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Mk IV wing-fold time

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Posted

Please excuse the newbie questions. Hard to find info on this bird.

I am trying to decide whether to rent a hangar or keep the bird in my barn and tow it to the airport (7 miles away). The big question, of course, is how long does it take, realistically, to fold & unfold the wings. (Assume no help.)

TIA.

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Posted

I'm not finished with my avid yet but my sky raider i could have it unloaded wings folded out and ready for pre-flight in less than 10 min. I plan to trailer my avid as well. Here is a link to a kitfox folding up it should be pretty close

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Posted

I tow mine to the airfield .5 mi from my barn, and that's the most dangerous part of the flight! And i'm out of the city limits! I wouldn't tow mine 7 miles because of other drivers/vehicles. Something is going to get damaged from someone else, not you towing it. I would look into splitting a hangar/sharing some space as these birds fold up quite easily and can be stowed in some small areas. Good Luck, Bryce

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Posted

Paul - the folding and unfolding is not a super bad process on an Avid Mk IV. 10 minutes max on each end. But, as Bryce said, the transport is the issue. Seven miles is a long way to go on the gear with the tow-bar. It would definitely require a trailer. Now loading and off loading from a trailer plus folding is more hassle and time, meaning you will find excuses to not fly. (Just being honest.)

My advise is get a hangar at the airport. You will enjoy the plane and it fly more.

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Posted

Do you have a special trailer to tow you a/c? I've got Avid Mk IV with a trailer made for it. The wingfold is not the biggest job, it's the load/unload and securing the a/c to the trailer. And as Av8r3400 stated, the trailer will be quite large object to tow. Altought I towed the a/c around 1000 km when I initially bought it, I'm not convinced that travelling on top of trailer is good for the plane in long run, e.g. tail weel spring has quite hard job... I second that getting some hangar space at the airport.... That's what I do with my bird.

Keijo

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Posted

Hi Tia,

i´m Martin from germany. We (my wife and me) have an MK4-heavy hauler with jabiru. We have an trailer 2,5m x 7,5m.

It is not so easy to drive on small streets but it is ok. We stay 5km from our Airport (Herzogenaurach...

we live near adidas and puma factory).

For the avid it is importand that you drive slowly (60-80 km/h).

Our Avid was trailerd with nose-gear and now we have it with wide-gear and an moule-tailwheel.

The folding time is 15min. The only problem for one person is to put the tailwheel on the trailer

when you will drive home. But everytime there is a person who can help you :deadhorse: .

Best regards (and sorry for my bad english :(

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Posted

Hi Tia,

i´m Martin from germany. We (my wife and me) have an MK4-heavy hauler with jabiru. We have an trailer 2,5m x 7,5m.

It is not so easy to drive on small streets but it is ok. We stay 5km from our Airport (Herzogenaurach...

we live near adidas and puma factory).

For the avid it is importand that you drive slowly (60-80 km/h).

Our Avid was trailerd with nose-gear and now we have it with wide-gear and an moule-tailwheel.

The folding time is 15min. The only problem for one person is to put the tailwheel on the trailer

when you will drive home. But everytime there is a person who can help you :deadhorse: .

Best regards (and sorry for my bad english :(

Put the tailwheel up on the trailer and strap it down BEFORE you fold the wings. Makes it much easier!

:BC:

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Posted

I have the factory trailer. It is so easy to load. Back plane up to trailer, set tailwheel in ramp, hook up to boat winch. Pull on trailer, lock axles on trailer. Fold wings, drive off. Bought my airplane in Port Angeles, Washington. Loaded on trailer, drove 1300 miles home, everything happy.

That being said, I have a hangar and I will be keeping it in there. I will be towing the plane when I go on vacation. Wife can shop and I can go exploring. The entire package weighs less that a 1000 lbs. Actually hooked it up to my Harley and pulled it to the gas station to fill up. Got some very strange looks.

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Posted

I have the factory trailer. It is so easy to load. Back plane up to trailer, set tailwheel in ramp, hook up to boat winch. Pull on trailer, lock axles on trailer. Fold wings, drive off. Bought my airplane in Port Angeles, Washington. Loaded on trailer, drove 1300 miles home, everything happy.

That being said, I have a hangar and I will be keeping it in there. I will be towing the plane when I go on vacation. Wife can shop and I can go exploring. The entire package weighs less that a 1000 lbs. Actually hooked it up to my Harley and pulled it to the gas station to fill up. Got some very strange looks.

 

I bet I'm not the only one who would love to see a pic of that! :)

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Posted (edited)

I bet I'm not the only one who would love to see a pic of that! :)

I think a lot of us would enjoy that photo -

I have been wondering about the stability of putting all the weight on the back of the "boat" trailers - I had a single-axle camper once that would suddenly violently shake my Blazer so bad that I would have to nearly stop. Has there been any problems with this type of trailer? How much are the factory trailers? Bet you can convert a boat trailer cheaper?

