ORIGINAL: ram3500-RCU
ORIGINAL: dvs1
So are you going to relocate the arm outward on the gear door slightly or completely redesign the mechanics of it? I looked at your picture again and did notice your linkage is very close to the hinge line. I looked at mine and it is a little further out, plus my mustang door is curved towards the gear so with your theory mine actually would close easier than it would open. What your saying does make sense, it just blows me away that something so small causes so much drag.
You are so right. We kept doubting that this could be the problem. It just could not be possible in our minds. When you try to pry the door open against the air pressure, it does not seem possible. But it apparently is the case.
Not sure what Brian will do, but we took a look at how Wayne Fussel had his rigged, and they closed fine. He had the cylinder working 90deg from ours and used a bell crank to transfer the pressure. Looked like a lot more torque was brought to bear that way. He also had the scale-like inner skins on the doors.
This is the way Dino did it on his P-47. Wayne's was very similar.
Gary, an even better way of doing it with the horizontal setup and bellcrank is to use a bell crank that is longer on the cylinder end and shorter on the door rod end. About a 2/1 ratio would work great. That way you will instantly double your torque right at the bellcrank. Also if you could move your attaching point on the door even 1/4 inch that would probably help tremendously as well.