Door Rod (prop) ripped out of Cruisair Door. oops

blimpy

blimpy

New member
well, Capt Dumb FK really did it this time.
Not much help in the archieves.

Short story: Door stay ( prop rod) is ripped out of the door, and has been bent one too many times.
Time to remove the door, and make a proper repair.

But How ?

Long egg on face story:


The chromed door stay had been " cold bent" numerous times before I got it, and periodically gets
"re-adjusted" after the forces of nature, and the gremlins of life ( read stupid pilots/passengers)
have their way with it.

What precipitated the latest ( last) debacle was my trying to taxi slowly to the gas pump with the door propped
open on a hot day. Got less than 3 feet when the nice little rod bent to about a 60 degree angle. :oops: :roll: :| :mrgreen:

Couple of flights after I "adjusted" it one more time :idea: ... it was still not operating as nicely as it should.
Some Giant.. who will remain nameless stood on the wing and pushed down on it nice and hard.. ripping the
thing right out of the g ** D****d door ! :wink:

Now I have to figure out how to fix this thing . :?: :?:

Clearly the first time the door is caught by the wind while we exit the plane.. much nastier things can happen to
the door hinges, windscreen etc.

Questions:

Is this rod supposed to be "malleable/ bendable" ??

Is it futile to try to bend /hammer it into shape, and possibly heat treat it ( which would make it brittle ? )
Assuming I can buy some decent used parts, and replace the bad stuff, is there some re-inforcing to be done
where the thing attaches to the door.

I don't know what is behind the aluminum Trim Strip the rod pulled out of. Hopefully something beefier.

Argh !

Oh.. may as well try to replace the door seals while I have to door off. They look like pieced together crap, don't leak air
but seem to have leaked water in the past - at least the headliner is stained at the door opening.
 
I can't help you with advice but I would like to know what you use as a replacement door seal. I need one as well.
Gary
 
what I have now looks like glued in pieces of off the shelf bulk auto door seal material.

doesn't whistle anyway.

I will let you know. Main priority is to fix the door stay and keep it flying.

:) L.
 
Today I did a simple but reasonably elegant fix of the Bent Door Rod & attachement. :wink:

Better yet, I figure out a Really Good way to anchor the rod to the door . :D

My rod had been attached only to the trim piece at the bottom of the door.
Behind the trim piece is much more substantial aluminum sheet attached to the door frame.

However, the elastic stop nut only had bearing on the trim... while neatly protruding through a drilled
hole in the sturdier panel.

A. The quick fix was to hammer the ripped hole in the trim flat, and sandwich the trim between polished
stainless flat washers about 5/8 in back, and 3/4 in front. That spreads the load, hides the ugly hole,
and well.. it works. There is a large self tapping screw very close to the washers that carries the load to rear panel.

Hammered the rod straight, filed the welded end smooth so it would slide in the track better, and put it back together. Better now than whoever did it last, at least.

But

B. The elegant fix will be to use a captive stop nut ( rivnut ?) installed so the nut goes into the hole already provided,
so the pull load is carried by the rivets to the heavier panel and door frame. I'll keep the big flat washer on the cabin side.

I would have done it to day if I'd had the riv-nut or whatever they're called. Should be a LOT stronger than the way I found it.

Larry
 
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