Aircraft jacks

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Well the boss landed and flat spotted the tires on our one aircraft. I am an FAA mechanic, but for the first time I'm at a place without jacks. After looking at commercial units, which all sucked for the price range I was looking for. So I made my own jacks and an adjustable weighted tail stand with removable tail ring adapters. Here is the commercial units. I hate the squished tube and bent ends on the supports. Its just weak! And only a 3 ton ram. My jacks:All my stuff is painted Miller Blue   I bought all the materials and jack rams commercially. Total for 2 jacks and the stand, $500. Same as just one commercial jack. Plus mine are 8 ton rams. Safety collars are on the way to prevent a failed jack from dropping the plane. Last edited by n20junkie; 12-02-2012 at 02:03 PM.Syncrowave 350Coolmate 3Millermatic 251Spoolmatic 30A
Reply:Nice!
Reply:Outstanding!- MondoMember, AWSLincoln ProMIG 140Lincoln AC TombstoneCraftsman Lathe 12 x 24 c1935Atlas MFC Horizontal MillCraftsman Commercial Lathe 12 x 36 c1970- - - I'll just keep on keepin' on.
Reply:Looks like the result of a bad crosswind landing.  Nice jack though..
Reply:very nice work$500!!! seems high, china rams cost that much now? northern has the same ram for $64.99(130) + $100 steel + $50 good paint.
Reply:I would buy yours, the other iS crapMiller diversion 165Miller mig 211Hypertherm pm 30Milwaukee 6230 14 inch chop sawMd 45 mag drill (RIP; fell on its head)New MD 45! Thanks to the esposa!Finally got an O/A setup
Reply:Not side loading, non-abs, higher than ref, float, panic brake.It all adds up, rams were cheap, wheels, metal, grinding media, argon, hardware. There were extra stuff left over, but it all adds up, especially when someone pays for it all. Its worth the effort, my butt is under the airplane!Syncrowave 350Coolmate 3Millermatic 251Spoolmatic 30A
Reply:It looks like that jack is permanently welding into it's blue housing, is that correct on my assumption?  I'm basing that assumption on your nice pictures.   Doesn't look like you could remove that jack for repairs or replacement without actually cutting apart the blue housing.  Second, that jack looks like "Harbor FRIGHT" orange!!!!!!!  I'd recognize "HF orange" anywhere!!!!!!  Now I don't know if I'd trust your jack.  The weakest link in the jack itself!   hahahaha.... Just kiddn ya!  Beautiful job!  Lincoln Power Mig 216Lincoln AC/DC-225/125Miller  625 X-Treme PlasmaMiller 211 Forney 95FI-A 301HF 91110Victor Journeyman O/PMilwaukee DaytonMakita  Baileigh NRA Life Member
Reply:From one A&P to another:GREAT PROJECT!!!!!!!!!!!!!Iffin you have some high wings in the fleet I can easily foresee a set of tall jacks in the que for a future project.  If you do decide to build a set of tall jacks, increase the foot print of the base for added stability.  The store bought ones I have used in the past were a bit shaky when doing gear swings at annual times and the rams were cross drilled through the shaft for safety pins which just weakened the jack as far as I'm concerned.  The idea of safety collars is a great improvement!  I was thinking more along the lines of a piece of angle or tubing split down the side that could be set along side the ram and take the load off the jack?The addition of the transport wheels is another improvement to the store bought jacks as they always need to be drug halfway across the ramp and requires dragging a two wheeler out.Are you going to make a top plate adapter or just grind a shallow inverted dome into the end of the rams for the jack pads to center in?  Speaking of jack pads, now is the time to start collecting templates for various ones you will need.  Easy to make and invaluable to have when the need arises.I have a set of military surplus low jacks that I snagged at a surplus dealer for a song.  WAY heavier than anything I work on, but it is nice to know that I have the added capacity.BTW, I would tell that "areoplane driver" to get his heels on the floor during approach.  Looks to me like he was hard on the toe brakes as his butt was clinching the seat cushion. Oh Well, it's job security I guess!RogerOld, Tired, and GRUMPYSalesman will call, Batteries not included, Assembly is required, and FREE ADVICE IS WORTH EXACTLY WHAT YOU PAY FOR IT!Dial Arc 250HFThunderbolt 225 AC/DCAssorted A/O torches
Reply:Originally Posted by SuperArcIt looks like that jack is permanently welding into it's blue housing, is that correct on my assumption?  I'm basing that assumption on your nice pictures.   Doesn't look like you could remove that jack for repairs or replacement without actually cutting apart the blue housing.  Second, that jack looks like "Harbor FRIGHT" orange!!!!!!!  I'd recognize "HF orange" anywhere!!!!!!  Now I don't know if I'd trust your jack.  The weakest link in the jack itself!   hahahaha.... Just kiddn ya!  Beautiful job!
