Galley lid struts

[byrdz1]

Not a good day in teardrop land. I have used the spring hinges that I bought from vintech installed by a trailer place, used maybe 5 or 6 times, just up and right back down. Today there was a whoosh of air infront of my nose, and suddenly the galley hatch was closed. When I opened it the springs had torn out of the galley walls... nice... I am just glad the hatch did not connect with my head. Following up on why they tore out in the next couple of days, for now just happy to not be in the hospital....

[Maureenm]

OMG! I'm glad you're okay. Total bummer, though, sorry to hear it. Are you going this weekend?
Maureen

[WhitneyK]

We're talkin' REVIVAL Folks! Thread Revival! Can I get an Amen?

Well, if you'll look at my latter posts in my build journal you'll see where I moved my axle from under my springs to on top to lower my little camper down.

Well guess what? Now my hatch is too low! and I ain't a havin' it!


Below is a shot of my hatch with my camper shell props in place:


The props are 21" long when extended and latched. The bottom is around 8" from the hinge, the top is mounted in the (unseen) 1x4 cross brace around 18" from the hinge. My hatch, at various heights (weighed at the handle area) is around 60 lbs. I weighed the hatch at the area where the current props are mounted, it's 155 lbs on the scale pushing straight down. I was considering going with gas struts/springs/props, whatever whichever company you look up calls 'em.

CW has a 26", 150 lb spring. Do ya'll feel that this will be sufficent to lift or at least greatly help lift this HEAVY hatch. Shoot far man, my back hurts enough as it is without havin' to herniate myself everytime we want to get into the hind end of this thing, especially after ridin' in a truck all day.
They also have a 20" 120 lb one also, just thought the extra length may help my headache a bit.

Grainger has some heavier ones and my wife drives past there every couple of weeks, but their quite proud of theirs.

CW's are only $18 a pop plus brackets.

Any help ya'll can give me I'd appreciate. Feel free to jump in anytime with your opinion, experience, knowledge, or whatever to help save me some time and trouble.
Thanks in advance.

[Verna]

We're talkin' REVIVAL Folks! Thread Revival! Can I get an Amen?

Well, if you'll look at my latter posts in my build journal you'll see where I moved my axle from under my springs to on top to lower my little camper down.

Well guess what? Now my hatch is too low! and I ain't a havin' it!


Below is a shot of my hatch with my camper shell props in place:


The props are 21" long when extended and latched. The bottom is around 8" from the hinge, the top is mounted in the (unseen) 1x4 cross brace around 18" from the hinge. My hatch, at various heights (weighed at the handle area) is around 60 lbs. I weighed the hatch at the area where the current props are mounted, it's 155 lbs on the scale pushing straight down. I was considering going with gas struts/springs/props, whatever whichever company you look up calls 'em.

CW has a 26", 150 lb spring. Do ya'll feel that this will be sufficent to lift or at least greatly help lift this HEAVY hatch. Shoot far man, my back hurts enough as it is without havin' to herniate myself everytime we want to get into the hind end of this thing, especially after ridin' in a truck all day.
They also have a 20" 120 lb one also, just thought the extra length may help my headache a bit.

Grainger has some heavier ones and my wife drives past there every couple of weeks, but their quite proud of theirs.

CW's are only $18 a pop plus brackets.

Any help ya'll can give me I'd appreciate. Feel free to jump in anytime with your opinion, experience, knowledge, or whatever to help save me some time and trouble.
Thanks in advance.

Hey, Whitney, did you get an answer for this strut problem?

[WhitneyK]

Verna,

Yes and No.

When you search on google for how to determine what you need, there's these complicated equations and diagrams that only an engineer / rocket scientest would understand and must have the capabilities to read a slide rule and understand triginometry.

Anyway, I found a guy on eBay selling under the name of Strut-your-stuff out in Washington State. Here's his eBay store address: http://stores.ebay.com/strut-your-stuff-here
After an email to him and a phone call, he explained it and it's stupid simple to figure out what you need. He was very helpful and explained it in layman's terms.

I had already done the ground work my weighing my galley lid at the spot where I wanted to mount it, which was 155#'s. Since I'm installing 2 struts / props, you divide that weight by 2 (which would be 77.5#) and round up. He said the 80# struts would lift it ok, but if you got a gust of wind, could slam it shut. He recommended going for the 100# struts to be on the safe side.

Since when we build our TD & TTT our options are pretty well wide open as far as exact mounting location of the strut mounts. I've decided to reverse the angle of my props from the way that I have them so that the oil will be around the seal 100% of the time as he suggested for long life. I took a look at what lengths he had to offer in the 100# catagory that fit my needs (24-36"), wrote down the open & closed lengths and will try to determine which size will best fit my application. His prices arn't too bad either. Shipping's a little high, but you can't ship pressurized containers by air, so it has to be ground shipped all the way. CW carries them but is limited on length for my weight requirements, and since he has been so helpful, I feel a little obilgated to him for his kindness.

I can't wait to get them ordered Monday.

I'll post my final outcome with pictures.