My fix for the ever-elusive hatch struts (1 Viewer)

[gabepari]

Not willing to pay $137.50, EACH!!! for hatch struts from the local Toyota dealer. I decided to mod some struts that are easily obtainable, and priced very reasonable...

Total price, $31 for the pair. About 20 minutes of work, priceless

They work perfect and lift the hatch an inch or two higher than stock.

Enjoy...

 

[wearsabrowncoat]

It does look a bit higher.

Give us some more details as to the mod and where you got the struts.

 

[tblume]

and where you sell those coooool teardrop campers......

 

[gabepari]

For the struts, McMaster-Carr

4138T579 - Gas Spring with Ball-Joint End Fitting 90 lb Force, 19.72" Extended Length, 7.87" Stroke, $14.25 Each.

Drill out the swedged posts on the old brackets, open the hole to 5/16", add a few 5/16" nuts. I substituted step #6 with a rootbeer

For the trailers, So-Cal Teardrop Trailers (It's my company)

 

[tblume]

suh-wheat man!

I have been a fan of these for decades, will definitely bookmark your page, I am the starter kit or used kind of guy, I really like this idea and your execution and modernization are spot on: good show!

BTW, welcome to the 'MUD addiction and thanks for the cool tech tidbit, <official new'b salute

 

[tblume]

Teardrop Heritage (Mike Mooney)
Honeymoon House Trailer (Popular Homecraft Mar-Apr 1939)
Teardrop Plans 1940 (Popular Mechanics Feb 1940)
Trailer for Two (Mechanix Illustrated Sep 1947)

not sure if it's my browser, or your site, but these links no-workie

and my new desktop is this:

thanks again- now for the motivation

 

[Ebag333]

Huh. Those look beefy. Another win for McMaster-Carr.

 

[gabepari]

Here is a link to the more "appropriate for this site" trailer that I build in conjunction with AT.

Composite Trailers by Adventure Trailers

Thanks, I will check with my web guy on those links.

I'm really happy with the struts so far. I love McMaster-Carr!!

Gabe

 

[IdahoDoug]

Question for you since if my hatch goes too much higher it may hit the edge of my insulated garage door. Or, I may back it out of the garage and the hatch might hit the door. So, I'm wondering if you could take a measurement from the open tailgate's rear edge up to the highest point of the rear hatch, which would be the "LandCruiser" plastic trim piece. Thanks!!

DougM

 

[Ebag333]

Question for you since if my hatch goes too much higher it may hit the edge of my insulated garage door. Or, I may back it out of the garage and the hatch might hit the door. So, I'm wondering if you could take a measurement from the open tailgate's rear edge up to the highest point of the rear hatch, which would be the "LandCruiser" plastic trim piece. Thanks!!

DougM

Why not just measure the extended length of your current struts, and buy one to match?

 

[gabepari]

Why not just measure the extended length of your current struts, and buy one to match?

I searched very high and very low, and could not find an exact match. Closest was the next size down from the ones I got, but they would have left the hatch about 1.5 inches lower than stock. I would bump my noggin on it if it was that low. There were other tricks I could have done, but this was the easiest and I like the extra height.

I will measure it in the morning and post up.

Gabe

 

[Ebag333]

I searched very high and very low, and could not find an exact match. Closest was the next size down from the ones I got, but they would have left the hatch about 1.5 inches lower than stock. I would bump my noggin on it if it was that low. There were other tricks I could have done, but this was the easiest and I like the extra height.

Good point. At least one local auto place claimed their (at $70 a pop) struts would match the length. But they did not have specs.

Gabe

Quit stealing my name!

 

[jonheld]

I substituted step #6 with a rootbeer

LOL. Thanks for that one.

 

[retrofive]

Here is a link to the more "appropriate for this site" trailer that I build in conjunction with AT.

Composite Trailers by Adventure Trailers

Thanks, I will check with my web guy on those links.

I'm really happy with the struts so far. I love McMaster-Carr!!

Gabe

Hmmmm.... ahhh... SWEET

That is awesome

Thanks for the info on the struts too. That would be perfect for mine.... when they fail.

 

[flagstaff]

Gabepari,
Just did the same thing. Read your link and all went well. I chose the shorter strut from McMaster (9416K174) with a 15.63" extended length and the end brackets (9416K74) that added 0.75 inch per side.
It's shorter than yours but apparently my spoiler(?) is mounted differently because if I were to extent the lift gate any higher, the spoiler would hit the body at the top. I'm 5'9" and it extend enough that I don't hit my head.
Thanks again for the Idea. I've been complaining about the rear lift gate for a while and didn't want to spend the ~$250 to fix it. Now I didn't have to.

 

[SchniperJB]

I was just looking at the shorter lengths, wondering about the range available before the hatch hit something. My shocks are close to gone, so I will be taking this route when they give up the ghost.

Thanks for providing the information.

 

[Kalawang]

When my super glue fix finally failed for my lift gate I was not able to buy original so I bought something close in size. Unfortunately I bought one where the body, black part, was an inch too long and the diameter a bit too much. I cut off the original fittings and welded them to the new. ( Machine Shop work. ) I had to use only the lower bolt of the mounting because of the excess body length, but the thing works.

One of these days I'll find the proper size and do this thing again.


Kalawang

 

[pr0ject42]

I ordered the longer struts and a box of nuts (need all I can get) last week and hooked this up this weekend after the hatch tried to drop on my head early in the cool morning.

For my install I had to grind down the length of the studs on the strut to fit.

So, I clamped down the bracket and just took the 5/16 drill bit and drilled out the existing stock strut and kept going to open up the hole. Took the grinder with a flap wheel to clean up the area that was drilled out, then mounted up the new strut to the old bracket, making sure the right way was facing out.

From there I ground down the stud with above mentioned grinder with flap wheel until it was flush with the nut I had ordered from mcmaster. Wash, rinse and repeat three times.

I do need to pull the brackets off again and shoot them with some paint, as some bare metal got exposed in the clean up process and these things are exposed to the elements.

I'll also add that while grinding on the stud of the strut, I covered the little ball/socket assembly on the strut with a paper towel to keep out any shavings.

Works great, I've got a spoiler and no contact issues and being 6'2" I do appreciate the added height!

I would say that if you wanted to be really REALLY cheap about it, you could get one replacement strut from mcmaster and just replace one side, leaving the stock on the other. You would retain the stock height and get more holding power from the new strut. Might work, and if not, you just order the other one.

 

[instigator]

gotta quick question, do you reeally need the 90 lbs struts? the reason i ask is that you could be causing an over stressed situation at the attach points. dont know how much the rear hatch weighs, so my question could be really stupid.

 

[gabepari]

I did a really scientific test to determine the weight I took the old crappy struts that didn't hold the hatch, compressed them against a bathroom scale and they both measured out at 60lbs. So, 60 wasn't enough, 90 should work

I honestly don't know what the stockers are when they are new. But the 90lb struts "feel" just right. I've done quite a bit of messing around with gas struts on teardrop trailers, so I have a pretty good feel for them. I could be way off, but works for me The correct way to measure the weight is to put a scale at the lower mount, rigid rod from the upper mount to the scale. Take weight/2 plus 15-20%. It was cold and dark outside when I was ordering mine, so I took the easy way out...

Gabe