A Jacking Adapter for My Sonerai II

October 2023 – My Deuce came with a jacking adapter that works so well I decided to have a similar one made to fit the Sonerai II.

True, you can use a large C-clamp and a bottle jack, but one slip and it falls on the ground. If the tire is removed, then damage is likely. Mine has fallen a few times. So far, I’ve been fortunate.

I used a 6-inch length of 1/8-inch wall pipe, 1 1/4 inches in diameter. It fits any bottle jack from 500 pounds to 8 tons. An 8-ton jack is shown.

The angles of the gear legs differ from airplane to airplane but I settled on 45 degrees since the angle to horizontal changes as soon as you start to jack, i.e., the end of the pipe is cut to 45 degrees.

The plate is 1/8-inch steel say 6-inch x 6-inch. The taper of the leg was traced onto card stock as a template for the angles on the plate. A brake was used to bend it thus |______|. I asked David the welder to hammer the edges on his 1/2” thick steel welding table to become (_______). That shape grips the leaf spring, and while it is jacked up, it cannot come off. David MIG welded it for me to the center of the plate. His heat penetration is so good that the bead is visible on both sides.

The adapter for the Deuce is gas welded. The bead is quite poor, but in 30 years, it has not failed.

Both Mark Clement of Aerosoudure and Northside Welding have closed shop. A great loss to me, but this young man David just graduated and opened a shop, Soudure Mobile Montreal, close to the former two. His welding is lovely. David also does TIG welding. Last month the tail wheel rod broke off, but David TIG welded a larger NAS 1305 bolt on for me. It appears to be much stronger. As a rule, TIG welds don’t break.

You can imagine what it costs today to open a welding shop. His minimum charge is $100, but the adapter cost $150.