Unfortunately, yes, this is too much to ask for OFP's engine. So rotation is the only type of animation there is for building's etc.
And, yes, putting the axis really far away
was what I had in mind.
And it does work. That's how the sliding doors etc. are done on choppers etc.
But it takes a lot of work and great percision. Especially since OFP sometimes reverses the rotation and makes it look really bad.
I'd recomend
this tut by Brsseb on using the rotation type animation for doing straight anims.