Moving a plane on a flatbed trailer

[Spaceman]

Anyone have any tips for securing a plane on a trailer?

I'm getting ready to move this summer so of course I'll need to take my project with me. I don't really trust the movers with it so I want to move it myself! The air force base has a 16' flatbed I can rent for like $20 a day so I'm leaning towards using that assuming I can fit everything on it since it'll definitely be the cheapest way. I need to take some more exact measurements, but I'm pretty sure from the tailwheel to the main gear is slightly shorter than 16' so I could have the front end of the plane overhang the front of the trailer a little bit.

Anyway my plane is on the gear with no tail surfaces, engine, or cowling installed. I have the wings on the little rack that most guys build. What I'm thinking is I can strap the plane down by the main gear and engine mount and secure the tail somehow, then lay the wings flat on a bunch of moving blankets and take the wing rack apart and put it wherever. Maybe if I need some extra room I could elevate the tail on something and put the wings under the fuselage. The trailer has a wood deck so I can temporarily install some tie-down rings wherever I need to.

I'm moving about 500 miles so I'll just wait for a good weather day and drive out there, then bring the trailer back the next day.

Has anyone done this and taken any pictures, or ran into any big issues?

[Sonex1517]

We did something similar last summer when I landed my Sonex in a farm strip and had to disassemble it to get it home.

Shoot me an email at robbie_culver at me dot com

I have photos. Note - we put the wings in a separate car trailer, so I cannot tell you if they also fit.

[Spaceman]

Email sent, thanks!

[Msing48]

I trasported my Sonex from Illinois to Houston on a 16' trailer several years ago with the wings under the fuselage. I will look for the photos and the link to the YouTube video.

Mike Singleton

[Spaceman]

I'll post pictures later, but I wanted to report back that over the weekend I was able to successfully move my plane on the 16' trailer! Instead of putting the wings flat under the fuselage, I built two more mini-racks to hold them leading-edge-down on either side, and then put other stuff under the fuselage. It was a project but totally doable.

[Spaceman]

For anyone else who ever needs to do this, I finally got around to putting the writeup about the move on my site. I took lots of pictures so hopefully that'll help!

https://paegelow.blogspot.com/2019/05/moving.html

[Matt541]

Cool write-up on the move!

I think I'm going to go the trailer route as well when it comes time to take 541 to the airport in the spring. Although it worked bringing it here, I'm not a fan of the 26' U haul method, or u Haul at the moment.

Thanks!

[tx_swordguy]

Just a bit of advice to be on the safe side I would build a mini saw horse kind of thing and place a towel on top to place under the tail right in front of the tail wheel spring rod. While not much weight if you hit a large hole at highway speed the stiff suspension of the trailer may damage the tail wheel spring rod. You don’t really need to lift all the weight but more to diffuse the weight and keep the rod from bending. The wings do fit under the fuselage and that is doable but definitely a two man job. If you plan putting the wings under it you might build a taller saw horse to raise the tail more. I moved a onex that had engine trouble 200 miles this way without damage. Just use lots of blankets/ foam and pillows. You can’t use too many
Mark

[9GT]

900 mile trip. Didn't budge an inch. Wings, VS, HS in the wood crate underneath the fuselage. Its my RV-9A.

[DCASonex]

Also moved mine on a very low flat bed trailer. Wheels protruded above bed of trailer, so being a tail dragger, loaded it over the front with trailer's tongue on ground. Carried the tail up into place while a helper pulled the plane up with a small winch. Made box cradle for tail and lined it with 4" of old foam mattress pad. Another section of old pad cushioned the tie down strap over the tail. Made boxes out of angle iron to capture each of the main gear wheels allowing gear legs to flex and absorb road shock. Wheel capture boxes and tail cradle all bolted to bed of trailer. Wings moved on their storage rack on second trip.

David A.