Greetings, Galvine, and welcome to the forum! I have a '77G, and I'm a TBM 960 guy as well.
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Originally Posted by mshac
As an old airline guy, "Positive rate, Gear up" is burned into my mind after having done it 1000's of times.
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Like mshac, I'm also an old airline guy who lives by "Positive Rate, Landing Gear Up," including in the Skymaster. I'm also a guy who was trained at the Factory in both the 337G and the "P" in early '78. The "P" included classroom training that lasted several days and delved deep into takeoff performance. I still have my training certificate! This is precisely how the factory guys flew it and how they taught it.
Based on the POH "Amplified Procedures - Engine Failures," I initiate landing gear retraction with the positive rate of climb and at 80K. The likelihood of achieving a positive single-engine rate of climb below 80K is nil.
I've spent a lot of time refining my takeoff technique. The timing of the airplane being ready to fly, the 75K through 80K decision to fly, gear retraction, and flap retraction. My timing is such that as the airplane comes off the ground and achieves the 75K, I am tapping the brakes to stop wheel rotation and then making contact with the gear handle while confirming visually that I have a positive rate of climb___ the airspeed is at 80K as I achieve about 5° of pitch. As the gear starts up, the airspeed accelerates, and the airplane is at 90Ks as its landing gear clunks closed__ "Flaps, Up!"
Honestly, this description and timing, from being a speeding projectile to 50' AGL and then being an airplane in flight, is exactly what you probably are experiencing in the TBM you fly. You probably achieve 10° of pitch; the 337 will be less than that.
This is how I flew my airplane with the gear doors because the Factory taught me to fly it that way, and I continued to fly with it after the gear door removal. My decision to remove the gear doors was based not on the engine failure on takeoff but on the doors remaining extended after the manual extension. With that, they remain fully deployed, and the likelihood of successfully flying through engine failure while flying something like an instrument procedure is slim, in my opinion, as I've done it. Both times, both engines were operating, but the drag was significant.
I do not make any power reduction after takeoff. I run it at the certified 2800 RPM; there is no limitation on that. As a CFI, that is the greatest mistake I see someone make with simulated engine failure practice; they are reluctant to use the certified RPM. Be comfortable with it and use the maximum possible performance. My airplane's front engine is 300 hours over TBO, and the compressions and valve images are as pretty as the rear engine with its 700 hours. I also receive the Savvy valve analysis from my engine data upload, and those reports are outstanding.