Precious Metal Gear Door ?

[tim]

Re: Precious Metal Gear Door ?

Let's say we are referring to a gear door shown on Precious Metal, page 3, posted by DesertDawg?

Is it the inside piece that closes up the wheel well when the gear is retracted that was lost?

It's the size of a hub cap on a car, correct?

Is it sheet metal on the outside and inside with a frame between the two layers of sheet metal with no motor or gears inside?

Why is a new unit worth $22,000? Why is it so expensive? A hood to a car, car door etc is only a few thousand dollars and 4 times larger.

How does Pioneer/Teeters build a new one? Do they have the blue prints or mold for this? How is it made? Is a flat piece of metal put inside a hydraulic press and shaped over a mold? Take the two pieces and attach them to an internal frame by welds, bolts and nuts, screws or rivets?

Why can't a specialist build some in carbon fiber for a lot less money and a lot less weight?

And for $100,000 you would be purchasing a complete set of landing gear, the 4 doors, motors, wheels etc?

By AerialGunner: "If we find the old door and the internal parts are OK, we should be able to build up a spare for about $10K."

I can't quite figure out what you are saying here. Are there moving parts inside the gear door? What would you spend $10,000 on?

The metal of a P-51 is a complex composite of aircraft grade Aluminum and $100 bills.

[51fixer]

Re: Precious Metal Gear Door ?

Look here and you can get an idea of it on a door I recently sent out to Bill and Scott Yoak for repair-

http://warbirdinformationexchange.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=21830&start=1410

Size is larger than the top of a large trash can. The tire size is 27" so it is much larger than that as it is a squarish opening larger than the 27" round tire.