Tom & Shelly's build

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Re: Tom & Shelly's build

Postby Capebuild » Wed Dec 07, 2022 1:13 pm

Tom&Shelly wrote:With the colder weather, I've noticed our hatch struts are not as strong,


One thing I noticed with our struts was the dampness seemed to affect them. When we were in damper climates, the struts seemed to not open the hatch all the way and I'd need to kind of push the hatch up to get it completely opened up. In the drier more arid climates the hatch just slowly sprung open, like it should.

John
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Re: Tom & Shelly's build

Postby MickinOz » Wed Dec 07, 2022 3:42 pm

Tom&Shelly wrote:
With the colder weather, I've noticed our hatch struts are not as strong, and occasionally wind even blew the hatch down. I was worried about the struts permanently losing their strength, but experience and the interwebs have tentatively convinced me this is normal. Anyone else have any experience with this? If so, thank you in advance for any insights!



PV=nRT, old mate. There ain't no getting around the Ideal Gas Equation.

Like all Laws there are exceptions, and I'm being a little simplistic maybe, but in general:
With Pressure on one side of the equation and Temperature on the other it is clear that, all else being the same, pressure is proportional to temperature.
Temperature in Kelvins that is.
So on a 70F day, its 294K
On a freezing day 32F, its 273K

294/273 = 1.077. i.e. you have 7.7% more pressure on a 70F day than you do on a 32F day.
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Re: Tom & Shelly's build

Postby Onajourney » Thu Dec 08, 2022 8:55 am

[/quote]

PV=nRT, old mate. There ain't no getting around the Ideal Gas Equation.

Like all Laws there are exceptions, and I'm being a little simplistic maybe, but in general:
With Pressure on one side of the equation and Temperature on the other it is clear that, all else being the same, pressure is proportional to temperature.
Temperature in Kelvins that is.
So on a 70F day, its 294K
On a freezing day 32F, its 273K

294/273 = 1.077. i.e. you have 7.7% more pressure on a 70F day than you do on a 32F day.[/quote]

Gosh, it's great hanging with such smart folks!
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Re: Tom & Shelly's build

Postby Tom&Shelly » Fri Dec 09, 2022 11:52 am

Onajourney wrote:Gosh, it's great hanging with such smart folks!


Indeed! :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

Thank you Mick for pointing out PV = nRT applies here. (Maybe I should have thought of that, but I didn't.)

I'll have to drag out my notes on hatch weight and strut calculations, but it sounds like that explains everything we're experiencing with the hatch. So the struts aren't wearing out (losing gas). But, now, should we accept weak struts on cold nights, or accept very strong struts on hot days? :thinking:

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Re: Tom & Shelly's build

Postby twisted lines » Fri Dec 09, 2022 1:58 pm

Get 3 :thinking:
Racking up; And Rapin foam
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Re: Tom & Shelly's build

Postby MickinOz » Fri Dec 09, 2022 3:41 pm

My mate is a mechanic. A self employed one man band, not a dealership employee. So he's not doing services on new cars, he sees lots of older cars.
He uses these to ensure he doesn't have the bonnet (hood) falling on his head. I'd probably just get a couple for the cold nights.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0FarSRDER8
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Re: Tom & Shelly's build

Postby Tom&Shelly » Fri Dec 09, 2022 8:07 pm

MickinOz wrote:My mate is a mechanic. A self employed one man band, not a dealership employee. So he's not doing services on new cars, he sees lots of older cars.
He uses these to ensure he doesn't have the bonnet (hood) falling on his head. I'd probably just get a couple for the cold nights.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0FarSRDER8


As the English say: "Brilliant!" :thumbsup:

We've actually been using a vice grip to do the same thing for the hatch on our Tacoma camper shell, but this is better. Here is what we found for sale here in the states. Ordered a pair this afternoon and will try them out:

https://www.amazon.com/Support-Caliper-Retaining-Holder-2Packs/dp/B09W91W2RL/ref=sr_1_3?crid=1HKKXRNVJE4S3&keywords=lift%2Bsupport%2Bclamp&qid=1670625654&sprefix=lift%2Bsupport%2Bclamp%2Caps%2C210&sr=8-3&th=1

These also seem to gap spark plugs for some reason. :thinking:

Shelly also saw another version that stays on the gas strut and has a lever to clamp and unclamp, which is clever, but costs $30 apiece.

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