If you lift by the wing spar attach points, and that's my vote, ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY do what Alex suggested, which is use a spreader bar between the two lifting points, to prevent the top deck from being crushed.

I once watched a brand new Super Cub on floats being lifted onto the aft deck of a herring boat, and they didn't know what they were doing. pulled the top deck together nicely, LOTS of dihedral after that little escapade.

USE A SPREADER BAR ANY TIME YOU LIFT ONE OF THESE AIRPLANES.

MTV

K.S. · Nov 9, 2005

Get a pair of the Atlee lift tabs. They work great and when you over do it testing your new safety cables the helicopter crew will appreciate your forsightedness.

CptKelly · Nov 10, 2005

Guys.....

Guys,
I only need to lift this thing ONCE, I don't own any floats or skis, so repetitive lifting isn't necessary. Making a modification to lift rings seems like serious overkill, and my available time is certainly a factor too.
I have had suggestions to lift by the prop, engine mount, engine lift ring, wing struts, or jack using the cabane V. Maybe the struts make the best sense, but if something happens, a lot of damage could occur.
More comments are solicited.

Mike

Steve Pierce · Nov 10, 2005

I lift by the prop with a weight on one wing tie down or by the engine mount with a strap. Never by the engine lift ring.

behindpropellers · Nov 10, 2005

Re: Guys.....

CptKelly said:
Guys,
I only need to lift this thing ONCE, I don't own any floats or skis, so repetitive lifting isn't necessary. Making a modification to lift rings seems like serious overkill, and my available time is certainly a factor too.
I have had suggestions to lift by the prop, engine mount, engine lift ring,

Mike

DO NOT LIFT BY THE ENGINE LIFT RING UNLESS YOU WANT TO BUY A NEW CASE!

6 short · Nov 10, 2005

If it were my aircraft there would be no question about the spreader bar. If you have two pickup points on the aircraft and a single lift point on the lifting device the loads on a sling, choker, rope or angled lifting device go up quickly. Example: for a 1000 lb load.

Angle from verticle Load on each leg of sling
0 deg 500 lbs
30 deg 577 lbs
45 deg 707 lbs
60 deg 1000 lbs

Mike has already discribed the potential results.

Pat

Aviator · Nov 10, 2005

Mike, I think you're looking for ideas to jack her up, rather than lift from above. Honestly, I don't know of a single or double jack point strong enough to take the full weight off the gear that is safe for jacking operations.

AkPA/18 · Nov 10, 2005

Mike

Can't you install the plate one side at a time? If so--would a wing jack work?
Please disregard if I am way off base.

Mark

mvivion · Nov 10, 2005

Again, the simplest, quickest and safest way to lift a Cub is to open up the top side of the wing root fairings.

You can quickly cut and swage a couple of small loops of heavy cable around the forward wing attach points. These are now your "lift rings".

Now, just use some sort of strong spreader bar to distribute the loads, and lift with a forklift, an A frame, or a crane.

It's not rocket science, but there are LOTS of ways to bend and/or break things.

Bottom line: It will require some effort on your part to do it safely. Might as well get on with it.

MTV

jk · Nov 10, 2005

Gordon Misch · Nov 10, 2005

6 short, I get different results for the static equilibrium of a sling:

Let: W = the total weight lifted
C = the compression load resisted by the cross-member
A = the angle from the vertical for each leg of the sling (1/2 of the included angle between the two legs)
T = the tension in each leg of the sling

The geometry of the force vectors is the same as the geometry of the physical apparatus, so

C/(W/2) = tan A

and C = (W tan A)/2.

Also, (W/2)/T = cos A

and T = W/2/cos A.

The formulas use W/2 instead of W, because each part of the sling carries 1/2 the weight of the aircraft.

Angle = angle from vertical of each leg of sling, degrees.
Weight lifted = 1000 lb

Angle Compression in cross member Tension in each leg of sling
0 0 500
10 88 508
20 182 532
30 289 577
40 420 653
50 596 778
60 866 1000
70 1374 1462
80 2836 2879

If the length of each leg of the sling is double the distance between pick points, the angle is 14.5 deg, and the compression is 129 lb.

Sorry, the numbers didn't align properly when posted. Please use a little imagination to align each column of numbers with the headers above. For example at 30 degrees, C = 289 lb and T = 577 lb. Now - - I hope I did this edit process right!!!!

Dano Bardwell · Nov 10, 2005

lifting a cub

WHAT THE #@!*???????????

Man now thats some serious math ! Hey Capt Kelly if your time is to valuable to do a sanitary job the first time, how much quality time are you willing to spend on your Cub fixing it after that fine bush engineering snaps or fails when your baby is in a compromising position! any job worth doing ........just my opinion,

texmex · Nov 23, 2011

Thought I'd resurrect this old thread as it has some great info.