EDMO

Edited by Ed In Missouri

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Posted

I have the factory trailer for mine as well. I've towed from Idaho to California twice. The trailer has a really long tongue and the rear axle is wide so it pulls like a dream. I run try to keep my speed around 55-60mph. Another thing to consider is that when you fold the wings with fuel in the tanks the tail has got to be up in the air to at least a level flying attitude or the fuel will overflow out of your vents. The two guys I know that fold everytime they fly also drain the tanks everytime to avoid this issue. My trailer has an angled ramp that the TW sits in and keeps the tail up in the air. Like Leni said folding and unfolding the wings is MUCH easier when it's sitting level. The ass end get's extremly heavy if it's sitting on the tailwheel with the wings folded and you have to be careful that the wings don't get away from you when you pull the pin if it's sitting on the tailwheel as there's really no place to hang onto it when you pull the pin.

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Posted

Thanks Joey,

Any chance of seeing a photo or two of your loaded and empty trailer?

EDMO

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Posted

Thanks Joey,

Any chance of seeing a photo or two of your loaded and empty trailer?

EDMO

Ed I don't have any of it empty right now on my Puter but here's a couple of it loaded.

 

CopyofIMG_0532-1.jpg

 

Avidontrailer.jpg

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Posted (edited)

Thanks Joey - That is a lot different than I had imagined - No need to show it empty.

The only other one I had seen was like two little hinged pads that could be lifted somehow after you put the plane's wheels on them - hard for me to describe. Believe the planes wheels sat outside of the width of the trailer wheels - didn't care for that.

How do you get the plane up on the platform? park the trailer in a ditch? Tilt or lower platform?

I am totally new at the trailer part of flying. Looks like yours has the weight almost over the trailer wheels?

And this is what the factory sold? Does Kitfox have one like yours?

EDMO

Edited by Ed In Missouri

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Posted

It has ramps that originally folded straight up in the air on a hinge. I didn't like that so I took them off and set them up with some pip pins. I just take them off and throw them in the truck once loaded. The end of the channel where the tailwheel sits has a crank handle like on a boat trailer. It has a 1/8" cable that you attach to the TW spring and just crank her on up. You can see in the second pic I discovered that my new big Matco TW wouldn't fit in the slot anymore. I had to tie the tail down solid which I really didn't want to do but I was in a pinch and had to do what was necessary to get the plane home. The trailer is leaf sprung and the mains can move around quite a bit so I don't think too awful much road roughness was transferred. I've since modded the trailer. With my wide gear on there's only 1" to spare on either side of the deck so I'm going to weld up some angle iron on the sides just to make sure there's no way a tire can jump off the edge. I use some 2x4's covered in carpet with bolts on either end and wingnuts as gust locks for the controls. I put one on either side of the elevator and one on the upper part of the rudder. Of course I have all the factory wing supports too. I use nylock nuts on all that stuff because I rarely tow. The little bars that hold the wings back you damn sure don't want coming loose. I know of two people that have wrecked their planes towing them and both were when a wing came loose going down the hwy. The whole trailer is light enough to move around by hand and like I said it tows like a dream. You kinda have to keep your eye on it because it's pretty wide but overall it tows easy.

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Posted

Thanks Joey - all helpful info - I have only trailered twice - one was wrecked before trailering, and the other during trailering - Alaska highway potholes just too rough for my tiedowns - now rebuilding.

EDMO

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Posted

My trailer has a torsion axle so it is very smooth. The mains are loaded by 2 small ramps, mine are attached to trailer when not in use. Tires roll up ramp to a small tire sized box with a tire stop. Throw a tie down over each front axle. Winch holds tailwheel in place. Fold wings, you are done. Trailer is so long that it tows great. Have to be careful turning because of the turning radius of the trailer. I am planing on mounting a rack for gas cans and my spare tire. When I tow it with my jeep I need all airplane stuff on trailer, no room in jeep.

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Posted

All good info for a novice like me - Someday I am going to write a book about my lack of trailer education cost me a bundle, a wrecked plane, and almost lost a future wife, and maybe my life!

Too much to put on here!

Thanks again.

EDMO

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Posted

post-61-0-95053400-1374147320_thumb.jpghere's my trailer

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Posted

Nice set up! Can you elaborate a little bit on your rudder lock? I put mine above the wings because the flaperons tuck in pretty close to the vertical stab. It tends to slide down and rub on the flaperons going down the road. I just have a couple of 2x4's covered in carpet with a bolt and wingnuts to clamp it down.

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Posted

well the rudder lock is a piece of 3/4 conduit bent in half with foam water pipe insulation slide over it put it over rudder squezze end together and rapp it with a bungee cord to hold it

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Posted (edited)

well the rudder lock is a piece of 3/4 conduit bent in half with foam water pipe insulation slide over it put it over rudder squezze end together and rapp it with a bungee cord to hold it

Thanks to both of you for the trailer photos - you have given me the basics to start my planning - the last one looks to be easier to load, and probably more practical for me since my Grove wheel base is over seven feet wide. was this a modified trailer of some type, or built from scratch?

Joey, I was a little shocked that you used 2 x 4s for a RUDDER LOCK - We always used 1/2 inch plywood for the same thing. Think you could get by with something lighter?

EDMO

Edited by Ed In Missouri

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Posted

That is a great example of the K.I.S.S. principle, I like it!

 

well the rudder lock is a piece of 3/4 conduit bent in half with foam water pipe insulation slide over it put it over rudder squezze end together and rapp it with a bungee cord to hold it

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