Latest Work Completed Mantua, New Jersey
Original Site:
September 2004
E-mail: usav8or@yahoo.com
I found that big ol' radial engine for my biplane !
September 16, 2008
One of the beauties of getting a radial... is figuring out how to get it off the truck. The
case of two Bobs.. Bobcats and Bob the builder
Just when you think you've got it all figured out... you find
a fly in the ointment.
Got the radial engine home with no problem from upstate New
York. Next day I bring it over to Whitey's airport to unload
it with his tractor/frontend loader. I hook up all the straps
and chains and... the bucket isn't able to lift high enough
to get over the crate that the engine is packed in. We sit/stand
looking at it for about a half hour.
No matter how long we stared at that crate... it wasn't going
to move. Long story short. Need to figure out a way to lift
it off my truck without breaking... the engine and my bank
account.
In the two days
that have past I've called a lot of heavy equipment rental
companies and spoken/emailed quite a few people. The best
that I've come up with is a $300.00 Bobcat rental with forks
on the front. A day's worth of rental for a 15 minute job.
Kinda makes me sick.
Still a day or two before I need to make the decision. I'll
keep my eyes open and ears sharp for anything that is remotely
better than a 300 dollar bill.
Who would have thought that getting the engine off the truck
was going to be the most difficult part of bring it back home
?
Update: September 18, 2008 Neither of the above...
Denise gave me a call yesterday at work with some great news.
She had been speaking to one of her maintenance guys and the
subject of a big old crate on the back of my truck came up.
Well... it turns out that Bob's dad has his own place and
works on automotive engines. He has this 'UGE engine hoist
on the back of a truck. Said he'd be happy to help me with
getting it off loaded. sweet...
EAA Chapter 216's meeting was tonight. I had planned to go
and talk to a few guys to see what their take on getting something
like this off the truck would be. Then, with this good news,
I planned to let Whitey know that I had found someone that
would be able to hoist it off the truck and set it into it's
spot in the hangar. I arrived at the meeting just before they
were ready to start and talked to a few guys that I hadn't
seen for awhile. Didn't see Whitey right away and figured
I'd find him after the meeting to tell him the news.
Whistle blows... meetings over and everyone gets up to talk
airplanes. I get into a discussion with Ed and Tom about the
joys of off loading a radial engine when I hear my name being
called.
Whitey walks
up and asks me if I had found a Bobcat rental yet. I started
telling him about the guy, Bob, that Denise had put me into
contact with when he mentions that he has a great solution.
All he'd need to do is move his Aeronca Sedan out of the hangar,
rig up a few industrial hoists and pullies to the rafter inside
the hangar, have me pull the truck in and we'd lift the gorilla
of an engine off the back. Once it was on the floor of the
hangar he'd have no problem moving it around with the tractor.
(do I hear another sweeeet... ?)
Not this weekend... but the following weekend, I'll be heading
over to Whitey's bright and early to rig up those hoisting
devices to get this puppy on the ground.
October 12, 2008
Big horse power... and big props Who
would have thunk ?
Whitey and I were finally able to match our busy schedules
and I headed over to the aiport this morning, bright and early.
After hangar flying for a few hours with Whitey and Walt (the
local A and I,) Whitey and I head out to the hangar that I'll
be keeping the radial in when I am working on it.
After pushing
out his Aeronca Sedan (he restored her 30 years ago and she's
still a beauty) I back my F-150 pickup into the hangar so
that it would be under one of the heavy metal I-beams that
is supporting the roof. After positioning the straps and chains
around the crate I climb up on the crate and swing another
chain over the I-beam and secure it. Whitey hands me up a
block and tackle so that I can secure that to the chain on
the I-beam and the chains on the crate. I start winching it
up and up and up... The crate was so heavy, the best that
I could do is... well, it wasn't good enough to lift it off
the bed of the truck. I un-winch it, tighten up the chain
around the I-beam and tighten up the chains around the crate
as much as I could and have a go at it again. I'm winching
and winching and winching... almost there.. and winching...
almost there.. and winching... almost there but with no additional
room to lift. I've raised the crate up about six or eight
inches and it is still sitting in the bed of the truck !
Now what ?
Ever
have someone ask you that puzzling question... If there was
a truck, stuck underneath a bridge, what would you do to get
it out ? Answer: Let some of the air out of the tires. BRILLIANT!
But... before doing that I checked to make sure Whitey had
a compressor so that I could re-inflate them. (I was thinking
ahead here.. didn't want to let the air out of my tires and
be stuck at the airport) He did. So I did. It took quite
a bit of deflating before the crate hung free enough so that
I could pull the truck forward. success at last !
No problem
winching the crate to the floor, four feet below. Once I got
it down and all the straps and chains stowed, Whitey fired
up his tractor and pushed it to it's place in the hangar.
A bit of a surprise... I brought along a drill and
a few screw driver tips so that I could take out the numerous
screws that were holding the crate together. The more panels
that I took off of the crate the more I liked what I saw...
no broken fins, a lot of accessories, everything looks to
be in good shape.
I
finally see what I've been looking for since I started uncrating
her... the data plate. I couldn't really see the stamping
on it too good so I asked Whitey for a light. He brought over
a drop light and as I'm rubbing the dust from the data plate
I can make out a letter and a number after the dash on the
model number... it's an A and a 2. (I'm thinking SWEET
! The conversion to the 275 hp has already been made.)
As the words are coming out of my mouth I remember reading
that the -A2 was the 300 hp model. It was almost unbelieveable.
I had the Jacob engine that I originally wanted to hang on
the Skybolt ! God was looking down on me today !
What had happened was, the guy who I bought it from bought
it from an estate sale in Washington state. He never opened
the crate to see what R755 model it was. Either he assumed
or was told it was the -9 model. He was wrong, they were wrong
and I was wrong. It's one time that it's OK to be wrong 'cause
I got me a 300 hp Jake !
OK... so
were standing back admiring it. And as we're talking, one
of the local airport guys, Bob, walks in and starts asking
about the components on it. I explain that it's set up for
a constant speed prop right now; with the mag on one side
and the accessory drive on the other. I said it could easily
be changed over to a fixed pitch prop by changing out the
drive for another magneto. Somehow this segways into talking
about a big 96" prop. Sometime during this conversation Whitey
points over to a corner in the hangar and says "I've got one
right here. And if you want it, you can have it." I said...
"Want it ? YES !"
The tips are bent slightly, which I don't think will be a
problem to have overhauled, but there is a deformation along
one of the blade that may make that inserviceable. Hey...
the Sensenich Propeller company is only about a two hour drive
from my house. I'll send them an email asking if it's worth
bringing over. I'll keep you posted.
And that my friends, was my morning at Whitey's airport.