Turning over fuselage to work on undercarriage.

[Dan Goldman]

What is a good (safe) method to turn over the fuselage so work can be
done on the udercarriage ? I have access to a fork lift if needed.
Dan

[Mark Zivley]

Dan,

I rolled my LS-1 on it's side by gently sliding the cradle out from
under it and resting the fuse on an old thick sofa cushion. Remove the
canopy first obviously. Once onto the thick sofa cushion, gently roll
it on it's side and support the vertical fin with another cushion.
Advantage here is that it doesn't require any lifting and it can't
"fall" as can happen if you attempt to invert it onto a sawhorse.

Mark

Dan Goldman wrote:
> What is a good (safe) method to turn over the fuselage so work can be
> done on the udercarriage ? I have access to a fork lift if needed.
> Dan

[BTIZ]

get a few friends over.. remove the canopy.. and prepare (cushion) a couple
of sturdy saw horses.. rest one across the open cockpit area, and one on the
tail boom, the saw horse should be tall enough to protect the tail

BT

"Dan Goldman" > wrote in message
om...
> What is a good (safe) method to turn over the fuselage so work can be
> done on the udercarriage ? I have access to a fork lift if needed.
> Dan

[Papa3]

If you've got a shop with a moderately high ceiling and exposed beams, you
can use a hoist. Make a sling out of two lengths of wide webbing. This goes
around the fuselage near the aft end of the cockpit. Attach this to a
come-along securely fastened to the overhead beams. It helps if you use a
spreader to connect the straps to the come-along (eg strong steel pipe with
bolts through it) just slightly narrower than the fuselage; this allows you
to roll the fuselage to any angle you want. You can then crank the
fuselage up to any height and either roll it upside down or turn it 90
degrees. You'll obviously need a sawhorse under the tail boom.

The advantages to this method are: 1: you can rotate to any number of
angles and 2: if it's set up right, you can actually manhandle this without
anyone else around.

P3
"Dan Goldman" > wrote in message
om...
> What is a good (safe) method to turn over the fuselage so work can be
> done on the udercarriage ? I have access to a fork lift if needed.
> Dan