removing floats and fitting wheels.

Any tips re removing straight floats on PA-18 /108 and fitting wheels would be appreciated.Have never done this before.We are landing the cub on turf (home strip) ,removing straight floats and fitting the gear back on for summer.Thanks guys.

How are you moving the plane on floats off the grass runway to where you're going to lift the plane? How are you lifting the plane?

- use a spreader bar if you're lifting from the wing roots.
- get all your tools and parts assembled before you start. While the plane is hanging isn't the time to be looking for the correct bolts.
- consider new bolts for all the parts in the wheel gear.
- have all your wheel bearings greased before you start.
- have several large punches and "bullets" to help line up fittings.
- attach the tail wheel before lifting or removing the floats.
- depending on how you lift the plane, give some thought on how it's going to balance. You may need to remove/add weight from baggage area or add some up front.
- tie a rope to wing tie down rings or tail so you can control the plane if it wants to swing around.
- move prop to horizontal.

I'm sure others can add to this.

Do do you fly skis in NZ? If so and you attach front ski cable to front gear fitting, use a longer bolt and have threads/washers/nut facing forward. Add additional washer/spacers.

Jim

55-PA18A said:

How are you moving the plane on floats off the grass runway to where you're going to lift the plane? How are you lifting the plane?

- use a spreader bar if you're lifting from the wing roots.
- get all your tools and parts assembled before you start. While the plane is hanging isn't the time to be looking for the correct bolts.
- consider new bolts for all the parts in the wheel gear.
- have all your wheel bearings greased before you start.
- have several large punches and "bullets" to help line up fittings.
- attach the tail wheel before lifting or removing the floats.
- depending on how you lift the plane, give some thought on how it's going to balance. You may need to remove/add weight from baggage area or add some up front.
- tie a rope to wing tie down rings or tail so you can control the plane if it wants to swing around.
- move prop to horizontal.

I'm sure others can add to this.

Do do you fly skis in NZ? If so and you attach front ski cable to front gear fitting, use a longer bolt and have threads/washers/nut facing forward. Add additional washer/spacers.

Jim

Click to expand...

Thanks Jim for all the good gen.Will be landing the cub on our grass strip ,then moving to our hangar using our beach hydraulic trailer.Lifing cub using a Hiab,spreader bar already made.Will advise result.

Been said, but:
Bullets!

new bolts

deadblow hammer

patients

Tie the tail to keep the plane from spinning

Take the gear legs off the cabane V, otherwise you will be cussing.

Got gear cables? have them ready

Gentle patience instead of brute force. Move the airplane or floats around to unbind bolts rather driving them out with a punch, your plane will thank you. Remove a bolt, replace it with a screwdriver or punch, Get them all out and replaced, then while someone stabilizes the plane you can easily pull the screwdrivers by hand, nothing gets twisted. Only loosen one set of drag wires ( left or right) this gives you the wiggle/looseness you need and now you don't have to start at ground zero when you go to install them next season, you're already halfway rigged.

eskimo77 said:

Gentle patience instead of brute force. Move the airplane or floats around to unbind bolts rather driving them out with a punch, your plane will thank you. Remove a bolt, replace it with a screwdriver or punch, Get them all out and replaced, then while someone stabilizes the plane you can easily pull the screwdrivers by hand, nothing gets twisted. Only loosen one set of drag wires ( left or right) this gives you the wiggle/looseness you need and now you don't have to start at ground zero when you go to install them next season, you're already halfway rigged.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the “good oil"

Example of a spreader bar... recently installed 4 inch extended gear and 35’s on this Maule.. since it was already equipped with float lifting “eyes” the owner made the spreader bar seen at the top of the picture out of scrap steel and heavy duty D rings... way overkill but worked extremely well...

2nd making sure you have everything laid out and ready with all new hardware..

Tying the tail is good advice, we wound up having a guy stand at the tail to keep it from spinning on us.. I did have my 5 gallon concrete blocks tied to the wings to keep it level... you can see one of those in the picture just below the front of the cowling near a red fuel jug...

Brian


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eskimo77 said:

Gentle patience instead of brute force. Move the airplane or floats around to unbind bolts rather driving them out with a punch, your plane will thank you. Remove a bolt, replace it with a screwdriver or punch, Get them all out and replaced, then while someone stabilizes the plane you can easily pull the screwdrivers by hand, nothing gets twisted. Only loosen one set of drag wires ( left or right) this gives you the wiggle/looseness you need and now you don't have to start at ground zero when you go to install them next season, you're already halfway rigged.

Click to expand...

Good point about force vs. alignment.

Punches or screw drivers are to put in with rough alignment, was not intending to imply banging the heck out of bolts... but if they are bent sometimes that is a must.

Dead blow hammer can sometimes be needed to get the gear into place. amazing how much difference gear and gear fitting dimensions can be.

One other note- spend a couple minutes inspecting attach fittings before you put your gear on, it is much easier to see cracks in hidden places

Have a helper handy. Sometimes all it takes is a gentle push - pull - lift to get the alignment correct to remove or install fasteners. If something doesn't align ask why. If able fix it for now and next time.

I like to have an oil drum or table to support the tail when the fuselage is flying without gear attached.

Gary

I have to work alone and outside. With a spreader bar (just a chunk of 2 x 4 between the straps) I lift from the engine mounts with a chain hoist to a gantry. Another chain hoist is rigged from the tail handles to the hangar door header. This way I can get a fine adjustment of the proper angle and the bolts generally slip in/out without a struggle. I go directly from floats to wheel-skis so I leave the ski/wheel assembly attached to the gear and remove it as a unit.

Put the tail wheel (or ski) on while the airplane is up nice and high on floats. Do as much de-rigging of the floats as possible before removing the main attachments That includes the cabane, the front x-wires, all the steering and rudder pull-up cables. Take all the nuts off the main attach bolts. Doing all this will limit the time that the 'plane is hanging in mid-air - especially if you have to work outside where the 'plane will be vulnerable to the slightest breeze.

Rigging a safety line from the overhead and around the lower engine mounts is probably a good idea in case the chain hoist fails. Put the prop in the horizontal position just in case - one less thing to buy (again)! You may find that one wing is heavier than the other, so have a weight or something handy and rig a rope to the strut on the "light" side. This also helps in adjusting the 'plane side-to-side so the bolts slip out even easier.



PS: She won't quite fit in the hangar when on floats, otherwise I'd be working in there.

Two chain falls and life is good. Be REAL careful landing her on the grass... I've seen that go to hell in a HURRY !