Tow Plate for IV

[Scott Martin]

Chick,
I'll take those measurements, when you get them. Thank you.

I will back those up, by putting the rug in the estimated connected location, and check the clearance.

[Paul Miller]

for reference, here is a picture of the TBM tow pins I had sold to the community. The small pin is metric to fit inside the nose gear and the large diameter fits most typical FBO bars. The spring in the middle holds the assembly together and it can be retracted safely if someone misses the red flag. The plastic washers protected the bar from scratching the nose gear paint. The pins were selected to be stainless and you can see the bend that is visible when the tug goes crazy. That alerts the owner to do an inspection, yell at the FBO and get a new set of pins.

I don't really see that possibility with a Legacy but perhaps a fully loaded IV could benefit from an indicator. That would need some testing. But, I definitely would not want to see the bar or attachment come off the plane while being towed if the drilled holes came apart.

[Chuck Walker]

Scott, here are the measurements of my Legacy plate. As stated previously, the factory tow bar plate was made of 1/8" thick stainless steel plate. When I replaced it, we used 3/16" stainless plate. I would recommend the latter if using a tug to move the aircraft. Also, my original plate was bent up at a 45 deg angle about half way between the holes and the rod welded to the front of the plate. My new one is flat, as I think the early plates for the Legacy were, based on Paul's comments. Flat puts the tug force in sheer rather than the bending moment created by the 45 deg angle.

From side to side, the plate is 2 3/8" wide, and from front to back, 1 3/4" deep. The stainless steel rod welded to the front of the plate is 5/16" diameter and 3 3/8" wide. The rear of the plate needs to be shaped to accomodate the strut cylinder rod and rounded at the outside corners around the elastic stop nuts and washers. The bolts in my strut are AN4-14A (1/4-28 x 1-17/32). You should measure your center-to-center bolt spacing to get it precise so there is no play in the plate. Hope this helps.

[Scott Martin]

Chuck,
I appreciate you doing all this. Fabrication will be a piece of cake.

Thank you!

Scott Martin