Baggage Door Gas Spring

[kgrant]

Re: Baggage Door Gas Spring

Kelly,
One thing I have always used is a home made chisel made out of 3/8" plexiglass. Just put a 30-45 deg edge on it and however wide you need to get in there. The reason for plastic and not a putty knife is if you gouge the metal it creates a stress point for a future crack.

Good idea. Reminds me of the plastic scraper I fashioned to remove fuel tank sealer between nuts. (That was a January cold winter hours on the floor job too!)

This stuff is hard so plexiglass sounds like the right stuff. k

 

[gmores]

Re: Baggage Door Gas Spring

You might also try a scraper blade with a Multimax (or equiv). I've removed pieces of ancient glued-down vinyl flooring pretty easily with that setup. But if it's epoxy you'll need to grind it off.

 

[kgrant]

Re: Baggage Door Gas Spring

Not going to be that easy. Acetone or Tolulene or Heat (not combined!) doesn't soften it enough. Going to be a die grinder/dremel job. k

 

[Planecents]

Re: Baggage Door Gas Spring

Well I hope this wasn't a production process. I plan on doing my baggage door cartridge this spring.

Not going to be that easy. Acetone or Tolulene or Heat (not combined!) doesn't soften it enough. Going to be a die grinder/dremel job. k

 

[kgrant]

Re: Baggage Door Gas Spring

Worked through the sealer material this wknd and got the baggage door off. Temperatures crept up in hangar & I attacked it with several ideas. Attached some pictures of the stuff coming off. It appears to be a 2-stage epoxy that needs heat, MEK, a sharp blade, and needle nose pliers. Still comes off in pieces.

I think the interior was refurbished by Devine Aircraft Finishers (California?) in 1990. They must have put the sealer in when the original wool upgrade was installed. I noticed some evidence of previous water leakage in the hinge area and they apparently fixed it.

Maybe a slight thread creep, but has anyone replaced the hinge pins in the baggage door. Mine have quite a bit of play. I would like to avoid drilling out rivets and refinishing the entire door. k

 

[carllee]

Re: Baggage Door Gas Spring

Worked through the sealer material this wknd and got the baggage door off. Temperatures crept up in hangar & I attacked it with several ideas. Attached some pictures of the stuff coming off. It appears to be a 2-stage epoxy that needs heat, MEK, a sharp blade, and needle nose pliers. Still comes off in pieces.

I think the interior was refurbished by Devine Aircraft Finishers (California?) in 1990. They must have put the sealer in when the original wool upgrade was installed. I noticed some evidence of previous water leakage in the hinge area and they apparently fixed it.

Maybe a slight thread creep, but has anyone replaced the hinge pins in the baggage door. Mine have quite a bit of play. I would like to avoid drilling out rivets and refinishing the entire door. k

Wow, I feel guilty now for having started you down this road. One thing is for certain - you will have the best baggage door in the fleet

I didn't even remove the back seat or side panel when I did mine - just squeezed my hand behind the panel and did it all by feel. I didn't have any of that gunk to deal with though.

 

[kgrant]

Re: Baggage Door Gas Spring

Definitely not a 1-beer project...... k

 

[carllee]

Re: Baggage Door Gas Spring

Definitely not a 1-beer project...... k

I knew there was a bright side to all of this

 

[Planecents]

Re: Baggage Door Gas Spring

Well, had spring like weather yesterday, so did the same. Mine was definitely Proseal (PRC) 890, but it also had some pliable putty similar to what is used on RV windows when they're installed. A lot larger hole through the airframe than what is required for the hinge was filled with the putty. I assume this to allow shimming of the hinge for door alignment if required. I didn't have to use heat or MEK, just got in there and dug it out.Brought the door home where I can work on it in comfort as the colder temps are coming. Yes Carl, you were lucky not having to remove the interior pieces!

Worked through the sealer material this wknd and got the baggage door off. Temperatures crept up in hangar & I attacked it with several ideas. Attached some pictures of the stuff coming off. It appears to be a 2-stage epoxy that needs heat, MEK, a sharp blade, and needle nose pliers. Still comes off in pieces.

