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THE TOW VEHICLE BELOW IS FOR SALE. NEEDS SOME MINOR WORK $400.00

Are you tired of manually pushing your Mooney in to the hanger? Do you wish you had a way to tow her to the wash bay or mechanic without having to start her up and taxi? Well as usual, you've come to the right place! Champaign results on a beer budget...ALWAYS!

I bought a local riding mower which included an extra 12 HP engine for just over $400.00. I sold the spare engine for $200.00 and with a net investment of $200.00, I got to work.

First off, I removed the cutting deck (something that I can also sell), and some larger rear tires bought cheap on ebay. I used one of the deck's mounting brackets to mount on the front of the tractor, then off to Home Depot for some bolts for towing.

I cleaned the tractor up some, then I did a little paint work. Can't have an ugly anything you know...

Most lawn tractors have a hole in the rear for towing a garden trailer. In that hole I placed a 1/2: eye bolt with a nut below and one above. I drilled a small hole through the top of the threaded part of the bolt so I could be able to simply place a pin through it to keep the tow bar in place. Note the washers as well. There are two. One for the bottom of the tow bar to ride upon, and one for the top just under the pin. That was easy and the rear is ready to tow a Mooney longer distances.

The front was just a bit trickier, but not bad. Note the U shaped bracket I used which used to be used as part of the cutting deck mount, and mounted it on the front of the tractor using two existing bolt holes, then I fashioned two pieces of metal that I had which was a long bar that is used to slide in and lock up a rolling tool chest of drawers (rolling tool box). You can use any flat piece of metal, but why buy things when you can use something that's been laying around? That piece was probably 5/16" thick by 1" wide, and longer than I needed so I cut it to size to use as supports which mounted through existing holes on the cutting deck bracket, then attached the other end after drilling holes to the pivot bolts of the opening tractor hood. :o) After that I took two small U bolts to hold the front eye bolt in which was prepared the same way as the rear eye bolt and viola', no welding!

I already had a long tow bar for Mooneys pictured below. You can get a tow bar like this for about $135.00 unless you come across one on ebay. See pix below. One link for a tow bar is: http://www.aircraftspruce.com/menus/ps/towbars.html Then scroll down to Universal Tow Bar Model T-105. Perhaps shopping around will yield a better price. For you non-Mooney types, simply purchase an extended tow bar that fits your particular bird.

Even hand towing is made easier with a Universal Tow Bar. No more bar slipping out of the slot.

Top of tow bar has about a 1/2" hole already which mounts right on the eye bolts.

The bottom of the tow bar fits right in the Mooney just like your regular tow bar, only it fits on both sides for security. Not pictured is a slide bar half way up the tow bar that when slide toward the gear mounts, compresses the tow bar to fit snugly inside the front gear. Is that cool or what? You can use the rear of the tractor to tow your plane around and the front of the tractor to push it in the hanger. Obviously you have to watch so as not to exceed your towing limits, so make shallow turns, especially when using the front of the tractor to push the plane. YOU MUST ALWAYS BE AWARE OF THE WING TIPS AND KEEP YOUR DISTANCE FROM HANGERS AND SUCH!!!!  (It will be important to keep the tire pressure of the vehicle low for best traction.)

BELOW are pictures of the Tow-Tractor that Boyd Maddox of the West Houston Area sent us. You can read about Boyd in our Mooney Legends section. Also be sure to see Boyd's contribution to Mooneyland that explains how and how not to properly jack up your Mooney.

Your tractor can also be used for milling around the airport. GOLF CARTS make the best towing vehicles and great for zipping around the airport and stuff, but they will set you back a bit more than $2000.00 used, so if you're a high roller, go the electric golf cart way and mount your tow bolts the same way only some welding may be necessary for the front especially. You can really fix up a golf cart these days with all the after market stuff like chrome mag rims, big tires, and even a lift kit to make you look extra cool. :o) It's fun riding around the airport and visiting other pilots and lookiloos!

Hey, who's got your back?

the zef!

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Hey now, who's got your back? You know dats right!

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