Door Lift Struts

[Marshawk]

Hi all,I'm getting back into flying after 15 years off,some friends and I bought an unfinished kitfox 2,what I was wondering is the size of lift struts for the doors,the lightest ones we could find are 25 lb. lift ,will these be ok or are there lighter ones out there?Also does anyone happen to have a set of the elevator supports or struts for the kitfox two, the fellow we bought the plane off didn't have them packaged with the plane ,he finally found them about two months ago but for some reason can't find the time to ship them to us,even offer to pay for them and the shipping but won't even answer emails anymore,very fustrating!Do you know were we could order a set?
I haven't flown a kitfox but after following this forum for a few months I'm looking forward to getting back up in the air. Great Forum!

Thanks Willis

[Mnflyer]

Hi Willis, 25 lb one may hold the door open in the hanger but its very doubtful it will while taxiing and never in flt, the ones I have on my model III are 40 lb and work good here are the numbers on the cylinder SUSPA Grand Rapids, MI. #C16-09461 14 in 40 lbs 412 I purchase these in the auto parts dept of a local Farm and Ranch supply store. They are 14 inches in length.

[Newkid]

25 lbs. will work fine, but a tad more would be better like a 30#. We allways ran 25 or 30 lb. shocks on ours. The prop wash will help hold the door up during taxing and, while flying the prop wash/air stream alone will hold up the door, even if there is no shock.

[Marshawk]

Thanks for all the advice guys,

Willis

[Jerrytex]

I have Suspa C16-12104 lift struts. I am thinking that they are what is used for the standard doors. I have the bubble doors. When I try to install them, I set the opening correctly and then when I close the door, the ball studs are closer when what the strut will collapse too. Can anyone with bubble doors tell me what model/part strut is being used. I measured mine and they are about 12.25 center to center.

[bbs428]

Ditto.

Mine are also Suspa C16-12104 lift struts @ 12.25" extended and 8 3/8" closed. I have the 50lb gas struts came with the kit. When I set the lift struts so the bubble door will close correctly, the door makes contact with the wing when opened. When set up so the door does not make contact, they do not close. Both doors miss the fuel drains, so that's a plus.
Just opening and closing on the ground, engine off wouldn't be an issue if set up to close correctly but make contact, but run ups, taxing or flying with the door open the rubbing would not be good for the door nor the paint, so that could not be allowed.

So, do I buy shorter lift struts or just let them make contact with the wing and live with the limitations? Anyone else run into this?

[Jerrytex]

I ran into the same issue. I spent considerable time trying to find an alternative. I tried a few different models and nothing worked right. I even called Suspa directly but in the end, I bought directly from Kitfox and they work perfect. I later found out that the model that Kitfox sells, is considerably more expensive if you buy directly from suspa, which seems backwards but a welcomed bonus in my situation!

If the doors rub the wings when open, it doesn't take long for the expensive bubble doors to start showing it.

[Sepan]

Kitfox worked for me as a magic as well. Thanks for the information!

[bbs428]

Just looked it up in the parts catalog - yup, the bubble door gas struts are a different part number! :o