I have been looking for a better solution to jacking up the wing for some time and have been using a jack arm arrangement that slips into the axle but it is really a marginal solution; it is a bit pricey, takes way too much effort just to lift a wheel, and is in the way during maintenance. So, for a while I contemplated ordering a commercial wing stand... while they are pretty nice, they run well north of 200 dollars plus shipping. Doing a bit searching on VAF there are several scattered examples of an inexpensive solution that I mined for ideas.
Parts that I used:
- From Harbor Freight, a 3 ton super heavy duty long ram hydraulic flat bottom jack for a whopping 40 dollars (I even had a coupon for 10% to level off the tax).
- From Lowe's, a 3/8-16 x 3" carriage bolt, lock nut, a 3-1/2" hose clamp, 1" steel pipe cap, and a single 10' stick of 1/2" emc for about 5 bucks.
- I had a good piece of plywood in the hangar to make a 18"x18" base, and I just used some #10 cs screws that were left over from the build.
Set the jack in the center of the board oriented so that the pump arm is easy to access. Measure the desired length for the conduit support legs. Cut them and squeeze the ends in a vice, bend the ends to sit flat. Drill the base and supports, attach hardware... I used some gorilla tape at the top to cover any rough edges.
Ta Da!
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| wing jack ready for action |
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| very easy to lift the gear and nothing is in the way |
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| I made up a receiver to thread into the wing tie-down and capture the jack ram |
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| this works GREAT |
