Talked to Cy Galley at OSH and he told me that a cruisair could be lifted by the engine mount instead of using jacks. Does anyone have any particulars on this practice, such as exactly where to hook to the mount and such. Seems like it could be more stable than using jacks and wouldn't require removing wing fairings to get at jacking points, Thanks Richard
suspending cruisair by engine mount
- Thread starter guzziduck
- Start date
Alain1
New member
Richard,
When I wanted to swing my gears, I placed the firewall right in line under the main beam of the hangar, hooked cargo belts around the top engine mount at firewall and up to the beam, , and with a ''come along'' 1 per mount on each side chained to the beam, cranked it up. But you have to jack the tail too. I place 3 milk case on top of each other under the tailwheel, one at the time as I was cranking it up. It really worked fine. the belt I used could have lifted a train engine and the beam is big steel ''i'' beam so wasn't too concerned but was very careful when lifting. Kept it leveled so wings would go up level. If I had to do it again, I would do the same.
Alain.
When I wanted to swing my gears, I placed the firewall right in line under the main beam of the hangar, hooked cargo belts around the top engine mount at firewall and up to the beam, , and with a ''come along'' 1 per mount on each side chained to the beam, cranked it up. But you have to jack the tail too. I place 3 milk case on top of each other under the tailwheel, one at the time as I was cranking it up. It really worked fine. the belt I used could have lifted a train engine and the beam is big steel ''i'' beam so wasn't too concerned but was very careful when lifting. Kept it leveled so wings would go up level. If I had to do it again, I would do the same.
Alain.
I placed two tall Cessna high wing jacks on either side of the fuselage in line with the firewall. Then I placed a heavy wooden 6X6 post horizontally across the jacks over the fuselage and had a friend hold it there while I marked the post at the points where the it rested on the jacks. Then I drilled holes part-way through the post so that the tips of the jacks would fit into the holes and prevent the post from slipping off. Then I used two heavy-duty tie-down straps, one on each side, around the upper engine mount truss members just forward of the upper attach points and over the post. Then I jacked the airplane up using the jacks in the normal fashion. This simple apparatus has been invaluable during my aircraft's renovation process. I will NEVER again jack the airplane from underneath as the Service Manual illustrates. It's too easy for the wood blocks to slip with no jack points as found on later aircraft. The airplane will sway while suspended by the straps so caution must be excercised. But it is much safer than jacking the airplane from beneath. 8)