Reason for putting gear down before rigging: I've been doing it that
way for 35+ years and I figure if I change now, then one day I'll
forget and push the assembled glider out of the cradle without
dropping the gear.

Don't have a hydraulic jack. With my solo rigging device, the wheel is
several inches off the ground anyway. Also, when the fuselage is
recently waxed, it tends to slide aft occasionally during rigging.
Dropping the gear and lowering the cradle to where the wheel just
touches the ground helps mitigate that.

Chip Bearden
ASW 24 "JB"
USA