Re: [DML] a better door launcher?

[Martin Gutkowski <webmaster@xxxx>]

Actuators aren't very heavy - 500g maybe. And brake/throttle cable is 
steel inside a steel ringed sheath, and you'd get perhaps 3-4' of that 
to pull the handle, inside the door. Not worth the effort IMO. It'd also 
be a lot easer to fix/maintain an actuator inside the door. I don't 
really see that adjusting the torsion bar to take a relatively tiny bit 
of stress off it is going to increase its life much anyway. They don't 
often fail as it is.

As to the eagerness of your struts vs the counterbalance of your door. I 
don't know where the 4" "rule" came from, but if the torsion bar has 
enough twist in it to lift the door sufficiently for the gas strut to 
take over, that's all the bar needs to do. If you have to lift the door 
at all, then the torsion bar's not notched high enough. Remember the 
more the door goes up the less and less work the torsion bar is doing, 
and the more the strut is doing. Neither works without the other, and at 
the point of being closed, the strut provides zero lift to the door.

It does sound like you'd benefit from having the struts with the "brake" 
in them. I got mine from PJ Grady, and at least two other members who've 
seen how my doors work have said "right, I'm getting a pair of those 
struts".

Martin
#1458
DOC UK

Walter Coe wrote:

> While doing extensive work in my doors, I've come across perhaps a better
> idea for installing door launchers than weighing the door down with
> additional hardware. My idea is to install the actuator (or solenoid or
> whatever) in the T-panel or one of the electrical compartments behind the
> seats. From there run bicycle brake type cables up through the T-panel and
> into the doors. Technically the same could also be done with the door lock
> solenoids which would take a lot of weight out of the doors taking strain
> off the torsion bars & door struts.