Hauling a gyroplane

GrantR

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 16, 2007
Messages
1,329
Location
Plains, GA
Aircraft
Kolb MarkIII and a "Jake" Gyroplane
Total Flight Time
About 85 fixed wing 3 gyro
How do you guys haul your gyroplanes to the airport?

Can you haul the gyro safely on an open trailer with the rotor blades on?
I am not talking about a long trip. Maybe a trip of 50 miles or less.

I know the blades would need tying to keep the trailer from flying away. LOL

Would the blades need any additional support since the trailer would bounce a fair amount from bumps in the road?
 
I can't speak for everyone, but I plan to take the rotor off and pack it away in the rotor blade box. I plan to haul mine on an open trailer much of the time. Especially with long blades, there has to be too much risk of something getting bent. I know that as far back as the old Brock videos, the first part of "getting ready to fly" was putting the rotor back together.
 
Hauling a gyro on a trailer is the hardest thing you can subject it to, other than crashing.

Every bump your tire hits is like taking a 30 pound dead-blow hammer and hitting the side of your rotorhead with the blades on. The head will move, and the blades delay, each way, every hit.

If you build blade supports, you only intensify the problem by delaying the movement of the blades even more, allowing the movement of the head to hammer against resistance.

You must take the 10 minutes and take off the blades, and put them back on after trailering. That is the safest and less harmful thing you can do.

Only 50 miles? The question is how many hits is reasonable for you?

5 or none?
 
If you use a soft, smooth riding trailer, and drive on reasonably smooth roads, I see nothing wrong with trailering with the blades on the machine. I have done it myself many times, on trips of over 1200 miles or more at times.

The key is a smooth riding trailer, with good solid blade supports that support the blades in several places, and strapping the gyro down tight to the trailer and blades tight to the supports, that way everything has to move as one unit.

It takes far longer than 10 minutes to put your blades together, and it is a major pain in the butt. Time is valuable, I would rather buy a new rotorhead bearing and replace it twice as often than to spend a hour or more to put blades together, and then take them back apart and box them for everytime I am going to fly.

Here is pictures of two gyros I have trailered with blades on
 

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secure your rotor blades in the cradle,tie it down tight and be sure to push the control stick forward and lock it down so as the hub bar is not touching the teeter stop blocks and rides on the 3/8 bolt and I have trailored this way for twenty years,of course I have a "Steve Krouse" easy rider trailor too!
 
Ron,

Do you build custom Gyro trailers? LOL Thats what I had in mind exactly but I was not sure if it would work well or not.

Those single axle trailers with leaf springs are not the smoothest riding trailers!

One more reason to go with gyros! Easy to transport!
 
I have built my own trailer, but both of the ones in the pictures were store bought and then modified by me.

If you want a smooth trailer, even a torsion axle will still ride rough... the smoothest trailers are built around the rear axle, coil springs and shock absorbers off a compact front wheel drive car such as a Ford escort or VW Rabbit for example.
 
I have built my trailer to ride just as my truck, I hauled mine in my truck and wanted the same smooth ride.
 
Interesting trailer pictures. This brings a traffic question.

I am aware that contractors are ticketed with some regularity (in Georgia and Florida) for ladders that extend 2' beyond the body of a trailer or beyond the last lighted portion of a trailer at night. Further, if another vehicle pulls in too close behind such a "ladder" and causes damage by collision, the ticket goes to the ladder-bearer. Some insurance carriers excuse themselves from reimbursement for damage caused in such cases.

Would this same principle not be likely to be applied to rotors?
 
The worst thing you can do is haul a 500 lb. gyro on a trailer rated for let's say a 10,000 lb trailer. It will ride way to rough and damage the gyro. Try to get a trailer so thae maximum weight of the trailer is about the same as the gyro's weight. I had a friend that moved to california and took an RV plane, and took the wings off. Then trailered the plane in a box trailer. The traile was good for 18,000 lbs. The plane around 1,000 lbs. By the time he got there and opened the doors. The plane was a pile of trash laying in the bottom of the trailer. The rough ride ruined it.
 
Get a lightly sprung trailer and use it just for the gyro. A smal modified boat trailer works well also.
 
Here is my .02 cents worth on the subject.

Ive hauled my gyro on a tandem axle trailer from Az to Florida and all over the western states for ten years with no appreciable damage to the gyro or the blades.I take the blades off and store them in a box- The gyro is "tied" down with HEAVY DUTY" BUNGEE straps from the wheels to the trailer bed. I have a stick lock on the gyro and a rudder lock--

1. Taking your blades off is probably the best way to protect your blades and gyro during transport. A trailer like Ron uses is doable but the gyro is subject to more stress and banging around. Yes you could get ticketed in some cases--the statement--"Some insurance carriers excuse themselves from reimbursement for damage caused in such cases" is pure bunk --- to think that your insurance wont cover you in case of an accident is insane. Remember insurance companies are in the business of paying off claims for accidents --reguardless of fault.