 

[kgrant]

Re: Baggage Door Gas Spring

I had some of that putty under mine as well. It is plyable and very sticky. k

 

[Planecents]

Re: Baggage Door Gas Spring

Here in OZ were flipping between spring and winter weekly, so with a few opportunities to work on the baggage door STC from Carl, I thought I would post a few pics of the progress.

 

[kgrant]

Re: Baggage Door Gas Spring

Ok Carl-

Finished my baggage door a couple of weeks ago. Did the interior re-install last weekend and have flown her three evenings this wk. Installed the baggage door interior piece my upholstery lady repaired today (after I managed to mangle it completing Carl's simple instructions).

Here are a few pics.

For those who try this -- be advised some variation exists in our airplanes. I may have "ahem" interpreted some of the installation instructions conceptually rather than literally. It expanded from a weekend project to a winter project.

Here's chronology in pics. The combined thickness of the hinge and reinforcement bracket pushed the door aft and prevented proper alignment on my airplane. Finally removed the upper portion of the bracket and the door alignment worked.

Took some on-site fitting and a great deal of patience.

 

[kgrant]

Re: Baggage Door Gas Spring

Here's a picture with the interior piece installed on the door. I used the soft side of black velcro strips on the inside of the door behind the strut to soften the appearance through the hole I cut too big after missing the alignment on the first try.

BTW I also changed baggage door seals. Brown bulb-style recommended here had too much material. I used it on previous interior refurb and it put too much strain on hinges and latch. This time I used Brown BA-23183000 (need 7 ft). Used black rtv attaching it right at bend in door. Interior plastic fits inside it and seems to fit better than the bulb-style used previously. k

 

[carllee]

Re: Baggage Door Gas Spring

Nice work Kelly!

The reports I'm getting back from the field indicate a HUGE amount of variation from one airplane to another. I don't think there's any way I could design these to satisfy all of the differences that I've heard from all of you. All I had to work from was my own airplane, and some measurements taken from a few other planes, all of which appeared to be the same as mine.

I'm sorry for the difficulties all of you are experiencing in installing these, but I still say they are a big improvement over what was there before. I hate crappy stuff - just bugs me to no end - and that original stay was a piece of crap.

 

[TKutchera]

Re: Baggage Door Gas Spring

Heres a pic of mine. I did not install it and had my IA do it at the annual. He said it went on no problem and I think it looks and works great.

Thanks Carl,
Tim

 

[carllee]

Re: Baggage Door Gas Spring

Heres a pic of mine. I did not install it and had my IA do it at the annual. He said it went on no problem and I think it looks and works great.

Thanks Carl,
Tim

Wow! That looks great.

 

[kgrant]

Re: Baggage Door Gas Spring

Carl-

It's a great enhancement to our aircraft. Thanks for all you did to make it happen. I enjoyed the challenge of mine and learned some great lessons.

1. read the directions carefully.
2. measure twice and drill before drinking the beer.
3. take all your tools to the airport.

 

[slawman]

Re: Baggage Door Gas Spring

What is everyone filling the hinge gaps back in with? I have heard several variations on this.

 

[Planecents]

Re: Baggage Door Gas Spring

I packed mine with high density firewall sound proofing foam and then filled it with matching color 3M seam sealer. NO PRO SEAL AGAIN.

What is everyone filling the hinge gaps back in with? I have heard several variations on this.

 

[kgrant]

Re: Baggage Door Gas Spring

https://www.aircraftspruce.com/pages/cs/fueltanksealants/prosealant.php

I went back with Chemseal 3204 from Spruce. Even though this was probably the stuff I spent quite a bit of time removing from a long-ago interior upgrade.

Whatever you use needs to maintain some elasticity and seal completely. I have experimented putting some rubber bulb door seal in the gap which the attached picture shows from the backside. I sealed both front and back cleaning excess from the exterior with MEK before it dried. Not sure this is a good idea -- but time will tell.