I just got a new job. My boss (electrical engineer) asked me (mechanical engineer) if I could come up with a mod for his ATV to pull his airplane (a WW1 bi-plane) out of the hanger. I don't have a clue about ATVs and from what I understand, he would like this thing to just crawl, obviously to have enough torque to pull this airplane. My question is, is this even possible? I don't have an exact model of ATV, but I'm sure it's just a typical Honda of some sort. Please let me know if this project is worth looking in to. Thank you.

 

I would guees you would need some sort of tow bar with a wheel on the front that might possible turn. I have seen a few guys do this with their small bush planes.

If you want the ATV to crawl at a slow speed with lots of torque see if it has low range. OR you can use Hi range 4x4 and adjust the throttle limiter so that the machine will not travel faster than you want it to.

Sounds like an easy and fun project. I know any 350 or 400 ATV will have the power because I launch my 18ft aluminim skiff on a muddy sandy beach with out a single problem for years now.

Good luck.

SJ

 

His ATV should be able to easily pull a WWI era Bi-Plane. In fact your average mid sized ATV could probably be hooked to an entire squadron of WWI era Bi-Planes and pull them.

It should be quite simple. Fabricate a simple tow bar from the front gear (or whatever appropriate tow points on the aircraft) to equally distribute the load and hook them to the hitch point of the ATV. Something " Y " shaped.

Should be simple to fabricate and the ATV should be able to tow it easily.

 

Hmmm... instead of pulling the plane with the atv, why not just fire it up and fly it? Sure would be a lot more fun.

But seriously, your only real concern is the weight of the plane. Even the largest ATV's are rated only for 1000 pound pulling, largely because the brakes aren't good enough to stop anything heavier. Also want to be sure you don't damage the plane with whatever you come up with to pull it. Assuming it's a taildragger, you'll be towing from the rear. If it has a skid on the tail, you might think about a dolly with two wheels to put under the skid, with a bracket to attach to the atv's trailer hitch.

Shouldn't be a problem - a WW1 reproduction is probably going to be very light.