Get a pair of the Atlee lift tabs

Does anyone have a picture of these installed. I was looking today and thought I'd have to cut a portion out of the windshield or upper perspex. Do the spar attach bolts take much getting out and then in? I assume you then put in longer bolts for the lift tabs.

I lifted the aircraft by the engine ring today but then decided it wasn't really such a good idea. I won't do that again after reading above.
If anyone has some advice on installing the Atlee rings that would be great.

Texmex.

aktango58 · Nov 23, 2011

Only the aluminum piece on the top and front need notched. No plexi needs touched.

Can not remember longer bolt needed, but directions with them tell you. Not a big deal to install, and bolts should slide out easily...

I have used a 2x4 notched on each end as a spreader bar, worked just fine.

cruiser · Nov 23, 2011

The tabs go one bolt out from the the attach bolt so there is no strain or tension to deal with. Hardest part of the job is determining where to cut the slot in the fairing and I did that using a piece of paper for a pattern. Longer bolt not needed, remove the washer and install the tab. Maybe a new nut if your fussy. Whole job took maybe a short 3 hours including silicone. Jim

cruiser · Nov 23, 2011

While looking on CubCrafters site I noticed that they state their lifting rings go under the wing attach bolt, Atlee's go one bolt out. They are different size bolts, -5 vs a -6, Atlee's has a -6 hole. Jim

Rob Murray · Nov 23, 2011

Cubs used as seaplanes have lifting rings, which surround the front spar attachment point. In my opinion they should be on all Cubs. But as Mike and others have pointed out it is important to also use a spreader bar to keep the lift vertical, with no inboard squeezing. If you get all the crap out of the luggage area the plane will just about balance, but to be on the safe side chock or put something under the tail wheel. If you wade through the photos I've posted there is (or was) a shot of the lifting rings on my Cub.

irishfield · Nov 23, 2011

If you use two block and tackles there is zero chance of any compression load on the cabin carrythru's !

How I've been doing them for 16 years... Murphy's rectangular tube carrythru is perfect for this method. Round steel tube aircraft I just pad the sling cable and use it with bolt in the hook.

Bill Ingerson · Nov 23, 2011

I put the Atlee dodge lifting tabs on myself, came with longer bolts and nuts with flat washers. There cheap and you may need them for lifting the plane out of the brush someday so you could load it on a trailer. It only takes a couple hours to put them in. The Cub Crafters lifting rings look better, check with them as well. Now I need something to hang it from in my hanger so I can recover my landing gear.
We lifted it up last year by using a strap around the engine mount, That was safe but took a couple of try's to get the plane to hang straight.

Iflylower · Nov 23, 2011

Atlee lifting eyes installed

Dan Gervae · Nov 23, 2011

Slings around the engine mount near firewall and lift with an engine hoist

Scooter7779h · Nov 23, 2011

Wing jack. Made out of a chevy bumper jack with a piece of pipe welded that is the right length where the lifting pad was. I think Atlee built mine. RIP. Easy to lift up one side at a time. You can switch out gear bolts, remove hydrasorb or AOSS, do safety cables or whatever. If putting the safety cables on for the first time (never done that mine have been on for 40 years), you would have to swing the metal tab down once one bolt is in to remove the other bolt when you jack up the other side.

Having a wing jack is an indispensable tool to have for working on wheels, brakes, gear, skis or whatever. Or even jacking a plane up out of the overflow!

BTW, I have Atlee's lifting rings too, Mike MCS Skup put them on at rebuild. Need those with floats. As stated, always use a solid cross bar when lifting plane by the lift tabs.

Steve Pierce · Nov 23, 2011

Like this.

mike mcs repair · Nov 23, 2011

Steve Pierce said:
Like this.
View attachment 4273 View attachment 4274

atlee's has something like that sitting by counter for sale too....

ALWAYS make sure pins are CLEAN, free moving and OILED LIGHTLY whenever using this style handyman jack... or it may slip all the way down....

Steve Pierce · Nov 23, 2011

This is an Atlee jack I saw at Dan's.

Lifting a SC?

NC

Registered User

NE Ohio

Registered User

WOODLAND, CA

Registered User

Life Long Alaskan

Registered User

big lake Alaska

Bozeman,MT

Registered User

Anchorage, AK

NC

Graham, TX

Registered User

NE Ohio

Registered User

Rantoul, IL

Registered User

Canada (Legally)

MEMBER

Big Lake Ak

Bozeman,MT

Registered User

over there

Toledo, Wa (KTDO)

Registered User

big lake Alaska

Hanging Rock, Australia.

18AA

Registered User

South Glens Falls, NY

Registered User

South Glens Falls, NY

Registered User

Unionville, PA & Pointe au Baril, ON

Registered User

Penetanguishene, Ontario Canada

Attachments

Registered User

Snohomish Washington

Registered User

Memphis, TN

Attachments

Upper Peninsula of Michigan

Attachments

Anchorage, Alaska

Graham, TX

Attachments

Registered User

chugiak AK

Graham, TX

Attachments

Similar threads