Now that we finally have both wings installed and secured to the fuselage, we are formulating plans to raise the plane and install the landing gear.
Sometimes you just get lucky. Until a few weeks ago we had no way to raise the plane from its cradle and no way to lift the engines to install them on the wings.
We were offered (FREE) an old surplus crane, but we had to go get it, take it apart, transport it and put it together, plus do some VERY minor maintenance and repairs to it.
We now have a plan to jack the plane at the wings and place a sling under the forward section of the fuselage to lift it with the crane so that we can install the landing gear, and then in time install the engines.
For all you guys who have swapped/installed your own engines using a cherry picker, you can appreciate this effort. Pretty much the same thing-----------------just a little larger scale.
There is still LOTS of work to be done, but we are progressing! :thumbsup:
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h219/DZAUTO/Airplanes/100_2160.jpg

http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h219/DZAUTO/Airplanes/100_2161.jpg

http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h219/DZAUTO/Airplanes/100_2162.jpg

http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h219/DZAUTO/Airplanes/100_2167.jpg

http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h219/DZAUTO/Airplanes/100_2170.jpg

Gotta love FREE!
Good to know that valuable crane didn't wind up as scrap metal.
Thanks for the updates
See you in Oshkosh.

Dan

Looks like ya got a good team there Tom. :thumbsup:

The last few times that I'm provided an up date, I've mentioned getting the plane up and installing the landing gear. This is because when it is on its landing gear, we can accomplish many additional repairs and assembly processes that we can't do now. Once that happens, progress should go much faster. And the faster we progress, the sooner we'll make that first test flight!!!!! :thumbsup:
For those of you who have never been involved with reviving an old warbird, it's impossible to express the feeling of what it's like to see it coming together.

That antique is a great score for you guys! One mans junk as they say!
What is that little gem rated at if you know?:)

Tom,
Your progress updates are nearly unbelievable to me as I am sure lots of others here feel the same.
Thanks for taking your time to share!

That antique is a great score for you guys! One mans junk as they say!
What is that little gem rated at if you know?:)

Johnny,
I have no clue what its lifting capacity is rated at.
BUT, David Huffman (leader of the group on the black A-26) has a twin sister to our "new" crane, except it is not nearly in as good of shape as ours. And he has changed engines 2-3 times with his crane, NO SWEAT! So, we are very confident that this crane is overkill for lifting engines. From what we understand, this crane was specifically designed for changing engines in the field. You can see how portable it is. I didn't get any pictures of it when we were taking it apart and only a couple of pictures when we were putting it together because all of us (5) were busy at the time getting it apart/together. At both locations, we were able to round up a forklift to lower/raise the heavy pieces (the upright section with the winch and the boom). The two legs can easily be handled by two people. The entire crane is held together at the joints with big pins (about 1 1/2in diameter) and cotter pins. So, we just relieve the load at each joint, take the cotter pin out of the big pins and knock out the pins. Same way going back together. So, and experienced crew (and we had never done this before) with a forklift can knock one down in 30-45min, load it on a trailer (we used my trailer) and be down the road with it in less than 1hr.
We did have some interesting moments (that's me up on the raised forklift) when we were raising the boom and trying to line up the holes for the pins. Once the boom was in place, we returned the forklift to the people that loaned it to us. We did didn't think about stringing the cable around the pulleys, so I had to climb out on the boom (very carefully on my belly) and run the cable through the pulley, bring it back to the rear pulley then get it locked in place around the winch drum to secure it. Got it done and now we're ready to go! :thumbsup:
What would normally be a 2-3hr (max) job for an experienced crew, took us all day---------------------NO INJURIES, NO PINCHED FINGERS!

Well, I say no injuries. Climbing up down, lifting the crane parts, reaching and stretching, was the final straw that broke the camel's back (my knee)!!
I had surgery 1 1/2yrs ago on the left knee and on Fri (Oct 30), I went in to have the right knee operated on (it was killing me). So, for CB10, I'll have 2 fresh knees! :D

That's a cool score! Good that the Chimemon* didn't get it.
(*Chinese Metal Monster)