[rickst29]

In closed position, and at the beginning of motion, a majority of the pressure (the cosine of the angle, IIRC) is trying to push the lift bar out from its joint with the torsion bar, in a sideways direction. This worries me a bit.

As the shell becomes lifted, the weight of the shell pushes in the opposite direction, somewhat balancing that. But the very end of motion, the strut begins to "pull in" (rather than push out) adding to the weight on the lift arm. To the extent that the strut has not reached 90 degrees, this "pull-in" pressure also affects horizontal motion a bit - trying to pulling the shell "inwards" from full open position, which may or may not be completely desirable.

In my own "guessed at" positions for installing these, the angle for the initial lift seems to be 15-20 degrees, so about 30% of that rated power would be working in the vertical direction. The 200 lb bars would be maybe 50-60 lbs of assistance in the desired vertical direction.

Anyway, the lower mounting structure "in empty air" might be difficult for me to build and install, I have no welding experience.