Wing Ding door stop mystery
Our flying club recently picked up a second PA28R-201 Arrow III. Our other Arrow has a Wing Ding. We like it for door health so, found and grabbed one with STC for the new plane. When we went to put it on we found that the door on the new Arrow does not open as far as the door of our old Arrow. The travel is limited by full extension of the door holder assembly before the door reaches the Wing Ding. We measured both door holders and found the one on the old Arrow to extend about an inch longer which allows the door to open much more given the angles. So, the door holder appear to be the same but, are slightly different.
Our older Arrow is a 1978 model, the new one a 2002. Thinking the older plane might have had a longer door holder assembly we checked the parts manual. Seems the part number for both model years is the same - 65727-00. Not having another one just laying around can't compare so, have no idea which plane has the proper part or if one was somehow modified. Also, wondering if when still mfg the Wing Ding also came with a longer door assembly (doubtful) ? Or, does our new Arrow have the wrong one installed ? Maybe mount point under door of new arrow damaged at some point (because it had no Wing Ding :-/ ) and a new hole was made further out on the door ? That wouldn't explain the length difference though. The mount points on the fuselage appear to be the same. I can take a peak when I'm at the airport. I'm also going to measure the two sections of the door assemblies to see if I can tell exactly where the length discrepancy is. Was getting dark when I was over there today. I'm wondering if hole on door assembly was hogged out where it mounts to the fuselage and somebody did a cheap fix by cutting the end of the assembly off a little and drilling a new hole ? Or, are we simply missing something obvious ?
Any thoughts or experience greatly appreciated.
Rob