Trailer specifications?

[cschmokel]

Man, this thread is a blast from the past! I ended up just throwing the plane on a good-sized car trailer .. the tires where RIGHT to the edge of the trailer .. so I strapped 'em down tight and the rest is history.

[jtpitkin06]

While the drawing from Sky Pirate is cute, it is lacking a few basics of good trailer design.

The trailer axle is too far forward for the loaded condition. All of the aircraft weight is behind the axle making it a very unstable towing package. To counterbalance the aircraft weight you would need a lot of forward weight on the empty trailer. Either equipment boxes or structure. In any case, there is too much variance between the loaded and unloaded balance.

A better design would have the trailer axle located so the aircraft CG is slightly ahead of the axle. This way the loaded and unloaded balance are close to the same.

If the weight is behind the axle with negative tongue load the trailer will sway and fishtail.


John Pitkin
Greenville, Texas

[enyaw]

Good point on the weight, but if the axles are too far aft, you can run into issues with the landing gear. Our trailer (acquired in Nampa, ID, not too far from Pullman) will accommodate a taildragger, but will not work with a nose wheel aircraft (Kitfox) due to the placement of the axles.

That said, wheels could be moved forward on design, as you said equipment locker (or maybe a fuel cell) could be put in the forward "V". Hey wt & balance shouldn't be a new concept for most of us....

[Pilot4Life]

Sure fellas,
Perhaps the "design" is off. Maybe next time Sky Pirate will place a "NOT TO SCALE" disclaimer on his drawing. I believe the intent was to simply give one inquiring about trailer design something to start with. I agree with counterweight and a tool box or fuel cell in the front of the trailer, being great ideas. Keep 'em coming! Perhaps a trailer manufacturer will design the "best thing since sliced bread" type trailer for all those interested. Great designs and great ideas by all, so it seems.

[Av8r3400]

Gentlemen-- Keep in mind that even with copious amounts of fuel, tools and supplies the weight of the plane and cargo in this trailer will be 1000# at most. Keep this in mind when designing the suspension on your trailer. Too stiff (a modified car-hauler for example) and you can easily damage your plane with the jolts and bouncing that will occur.

Even a large enclosed trailer could be more than adequately suspended with a single 3500# axle or two 1500# axles...


I learned this lesson when transporting my 1200 across country in a U-Haul truck. A 600# cargo in a 25,000# GVW truck is not fun to ride in.