Ramps to Get Glider Off Trailer

[John DeRosa OHM Ω http://aviation.derosaweb.net]

To get my glider's fuselage into my "hangar" (AKA garage) for winter work I I have to get it off and out of the trailer generally by myself. I made some ramps to help with this. I thought you might find this useful.

There are two pairs of ramps. One is a pair of rather narrow ramps to get the fuselage dolly up/out of the deep Cobra ramp aluminum channels. The second pair of wider ramps is to get the dolly down to the ground.

Pictures can be found at http://aviation.derosaweb.net/ASW27/Trailer/Ramps/

Enjoy,
John DeRosa (OHM Ω)

[John DeRosa OHM Ω http://aviation.derosaweb.net]

A few more details as to construction can be found at http://aviation.derosaweb.net/presentations/#ramps

[Dave Nadler]

On 4/20/2021 4:04 PM, John DeRosa OHM Ω http://aviation.derosaweb.net wrote:
> A few more details as to construction can be found at http://aviation.derosaweb.net/presentations/#ramps

Careful, the dolly could slide off sideways and drop the fuselage...

Cobra sells some inexpensive bent channels that go over the raised end
at the jack, very easy and effective - unfortunately not shown on their
web shop nor wings-and-wheels web site. Quick and safe to roll fuselage
dolly in or out of trailer solo.

If you have the taller jack for a heavy glider see one idea here:
https://groups.google.com/g/schempp-hirth-arcus/c/Rm5u0WVOE6k

Hope that helps,
Best Regards, Dave

PS: If anybody is interested I could post some pictures of the Cobra
ramp extension in a few days.

[Dave Nadler]

Correction: These ARE available at WingsAndWheels:
https://wingsandwheels.com/cobra-workshop-rail.html

On 4/20/2021 8:43 PM, Dave Nadler wrote:
> On 4/20/2021 4:04 PM, John DeRosa OHM Ω http://aviation.derosaweb.net
> wrote:
>> A few more details as to construction can be found at
>> http://aviation.derosaweb.net/presentations/#ramps
>
> Careful, the dolly could slide off sideways and drop the fuselage...
>
> Cobra sells some inexpensive bent channels that go over the raised end
> at the jack, very easy and effective - unfortunately not shown on their
> web shop nor wings-and-wheels web site. Quick and safe to roll fuselage
> dolly in or out of trailer solo.
>
> If you have the taller jack for a heavy glider see one idea here:
> https://groups.google.com/g/schempp-hirth-arcus/c/Rm5u0WVOE6k
>
> Hope that helps,
> Best Regards, Dave
>
> PS: If anybody is interested I could post some pictures of the Cobra
> ramp extension in a few days.

[John Tapanddie]

Dave,

You are correct that the narrow/thin wooden ramps could be a problem. Not had any issues thus far. But I have thought about replacing the wood ramp with some aluminum U channel (left over from my old home built trailer guide rails) which would keep things in alignment. Or some aluminum flat stock attached to the outside edges of the wooden ones.

As to the wide/thick ramps I am less concerned about things sliding off. Again, flat stock (or U channel) attached to the outside edges (tops) could be added.

That same U channel could be bent to form a copy of the Cobra "workshop rails". Bottom line is that I use these ramps only twice a year (spring updates) so the expense of the Cobra rails isn't justified. The other issue is their length - my thought would be to add a hinge.

Finally, I looked at the solution on the web site you mentioned. Can you help me understand what is meant by "...ramp jack hinge pins...". My jack is not hinged, nor are the ramps - they whole assembly only pivots at the trailer rear. Might be a motorglider thing?

- John DeRosa (OHM Ω)

[Dave Nadler]

On 4/20/2021 11:20 PM, John Tapanddie wrote:
> Dave,
> ...Can you help me understand what is meant by "...ramp jack hinge pins...".

For heavier gliders, a larger and taller jack assembly is attached to
the rails with hinges. This allows the wide base of the jack assembly to
always sit square on the ground, but introduces other problems...

[John Galloway[_2_]]

On Wednesday, 21 April 2021 at 04:20:10 UTC+1, John Tapanddie wrote:
> Dave,
>
> You are correct that the narrow/thin wooden ramps could be a problem. Not had any issues thus far. But I have thought about replacing the wood ramp with some aluminum U channel (left over from my old home built trailer guide rails) which would keep things in alignment. Or some aluminum flat stock attached to the outside edges of the wooden ones.
>
> As to the wide/thick ramps I am less concerned about things sliding off. Again, flat stock (or U channel) attached to the outside edges (tops) could be added.
>
> That same U channel could be bent to form a copy of the Cobra "workshop rails". Bottom line is that I use these ramps only twice a year (spring updates) so the expense of the Cobra rails isn't justified. The other issue is their length - my thought would be to add a hinge.
>
> Finally, I looked at the solution on the web site you mentioned. Can you help me understand what is meant by "...ramp jack hinge pins...". My jack is not hinged, nor are the ramps - they whole assembly only pivots at the trailer rear. Might be a motorglider thing?
>
> - John DeRosa (OHM Ω)

The Cobra rail extensions work very well and borrow mine rather than buy their own! A point to note is that the jacking ramp has to be set at the right height for so that one end of the bent rail is on the traile ramp rail, the other is on the ground and also so that the raised end of the trailer ramp rails support the middle of the bent rail to stop it from toppling sideways. Also there are couple of pins on the bottom to the rails to be located them over the trailer ramp lip. The point of this post being that if anyone is planning to make glider removal rails themselves then I suggest trying to copy the Cobra ones as closely as possible.