I decided I would
like to be able to jack up a gear leg for future annual inspections, to work on
the brakes and the wheels in general. I
am going to have to remove the wheels
when I start the installation of the wheel pants and that could start
anytime now. I have worked on the jack
stand and lifting fixture for the past week, a little time spent over several
days. After thinking about this process
for the last year of so, and observing what others have done, I decided to make
my own lifting fixture. It is pretty
simple. I asked a sheet metal contractor
I use to help me. I had him bend a piece
of 10 ga steel into a 'U' shape. I gave him
the dimensions and he cut and bent the steel plate to my design. I also had him bend an angle piece and weld
it to the 'U' shaped piece. I obtained a
piece of uncured neoprene from a roofing contractor we use and adhered it to the inside of the 'U' with Plibond. The bracket is constructed so it is
3-5/16" at the top of the opening and 3-3/16" at the bottom. I painted the fixture yellow. After making sure it works properly I decided
to adhere a piece of neoprene to the jacking surface so the jack will not
slip. Here are some pictures of the
finished device.
I also decided to
make a stand for the jack. I am using a
4 Ton hydraulic bottle jack I purchased from Harbor Freight. It should be plenty good enough to lift a
landing gear on the RV-12. It is a
little short to reach the lifting fixture
so I made a stand for the jack to sit on.
The stand was made by screwing 2-sections of 4x4 together. I attached a handle to one end of the double
4x4. From Home Depot I purchased some
broom holder clips and screwed them to the double 4x4s along one edge. This will hold the jack handle. I used fender washers and 1" long screws
to hold the jack to the double 4x4s. It
turned out the way I thought it would and it should be functional. Time will tell if I have a good jacking and
lifting solution.
I also added a rope
handle to my wheel chokes.
