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RV-8 baggage door

Pmatt

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I'm new to the forum so this may be an old topic. Has anyone come up with a prop rod or gas strut modification to hold the RV-8 baggage door open?
 
There is a baggage door support spring that I believe was original equipment on some Beechcraft baggage door. But don't try to buy it as a Beechcraft part, because it would be stupid-expensive. But You can find the same part sold generically. I think mine was something like $10.

It is a 'coil-locked' spring with nice brackets on each end. When you want to close the door, you poke the spring in the middle and it essentially folds in half and all its support effect goes away.

When you open the door the spring straightens out and holds the door open.

I'll try to find a vendor for it.
 
I wanted mine to be supported from both sides to increase rigidity and better protection from wind gusts, so I cobbled this together. Stupid-complicated-yet-simple, I may refine it in the future. The upper strut pins are pulled into the latch pin holes with springs when the latch is open (plastic tubing was placed over the springs after this photo was taken). The lower strut pins insert into the latch pin blocks and are held in place with a flared length of aluminum tube which is flexed to install and remove. It will do for now.
 

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Mickey, do you recall the length? I'm looking at them on ebay and they come in different lengths.

Looked through my emails from ebay and they don't mention the length, and the item that I bought brings up a 404 error on ebay. I can measure it next time I'm in the hanger. I doubt it will make a huge difference if they are + or - a couple of inches - you can change the position on both the door and where it mounts inside the fuselage to match the length. I put it on the rear side of the baggage door to avoid more holes in the FW.
 
I plan to use this spring from Performance Aero that was once mentioned in previous posts.
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Pmatt:

Just go to Lowe's or Home Depot and for about $2.00 you can get a single-pivot hinge that will work fine. They're about 8 or 9 inches per side of the hinge. I've used one for 16 years. Make sure you buy the left hand opening version. Simple installation. Sorry I don't have a photo on hand.

Chris
 
Spring door support

Snapped these pictures , since each one is worth a thousand words :)
 

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Baggage door

Thanks folks, lots of good suggestions. I hate reinventing the wheel. I'd much rather steal someone else's good idea.
 
Just go to Lowe's or Home Depot and for about $2.00 you can get a single-pivot hinge that will work fine. They're about 8 or 9 inches per side of the hinge. I've used one for 16 years. Make sure you buy the left hand opening version. Simple installation. Sorry I don't have a photo on hand. Chris

What Chris said. Like this:
 

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Consider this strut for your RV8 baggage door

I'm new to the forum so this may be an old topic. Has anyone come up with a prop rod or gas strut modification to hold the RV-8 baggage door open?

Phil, I just did this a few weeks ago, it was simple and came out excellent. I used the strut (as mentioned in previous posts) from McMaster Carr, part number: www.mcmaster.com/#116154A14. This strut worked absolutely perfect.

I mounted it per Matt Dralle's post (thank you Matt!) Per Matt's instructions, the strut will fit perfectly and work excellent on the RV8 baggage door if you mount the upper part of the hinge 11/16" from the bottom of the door and the lower hinge mounted at 8.0" from the exterior skin of the fuselage.

If you need additional photos, email me at [email protected]

Best of luck,

Mike Perillo
 
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+1 for McMaster Carr strut

I'm new to the forum so this may be an old topic. Has anyone come up with a prop rod or gas strut modification to hold the RV-8 baggage door open?

I used Matt Dralle’s excellent write up for the forward baggage door support. Not only does it hold the door open but the geometry of the support actually holds the door closed. That comes in handy if you happen to forget to lock the baggage compartment. Not that I’ve ever done that, just sayin’ ;)
 

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Thanks for the offer Mike. I have the McMaster strut on order. With all of the guidance it looks simple enough. If I should encounter any questions I'll drop you a line.
 
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Similar to Dan’s but I took an arm off another lid stay, modified it to work as a keeper to lock the installed stay in place when up & riveted this to the upper arm of the installed stay. Simple, works great and maybe cost me 10 bucks.
 
Really cheap at Princess Auto, probably equivalent to Harbour Freight in the US...

I needed to experiment a bit to get the geometry right..

Works very well..
 

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I used McMaster Carr as well!

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Spring

I got my coil-spring support from a marine/boat supply site. They are often used to support built-in cooler lids.
Less than $10.
 
I've got the McMaster strut, and am about to install it. It's supposed to keep the door open and closed, right? The strut as delivered is extended about 6 inches, and I can compress it fully contracted, but it sure doesn't hold there. It's pushing the whole time to extend. I can't seem to extend it beyond where it is, so how will it hold the door closed if it's always pushing to extend?
 
As you close the door the lever on the door side goes below the hinge line and puts the force in the opposite direction

Thanks again Matt Dralle for figuring this out
 
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I've got the McMaster strut, and am about to install it. It's supposed to keep the door open and closed, right? The strut as delivered is extended about 6 inches, and I can compress it fully contracted, but it sure doesn't hold there. It's pushing the whole time to extend. I can't seem to extend it beyond where it is, so how will it hold the door closed if it's always pushing to extend?

Sounds like you need to move your attach points. Once again, look at Matt Dralle’s excellent write up for the forward baggage door support.

"For the correct geometry, you'll want to mount the upper hinge exactly 11/16" from the bottom of the door as shown in the pictures. The lower hinge should be mounted exactly 8.0" from the exterior skin of the fuselage as shown in the picture."
 
Thanks. Haven't mounted it yet, but I was perplexed how to make that nice square diagram work in the curved world of an RV8 baggage door. I'll check out the write up. Thanks.;
 
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