Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by John Davis on August 25, 2010 at 10:47am

Hi Dave,
I couldn't find a wide enough trailer when I needed to move my 601XL so I ended up getting a guy with a rollback wrecker truck to move it. Then I moved the wings separately in a large van I borrowed.

Good luck on your project, getting it to the airport is an important milestone !

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Dave Gardea on August 25, 2010 at 11:07am

Hi John, yep .,. I have been eyeing those as well. I am a AAA member but not sure how I could swing that one .. lol. Thanks for your suggestion!

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Jon L Bateman on August 25, 2010 at 12:53pm

Hello Dave
The other day I borrowed a four place ATV trailer to haul in a wing. I didn't measure it but when I showed up at the airport. The owner of Swift flight that restores them said it looked perfect to haul swifts around. I do know it was a lot wider than a semi trailer or moving van.
Jon B.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Dave Gardea on August 25, 2010 at 1:11pm

Jon, great suggestion. I will do some searching for ATV transport trailers to see if anyone rents them in this area. Thanks!

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by David New on August 25, 2010 at 3:44pm

Hi Dave
Maybe you could do a search for a equipment rental co in your area. Here in Nebraska there are rental places that rent lawn mowers, ditch diggers and most kinds of equipment they also rent flat bed trailers.
I actuall used a boat trailer with a 6 inch channel bolted crossway on the frame of the trailer. ( mine is a tail dragger) used wood ramps and pulled the plane up backwards untill mains fell into the channal and tied the tail wheel to the tongue of the trailer. Worked great.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Dave Gardea on August 25, 2010 at 6:35pm

David, thanks ... I'll check that out in my area. Thanks for your help!

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Mike Lord on August 25, 2010 at 7:22pm

Dave
I used a double wide snomobile trailer.
It worked great.
Mike Lord

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Jake Reyna on August 25, 2010 at 8:17pm

Dave, I did the same search and ended up using a wrecker like John Davis, cost was $50. I used a big ratcheting strap to run through the center spar to hold the airplane down and then one regular strap from the rear tie down. Probably took 5 minutes to load and strap down.

Uhaul rents trucks by the day fairly cheap if you need something big for the wings, but a pickup with an 8' bed is all you need to move the wings.

Jake

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Dave Gardea on August 26, 2010 at 10:39am

Thanks Jake. I will be making a few calls to local towing service folks to see who could transport and how much. How did they hoist your plane up the ramp, i.e, what was the best point to attach their winch cable(s) to?

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Jay Bannister on August 26, 2010 at 5:57pm

Dave, My move was a 40 mile, one hour trip right through the center of Dallas. I rented a large Penske truck with a hydraulic tailgate lift. It was a several step process to load it. I can share several drawings I made of the process if you ask. jaybannist@cs.com. I moved the wings and tail feathers with a smaller truck

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Dave Gardea on August 26, 2010 at 8:37pm

Thanks Jay .. I will follow up with you offline.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Dave Gardea on August 28, 2010 at 6:19pm

Here's the trailer I found to make my move to the hangar today. It's a flat deck car hauler that was about 81" between the fenders. This required I take advantage of Jay Bannisters tip to add a ratchet strap between the main gear wheels a bit to make them fit on the trailer (see second pic below). Thanks to all for your advice and sharing your moving experiences!

Dave

• ▶ Reply