Transporting a Challenger

Updated 10-30-09

This is how I moved my Challenger with a 26' enclosed U-Haul, it may vary a little if using a different configuration. I thought I was well prepared but I really wasn't. Mechanically I was, but thankfully Tim had enough stuff lying around we made it happen.

This may not be an all-inclusive list but it will be a good start, an attempt at entertaining, and give you a good idea on how to do it. You may decide to do things in a different order and it may vary a little by plane. I assume no liability in offering this advice it is just how I did it. It worked out fine for me and got me from Dayton, OH to Eastern NC without a scratch. This also assumes you WILL NOT be removing the prop

What you will or may need:

* Needle Nose Pliers.
* Diagonal Cutters (dikes).
* Straps, Straps, and more Straps (I like ratchet straps best as they hold great)
* Rope (the more the merrier, especially if you are OCD like me)
* Small and Medium adjustable wrench (6" and 8").
* Standard combination (box/open) wrenches from 5/16 to 9/16 (2 of all sizes if you can).
* Metric combination wrenches  (box/open) from 7mm to 13mm (Metric wrenches are not used most of the time, but its better to have them.
***Ratchet box wrenches are good for most areas, but regular combination wrenches will be needed in some areas***
* 3/8 Ratchet set with 3" extension (socket sizes 5/16 to 9/16, and 7mm to 13mm).
* Tape - I like duct tape and used a roll of it but don't put it on Lexan or paint or it may damage it, use Painters tape if you need to tape on those areas.
* Flat and Phillips head screwdrivers (1 small, med, and large of each).
* Blankets/Bubble Wrap/Carpet padding something to cushion the surfaces (2 dozen of the u-haul blankets are what I used).
* 2 Tarps 15x15 (size varies and is explained below) or some system to hold wings on the trailer.
* A system to prop one wing while the other is removed (step ladder with a blanket on top or similar, more below).
* Something to stand on to get to the wing bolts (I am a short 5'8"").
* Drill with various drill bits in case you need to remove rivets (I never had to).
* A friend or two you can bribe with beer, soda, or a backrub to help removing the wings and loading it. I would have to thank my wife who I convinced to fly with me up there, help, and drive back over a weekend, and Tim Gaffney who I purchased the plane from. They were all a HUGE help.

You arrive on scene and you get all the gawking out of the way, sit in her, and get a little bit of time to let it settle in that you will soon be on your way with your own plane! It was then time for my wife to go sit in the truck because she was already complaining that she was cold. She would reside there until I beckoned for her, she would pop out and offer her help, then scamper away like Puxatawny Phil after seeing his shadow and go back to the warmth of the truck and the company of a cell phone.

Now comes the time you have to start surveying how you are going to disassemble this aircraft and stand there for a few minutes in hesitation of the task ahead. It really isn't as bad as you may think it will be. I will write this according to how I disassembled my plane in mid October 2009 and add in anything I think may be relevant to others.

First some important notes.
1. You will probably want to support the wing opposite the one you will remove first. Most Challengers will stand upright on their landing gear with one wing removed but why put the additional stress on the gear leg, Not to mention you are taking a chance that while wiggling and shaking the plane it could end up looking like the Flintstones car after Fred had the Brontosaurus ribs placed on the window tray (in other words, on its side)!!!!
2. Treat everything you remove as if it is a Faberge egg. I am a cheap ass and don't like repairing things I could have prevented by being a little more careful or cautious.
3. Label and bag every bolt you remove, it will save you LOTS of time. I personally put each bolt back in its place it was removed from and snugged it down so it didn't fall off in transit.

Ok, enough yapping, on with it:

I like to start by ensuring I have access to all the bolts, and in my case that meant removing the screws that held on the fiberglass center section cover above the windshield, you may or may not have this. I also needed to remove a thin aluminum piece over the tops of the wing (covering the root tube) that was secured by means of Velcro, so up on the step ladder I went. It was very easy to remove the aluminum strip but if you have that and it is riveted on it will be much more Challengering (my own word) to get all the rivets out, just BE CAREFUL.

