Truucking a Sonex

[cmhoover]

Gentlemen,
I am considering purchasing an incomplete Sonex that I will have to truck home in a Ryder rental truck. How hard is to remove the wings? Any suggestions to make the move successful?
Thank you all in advance for your help.
thanks
mike hoover

[SonexN76ET]

Mike,

Removing the wings is not too difficult. The hardest part is removing the flap attachments inside the wingroot. You will need to have the wings supported as you remove the two bolts or pins on the main spar and the two on the rear spar. You will also need to disconnect the aileron linkages from the pushrods at the control stick or sticks.

Putting the wings on is more difficult. For me the hardest part is aligning the holes and getting the bolts or pins in place. Frustrating and tedious and knuckle bruising is getting the flaps reconnected in the wing root.

Sonex has an instruction sheet on their website that documents this process. It is under builder support and then under instruction sheets.

I equate wing installation and removal to replacing a transmission on a 77 Trans Am, but not as grimy.

A 24 foot rider truck can carry fuselage and wings and most other associated Sonex pieces and parts.

You are in for some serious good times! I have truely enjoyed the building process and flying my Sonex.

Jake

[wlarson861]

You will also have to remove the tail for most rental trucks unless the fiberglass tips are not installed.

[DCASonex]

One general caution applicable to transporting most planes, tie down the main wheels and not the fuselage. The gear will soak up bumps, but unyielding straps over the fuselage will cause damage. When moving mine, tail over hung trailer, so I supported tail of mine in a cradle lined with 3+" thick old foam mattress cut up to suit, double layer on bottom, one section went over top for tie down strap. With no gear to flex in cradle,, tie down strap with ample padding is okay. This will not apply to you, unless you want to cradle the tail.

David A.

[Waiex 49]

I second that advice on the tail tips. I had to truck my Waiex out of an abandoned Naval Air Station after the Aero Vee broke and I made a dead stick landding. The tail will just not fit through the door frame of most rental trucks (I had the largest U-Haul had to offer).

Take a cordless drill with you and drill out the rivets and remove the tips. In my case I didn't have a drill and had to cut them off with a hack saw and by new tips.

The Sonex wing removal instructions are pretty good. Have some helpers with you. I have removed and installed the wings by myself but it isn't much fun. I used some old "secretary" chairs (on rollers) with the backs removed and used them like portable stands under the wings.

Take a good set of tools with you. The two bolts holding the wing spars can sometimes be tricky to get out. I bought some 3/8" bolts about 5" or 6" long. I ground the tips down to a bullet shape. With a small hammer you can use these to drive out the wing bolts (if needed).

I took with me some 10' long 2x12 boards to use as ramps. If the engine is installed the fuselage can be kind of heavy. You won't just pick it up and throw it in the truck! We put it in tail first, using a "come along" to winch it up into the truck.

Take ropes and/or tie down straps to secure the wings and fuselage in place. I took a bunch of blankets with me and they were very handy to protect the wings and fuselage.

You might want to have some bags or small boxes on hand for small misc. parts.

I found the most difficult items to disconnect were the flap drive and aft spar bolts, but your results may vary.

A small first aid kit could come in handy, I cut my hands a few times when disconnecting the flap drives.

Good luck and have fun with your new Sonex!

[vwglenn]

Trucked mine on an open trailer from Texas to Georgia. Built some wing racks and strapped everything down. I looked into the ryder/uhaul option and the tail is simply too wide to fit in a box truck.

[mooneybum]

Hi, do you have more pictures of your Sonex on the trailer? Picture from the front, I like to do the same
as you did. Thank you, mooneybum@aol.com Sonex N16WE

[vwglenn]

This is all I have...





I can take pictures of the racks we made (now empty) in the hangar if you need them.

[Gripdana]

I moved my plans on a car trailer. Here is a link to the photos on flicker. https://flic.kr/p/qHXBb3