Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

I bought a pair of 20" 100 lbs gas struts from Napa today and they wanted
$5 each for the 4 brackets I needed to mount them so I built my own out of some steel I had laying around and some grade 8 bolts that I turned in my cordless drill to shape the ball on the end that the struts pop on to.
I just cut the heads off and mounted the bolts in my cordless drill and turned them against my 8" disc sander to round off the end and then cut a round groove in it against a file. welded it all together and that was it!
I used the guide that Steve drew up to mount my struts and they lift perfect, I have to lift the hatch about 16" before the struts take over and then they lift the hatch nice and smooth all the way up.
I must have played with the hatch for an hour watching it go up and down! way fun!!!

I have to clean up my welds and paint the brackets and mortise the hatch area where the bracket mounts. I built the upper mount to wrap around the edge to make sure they never move, I dont want the struts to blast through the hatch someday. Aaron

Good job, this is my next step.

Great Idea!!

Don't cha just love em when they happen?!?



Mk

I questioned the Napa guy about the brackets. He wasn't shure it the $5 was each or for the pair. He went ahead and ordered them, the price was for a pair.

Well heck! My Napa guy thought it was each! Oh well , I think the ones I built will be much stronger for the way I am using them,The ones they showed me were kinda wimpy and wouldnt really work out well for my hatch. How did the ones you got mount? do they flex or anything?
Thanks. Aaron

They came blister packed in pairs. Yours are definately look stronger.

Where's the guide that Steve drew up to mount the struts??? I forgot to save it and now can't find it......

It is in this list,
http://tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?t=11210