2. There is literally no difference in the amount of "tossing around" the gyro will go through whether the trailer has a soft suspension or it is a heavy duty suspension. Boat trailer or other small wheeled trailers require HIGH PRESSURE in the tires to be able to carry the load. Heavy duty trailers have stiff springs but they can use less air pressure in the tires for lighter loads. If you adjust the Air Pressure in the trailer tires in relation to the amount of weight you are carrying you will get the smoothest ride available. I have used BOTH types with no damage to my gyros. . When you tie the gyro down do NOT tie from the frame--tie it from the "unsprung"weight ie: TIE THE WHEElS down-this allows the gyro to ride on its suspension -this is much better and less stressful on the machine..

That RV that was "trashed" in an 18K trailer--in all likely hood it was the result of an improper tiedown. The Airplane racers bust down their small "Formula" aircraft and load them on / in really HEAVY DUTY trailers and haul them all over the country with NO problems.
 
Rolling lobe airbags will give the smoothest ride, even better then air bellows.
They could also be used to adjust height/level off to load/unload.
Just be carefull that the shocks won't bottom out.
Sometimes an enclosed part of the trailer chassis or even an axle can be used as an air tank.
www.airbagit.com is a cheap source.

Kind regards,
Willem
 
I'm hoping the snowmobile trailer that I'm converting for the Ultrawhite I'm buying will work. The snowmobile weighted 400+ and the UW is 310+, so maybe it will work. I will have to trailer 20 miles to a "non-classifed" air strip. So, plan to build rotor supports, one each front and aft. Here's hoping all with work out....
 
In regards to the "small boat tralier" I have one of these and took two leaves leaving only the main leaf on each side and the trailer is fairly soft riding with a 300 lb ultralight. But now with my 220 lb gyro it seems harsh (weight without the wing). So I bought rubber torsion axels from northern tool and equipment. I haven't tried them yet but soon. I will say I was dissapointed when the axels arrived. They are supposed to be rated at 250 lbs each but the assesembly is massive (like 2000 lbs each not 250 lbs). There is an inch thick by 2 inch wide steel beam connecting the axel and rubber torsion. I clamped it to a frame and jumped up and down on it and it gave about an inch. I was hoping for about 4 inches of travel. Ron's idea of the rabbit rear end with coil springs and shocks seems good. And I have a rabbit for spare parts. So I am going to put the torsion axel on my current trailer and see and if I still do not like it then the rabbit rear end will be tried. But at the moment I would not recommend these torsion axels I bought. Ps : this boat trailer has gone east to west coast 3 times. Twice with a trike and once with a gyro. Not to mention numerous small trips like New Mexico to Nevada, Calif, Oregon and back. Wings always carried in their own box.
 
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I will say this. One easy and cheap solution is to add weight to the trailer so it is near max loaded with the gyro. Run the trailer tires at lower than the rated max pressure for max weight (look at that weight printed on the tire and compare to the weight the tire is carrying) and run the tire at least 5 - 10 lbs cold under pressure. Just don't run the tire so that it looks like it is "low" on pressure. But in my opinion always take the wing off. You cannot protect it too much but you can easily damage it. Have the ultralight tire pressure low and tie it down so the ultralight can use the bounce in the low tires for suspension. To do this I tie the frame but do not pull things so tight that the ultralight cannot bounce on the low tires.
 
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Typical rubber torsion axles from places like Northern Tool, will not give you a cushiony ride guys.... It will ride better than a stiff old leaf spring set up, but not a whole lot better.

And running down the interstate with under inflated tires is also not good. Trailer tires get hot going down the road, this heat is what causes most blow outs. I am sure if you have driven much on the interstates, you have seen countless peoples on the side of the road with blown out boat trailer tires or camper trailer tires etc.... The tire needs to be properly filled to allow the least amount of rolling reasistance and least amount of heat build up. If you have steel belted car or light truck tires on your trailer you can get away with running under inflated a little better, but using tires that are not rated for trailers is Illegal!

A gyro is very light weight. Even a Fully loaded Leadsled like a Sparrowhawk. Most trailers are made to hold alot more weight than a typical gyro. So you have to do something to make it ride softer if you want to do the least amount of harm to it.

I have seen alot of homemade trailers, and the ones that had the best ride were built with coil springs and shock absorbers on the axle.
 
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