Yeah that's what I did too man, tried every possible combination. I had to do it two+ times till I got it. I guess my method was wrong, because even on my second try I still couldn't get it. The door would NOT open for me. I went on the net and searched like a madman and finally found it on some Skyrim Wiki site for the quests and whatnot.
I bet I tried every possible combination, EXCEPT the right one, at least 2 or 3 times. It took me an hour. And then, ONLY then, AFTER I got the combination, I find out that the combination is on the back of the dragon claw itself. I was trying to figure out the hieroglyphics on the wall.
The first one is the wasp, the second one is the bear, and the third one is the owl. I'm talking about the faces on top of the designs, smack dab in the middle of the very top of the design. There is a fourth hieroglyphic, but it offers absolutely no clues whatsoever as to how the con-fangled contraption works. There are other designs, right below the face graphics, on both/either sides of the face (near the top of the whole framed hieroglyphic), the order of those designs were wasp, bird, owl (or wasp, owl, bird - I couldn't figure where the extra bird came from, and why there was no bear in that specific part of the designs).
Some of you probably have no idea what I am talking about, some of you might have an inkling, but all in all, its just babble compared to all you smart people out there who found out the combination in less than half the time it took me and the rest of humanity.
Ugh. I had a heck of a time.