I now had access to all the bolts, wiring for the wing tip lights, and comm antenna. I disconnected the wires and had a thorough look to make sure nothing was going to be left dragging once the wings came off and I left my post on the stepladder.

I walked around the plane and made sure I could see all the hardware I was going to have to remove and I was good to start.

I removed all the cotter pins and loosened all the nuts on the bolts that I would be removing which were the strut bolts at the rony brackets on the fuselage, and the wing bolts at the rony bracket attached to the Root Tube. I also went to the Flaperon and removed the bolts, washers, and nyloc that held the u-joint to the Flaperon. Once the bolts were out I just rotated that aluminum rod towards the cockpit, taped the u-joint to ensure it didn't loosen, fall off, or lose its adjustment. I then put the hardware back through the u-joint to I wouldn't lose it.

Now everything was finger tight on the wings and it was time for my bribe to go into effect. I had my wife hold the tip of the wing, after instruction on where to place her hands so she didn't end up waving at me through the wing, and telling her she may need to move the wing up and down or wiggle front to back. Just so you know, use a place that is supported by a rigid surface, the wing tip has aluminum around it so that should suffice. Tim was positioned at the leading edge of the wing by the root tube, and I was off supervising, no, I was on the trailing edge by the flaperon connection (that was hanging loose). The wing itself is not too heavy so I opted to remove the bolts securing the wing to the fuselage first. You assistant will need to support the weight of the wing just to make sure it doesn't drop and up piercing the fabric.

Once the bottom bolts were out we were up to the main bolts at the root tube. I let Tim take the leading edge bolt out first although I doubt it makes a difference. After some wiggling it came out pretty easily. I had a more difficult time with the trailing edge bolts but with a few taps from the hillbilly hammer (ratchet) it came out as well. The wing was now free and we all supported the wing, moved it away and rotated it so it was perpendicular to the ground, or, on its side. We carried it away to 2 blankets in the grass I had set up and placed it ribs down so I could access the upper strut bolts.

 

I now went back and put the removed bolts back where they came from and put all the removed cotter pins in a bag (just in case I needed them later)

The process was the same for the opposite wing.

Congratulations you just got the hardest part done!

While the wings were both laid out on the ground (a little later) I removed the hardware that attached the jury struts (smaller 3 piece aluminum tubes that support the struts) I labeled the jury struts so I knew which way they went back on, then labeled the strut themselves to make sure I put them back in the right place and facing the correct direction (Front Top, Front Bottom, Rear Top, Rear Bottom). Then I removed the hardware that secured the strut to the wings, removed the struts, and placed the hardware back on the wing bracket where they came from, to include the saddles on the inside of the bracket.

Now I went to the horizontal stabilizer area. I removed the hardware from where the elevator attaches to the bell crank at the fuselage, removed the control rod and let it hang (watch you don't slam the elevator down on the ground), and replaced the hardware in its location. Now I went to the horizontal stabilizer and removed the cotter pins from all 4 connections (2 from the vertical stab. 2 from the bracket on the fuselage). Some planes will not have cotter pins but will have nylocs instead as Quad City calls for. Now the horizontal stab. was free and I removed it and placed it on a blanket as well. As usual I put all the hardware back where it came from and snugged it down to ensure it wouldn't fall off. I personally didn't remove the elevator from the horizontal stab but you may opt to. I also didn't remove any of the rods that were connected to it but to each his own.

 

I left the rudder on, and connected and it didn't get in the way at all.

Now all the parts were removed that I was going to take off. From here it took me about 3 hours to figure out how I was going to load it in the truck and secure everything. Hopefully I can save you some time by reading this!

I opted to hang the wings on the sides of the truck like it was a meat locker. What I did was lay out the tarps. I lined half of the tarp with blankets and set the wing on the blankets ribs down, leading edge in the middle of the tarp. Then I laid blankets over the wing and secured the blankets together with tape creating an all around cushion. Then I folded the tarp over the wing. It left me with a wing taco where the tarp was the shell and the wing was the meat. I had a few feet extra tarp material on the flaperon side that I used to roll the tarp down to the flaperon. I then poked holes every few feet and tied the roll nice and tight (this will make sense in a minute).

