hydraulic door closer on MCI sedan door?

[bevans6]

Has anyone done this?  I was looking at the heavy duty type that mounts on the top of the door frame and has an arm to the top of the door, you see them on commercial type interior or exterior doors all the time.  Just for closing the door when we go in and out, not as any kind of a serious door latch. 

Brian

[Jeremy]

I don't see why it wouldn't work, but a much neater solution might be to do a little bit of fabrication and install a concealed closer inside the door itself - the sort that has an short arm or chain pulling out of the edge of the door between the hinges.

Mind you, I'm not clear on exactly what the term 'sedan' door means, so maybe a concealed closer wouldn't work. The door on my bus doesn't have any hinges at all, and instead rotates on a couple of offset pivots in a fashion which is difficult to describe

Jeremy

[buswarrior]

Jeremy, you have a "plug door"?

happy coaching!
buswarrior

[Melbo]

I saw that on a bus that a guy from Iowa full times in at the rally in MO that Christy Hicks does.  I have purchased the closer and done some work on it but have not yet installed it -- when I get to that I will post some pictures if I remember by then. The one I saw worked really sweet to just close the door without slamming and did not latch it til it was bumped if I remember correctly so you could push the door open and let it go and it would close but not quite latch. Maybe could also have been adjusted to latch if you wanted by a simple adjustment.

Melbo

[Jeremy]

Jeremy, you have a "plug door"?

happy coaching!
buswarrior

No, it's not a plug door; it rotates inwards rather than moving outwards and sideways...it's just not hinged in the conventional sense.

Here's a photo:



Jeremy

[bevans6]

I installed  the closer and I'm pretty happy with how it's working.  I fastened the mechanism to the top jamb of the door surround, and the arm to the top of the door.  Now, the door itself is fairly heavy, and the closer is rated to 100 - 120 lbs or so, so the action to open the door is fairly stiff, and we will see if it's manageable in practice.  There doesn't seem to be an adjustment to lighten the opening pressure.  The door closes, brings it almost to the latch but not quite, which is fine.  The downside is the arm sticks into the bus at right angles from the door, and if you are tall like me there is a slight danger of hitting it on your way out the door, the stairs are so steep.

I used a Taymor 504AP AL.

Brian