Reply:Beat me too it!The jack isn't welded, it floats and is just located by the frame. I didn't want added stress being imparted into the jack ram.  The collar can be unbolted for ram replacement.  For high lift jacks (aka cessna), a second support collar will be made, piggy backing the existing setup that will support an extension tube. No need to raise the ram and with it the jacks center of gravity. I have jack adapters that will have the inverted radius arriving today. The HF rams are for sure the weak link. Safety collars will back them up in case of a jack failure. If I am happy with these I will also replace the rams with higher quality units.I also make turbine engine wash carts, although my particular component use was copied by someone else, so I stopped selling them unless someone requests them privately.The air tank just clips on, remove it either to fill it off site or to just use shop air. Syncrowave 350Coolmate 3Millermatic 251Spoolmatic 30A
Reply:[QUOTE=n20junkie;1893451EDITED [/QUOTE]Out of curiositys sake what type fitting is in the pop cylinders. Is it somthing standard, obtainable or does it have to be replaced.Miller thunderbolt 250Decastar 135ERecovering tool-o-holic ESAB OAI have been interested or involved in Electrical, Fire Alarm, Auto, Marine, Welding, Electronics ETC to name a just a few. So YES you can own too many tools.
Reply:Nice well thought out design. Good job.
Reply:Originally Posted by dumb as a stumpOut of curiositys sake what type fitting is in the pop cylinders. Is it somthing standard, obtainable or does it have to be replaced.
Reply:One of our mechanics wanted to make  jack for the Citation Mustang. When they did tire maintenance they did not always want to pull out all the jacks so he came up with a design so they could change a tire with a single small jack. He brought the mockup over and I helped him build it cutting up metal with a grinder and coaching him to do some welding he had not done for some time.
Reply:Now thats Nice
Reply:Originally Posted by gow589One of our mechanics wanted to make  jack for the Citation Mustang. When they did tire maintenance they did not always want to pull out all the jacks so he came up with a design so they could change a tire with a single small jack. He brought the mockup over and I helped him build it cutting up metal with a grinder and coaching him to do some welding he had not done for some time.
Reply:That is some really nice work there!!
Reply:I actually cannot take credit for the design. He already had a wooden mockup. I guided him a little and showed him how to do some things, we worked out some pitfalls but I needed to let the project be his. The Embraer is a lot more weight then the Mustang.
Reply:Hi, we build oft Helicopter jacks, their have to be adgiusted to be able to slide under the Aircraft and leveling before liftingHere are some pictures from,by Demasee more atwww.ecomec.ch Attached Images
Reply:Those are some sexy jacks! I like the seperate pump and ram.Syncrowave 350Coolmate 3Millermatic 251Spoolmatic 30A
Reply:Awesome equipment.   Aircraft are so picky. You can't just push a trolley jack under there with a 4x4 block of wood like I do my cars?   J/K  I worked in the space program for 9 years.  Flight hardware is picky."G"ConductorX - The Volkswright Shophttp://volkswright.blogspot.com/http://bugwerks.blogspot.com/Miller DVI w/Spoolgun - Miller Plasma Cutter
Reply:Originally Posted by n20junkieI made an axle jack for our phenom,EDITED  I made mine with the hope that if there is a failure, the weight will be guided down but kept from allowing the brake assembly from touching the ground, There is A LOT of weight on that axle with full fuel.
Reply:Is that a Malibu sitting next to the op's stands? Let's see pics of it.