I went into the truck and put 4 or 5 pieces of rope over the roof supports on the left and right side. Now we brought the wing into the truck, ribs inboard, flat surface to the wall, leading edge down, tied tarp roll up top. I used the existing holes the tarp was tied with and put the roof ropes through the holes. I had an assistant hold the wing about 2 feet off the ground and tied them tight. I tied all of the ropes and now the wing was suspended in the air on the side of the truck. I repeated the process for the other side.

Now, I like to think of myself as strong for my size, and I am a rather young buck (32) so I opted to LIFT the Challenger with Tim's help into the truck TAIL FIRST (my wife was standing by to offer a hand but mainly guided the tail straight). You may want to devise a ramp and winch system or get more assistance if this is not an option for you. I will say that there was some amusing grunts involved that made it hard to keep supporting the weight while laughing. I imagine some plywood stacked across the loading ramp and a rope and pulley system would work.

The plane got loaded into the truck and in the 26' u-haul there is a wheel well about 6" above the rest of the floor that serves as a perfect place to set the wheels on and start securing it in place. I used 4 ratchet straps in the cockpit area and 1 in the tail section. I looped all the ratchet straps around the wood that surrounds the truck and secured it back to the strap. I placed the first ratchet strap on the front strut rony bracket on the fuselage. Since it conveniently had the hardware back through it creating a place for me to put the hook of the ratchet strap on. I mirrored the process on the opposite side.

Now I went back to the rudder and secured the strap to the bottom row of wood on the front of the truck, ran it through the gap under the vertical stabilizer and the fuselage then back to the wood at the front creating a triangle shape with 2 points on the wood, 1 on the stabilizer. BE CAUTIOUS with this area because the rudder control assembly is thin aluminum and will bend easily if the strap is resting on it. Now I just sequentially ratcheted the straps until they were taught. Be careful not to over tighten or leave to loose. You will have to use your judgment here.

Now I had protection from forward and backward movement but I added a second measure of protection and used the trailing edge rony bracket on the root tube and put another strap from there to the wall. The fuselage straps essentially created an X with the center of the X being the cockpit. In hindsight I might have used the leading edge rony bracket at the root tube for my first set of straps. That is something that you can look at and decide on for yourself. One thing to keep in mind is that along with limiting forward and rear movement, you want to limit up and down movement. My thought it that since the Challenger naturally sits on its tail if you use both upper brackets you will leave yourself susceptible to the Challenger rocking on its gear legs. Where I placed the strap it did not move at all, but the brackets did rotate about 90 degrees on the fuselage due to the strap tension. It didn't cause any damage on mine, but I could see that it COULD.

I used another blanket on the floor of the truck, placed the horizontal stab on it, folded the edges over the stab, put another blanked over the top of it, placed the other horizontal stab so that no protruding parts were contacting the fabric of the other the put another blanket over the top and tucked them all in neatly. I then taped the blankets to the floor of the truck while enduring ridicule from my wife at how GHETTO I was and how much tape I was using, but it didn't move the whole trip and all the pieces where unscathed, so GHETTO or not, it worked.

I took yet another blanket and laid it out, placed a strut near the edge and rolled it in the blanket, then placed another, rolled more, then another, and so on. I got all 4 struts in one blanket. I tied the strut burrito to the wall of the truck on one of the wooden rails with more rope.

I did a once over on all my connections and TAPE and placed the thin aluminum strip and fiberglass center cover (wrapped in a blanket) that I removed first in the cockpit. I wrapped the jury struts in a blanket (folded them all down) and placed them in the cockpit as well.

NOW I WAS DONE, TOO MANY HOURS LATER, BUT DONE!

I checked after a few miles, then after some more, and then every time I stopped. Only thing that was needed was the occasional reassurance of another click on the ratchet strap or a pluck on the straps like a guitar to keep me happy that she wasn't moving.

Here is a pic after I got it in the driveway at home:

And into the Garage

That is the end of this story, I hope it was informative and enjoyable.