[Shane826]

Been thinking about ways to improve the lift design and perhaps make it easier to add lift assist mechanism... What if instead of using 2 L- shaped torsion bars at each end of each shell (so 8 bars total), they used 1 U- shaped torsion bar at each end of each shell (4 bars total)? This would eliminate binding caused by one side or the other being out of adjustment. Or, instead of torsion bars, they could just use plain U- shaped steel bars*. Put a gear on the middle of each bar and a motor with a smaller gear meshed to it, you have a simple torque reduction motor to lift or lower the shells. Take it a step further; locate a motor between the front and rear bars of each shell and use a chain & sprocket or jackscrew & gear setup from 1 motor to 2 U-shaped bars. There’s your automatic lift mechanism. One motor for the front shell, one for the rear.

*Not sure if the spring action of the torsion bars would cause a motor & gear mesh assembly to bind when the shells try to pop up when unlatched, thus just plain U- shaped steel bar with no spring load.