Have you tried spraying them with something to make them a little more moveable. Maybe a degreaser of some sort. I only say this because I had the crossarms (struts are they) fixed on my pop top yesterday.Had to have the wheels in the runners replaced. The guys sprayed a degreaser in the runners to make them more moveable. They were quite tight when the wheels were first put in. I was able to get top up and down no trouble although a lot firmer that it was with the broken wheels.
I tried that yesterday to no avail, still needed the help of the next door neighbour to close the top. Also have to be carefull on what to use on strutts as some petrolium based sprays will rot the internal seals with possible distarous effects. Quite ok for wheels though, but watch out for sand and dust buildup
I recently modified a camper to a flip top and fitted strutts to it. It was previously just a fixed top which made it difficult to access anything under the tent base.
The problem is that the gas struts need to be sufficiently strong to overcome the physical dissadvantage of poor leverage when top is closed. The struts are pushing horizontal almost instead of up, when in this position. Once the struts are extended, they have their full force against the direction you are trying to force them, so they are much harder to compress. If they were soft enough that you could easily close the top down, they probably wouldn't have enough force to assist lifting the tent base adequately and you'd struggle to lift the base to open it. This is what I found when mounting my struts anyway. Tried 2 different methods of mounting and 2 different strut sizes and in the end had to compromise to get it to a happy medium.
I found the same thing with the new pop top on my campervan, I was really struggling to get it down. Put some silicone spray on the wheels etc which seemed to help a bit.
I spoke to the blokes at the campervan conversion place, they said the struts could be adjusted (disconnect and turn or something) to make it easier to come down, but then it would be harder to put up, also adjustment can be irresversible whatever that means. They also told me not to pull them down with brute strength but to drop at the knees and use your body weight mostly. I use my head to help popping it up.
Also, if a campervan or pop top caravan, leave a door open to equalize the pressure when it is being dropped, this can make it hard also if not done, not sure about camper trailers though and what you would do there.
Mine seem to be getting easier with use and other than the silicone spray on the wheels haven't done anything else. One person at the conversions place said don't use sprays at all (dust/dirt in the runners etc, just keep the channels clean, another there said yes use silicone on the wheels, so opposing opinions there.
Lets know how you get on.
-- Edited by Vic on Sunday 30th of October 2011 03:09:52 PM
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Vic
Hi Ace Pop Top Campervan & A'Van A'Lite Camper Trailer.....
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yeh i have stiff struts in the morning but once i get moving they seem to come good,,,,, the bride says it's a sign of old age,,,,, could be right,,,,,bahhhhhhhhh
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You can get the struts regassed and have the pressures reduced in a lot of places. I'd be cautious and take some advice from the people doing the work as you still need enough pressure in the struts to actually lift the camper top and hold it in place.
You can get the struts regassed and have the pressures reduced in a lot of places. I'd be cautious and take some advice from the people doing the work as you still need enough pressure in the struts to actually lift the camper top and hold it in place.
Exactly, like my previous post says. It takes a lot more pressure to lift the top than to hold it up once it is raised, simply because of the way the struts are pushing in both situations.
