IMI one-man rigger modification

[John Johnson]

I've always been frustrated by the swiveling caster arm on the bottom of my IMI rigger. On a smooth tarmac, it works acceptably.  But on El Tiro's gravel, the arm holds the rigger too upright with no tilting clearance and the small wheels constantly dig in when I try to push it around.  When the wheels dig in, the arm rotates out of position and puts an empty rigger at risk of falling into the glider.  With a wing mounted, I'd forget to rotate the arm out of the way before rolling (or worse, forget to rotate it back out before running the wing into the trailer).  Just a terrible design.

After dealing with it for a few years, I finally decided to act.   My previous rigger was the Koerner / MM design and it had a very simple wheeled kickstand that worked perfectly for moving the rigger around on uneven surfaces.  I knew exactly what I wanted but wasn't sure how to attach the kickstand.  I didn't know how to weld and was thinking about some kluged u-bolt solution. 

But then Harbor Freight had a sale on their cheapest welder (flux core mostly) and I decided to give it a shot.  After a lot of YouTube and scrap metal practice, I was ready for my first ever welding project.  Despite the amateur welds, it came out great and works just like I'd hoped.  My version is also removable with a push button spring clip to secure the kick stand post in the bracket.  

The rigger is much, much easier to use now.  (Mine's an older one - the push clamps on the base are an earlier modification to add much-needed wheel brakes)

Hope this is helpful to anyone as frustrated as I was.

JJ

[Steven Leonard]

Excellent!  I have never understood why the rigger makers (until Steve Koerner) insisted on kick stands that keep the rigger within a few degrees of vertical.  You NEED to be able to tip it and get the kick stand up, away from the ground to move it around.  My one-off design uses a sliding kick stand, not a rotating one.  And no wheel on it.  Not perfect, but less bulk (and less positive in tip direction when you lift the wing out of the cuff) than the Wing Rigger version.  And I have learned how to work with it.

Steve Leonard

[Colleen]

Brilliant! 

[upnaway]

I had a single sided stand on my first version, but after it fell onto the glider I went to a double sided pivoting version. BUT ... I made it so there is considerable height between wheels and ground so it doesn't catch and lets the rigger tilt (the arm is kind of 'gull wing'). The pivot is spring loaded and latches into a detent to hold it perpendicular to the axle. The spring also allows the arm to rock under the axle if you really tilt it a long way.

Not perfect, but it does not fall over and it handles rough ground fine.

I hated the single sided setup - when loading the wing in or out it was just too easy to bump the rigger the wrong way and it would fall over, risking (and causing) damage to it and the glider.