ciaboudreau
New Member
- Joined
- Nov 13, 2023
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Anyone out there familiar with the Canadian company that makes/sells gas struts? Need to replace the struts on my hawk and am looking for some that will make it easier to pop the top.
Gas struts
- Thread starter ciaboudreau
- Start date
Jon R
Senior Member
Go up one subforum level to Truck Campers and read the stickied post near the top entitled “roof lifting shock helper shock thingys” or something like that.ciaboudreau said:
Jon R
Senior Member
Suspa is the brand used on my 2021 Grandby. It came with 30 lb struts. I changed to 40 lb struts after installing 50 lbs of solar panels.
Industry Leading Gas Spring Hardware | Gemini Gas Springs Inc.ciaboudreau said:
FWIW ...I installed Gemini 40 lb gas springs replacing the 30 lb Suspa ones about 5 years ago and they are still doing fine at half the cost. My Eagle (2011) uses the 40" ones.
My Gemini's are rusty on the black body part of the shock. I keep the shiny bits lubricated and they still work well. Marty gave me hell about the rust though... 
What extra stuff have you got on the roof?superduty said:
Good to know. My load out is similar to yours... 45# solar panel, 2 maxtrax, starlink, 7 way cell antenna and sometimes a 39# canoe.superduty said:
We have 80# springs in the front and 60# at the rear.
Our solar panel is mounted at front drivers corner. With no canoe on there I (66 yrs old, reasonable shape) I can lift both ends by myself. With the canoe on there, I need help.
The back end doesn't want to come down on its own without the canoe on there. I simply pull it down by a handle I attached to the push board. When it gets more than half way down, it wants to fall the rest of the way, and I have to work hard to slow the rate of descent so that the sidewalls have time to fold properly.
If you are using heavy shocks like this, you need to make very sure that your mount points are strong enough to hold the loads.
Jon R
Senior Member
The 40 lb struts seem to be just about right for me. I almost decided to stick with 30 lb struts on the rear, but went to 40s all around. I did not consider higher force struts because of the owners manual caution and past threads I’ve seen about strut bracket mounting screws getting worked and coming loose. The front of mine is a little heavier to lift because of the lifting location being about 2/3 along the roof. The front comes down on its own. The rear I need to pull down the first foot before it goes on its own, but that’s easy standing on the rear bumper.superduty said:
The start of the lift is always the hardest part because the struts are near horizontal and don’t help with the initial lift. Heavier struts won’t fix that - you have to keep the weight down to what you can manage. 50 extra pounds on the roof is manageable for most people if they are tall enough. Much more than that you’ll likely need two people or a lift device like a cranking speaker stand.
Yes, it seems to be the right amount for one stronger person to use... I might try lowering the rear to 50#.
The bottom front mounting point goes through the 1/4" thick C- channel. Plenty strong, but do remove your bed mattress before screwing those in... the screws will penetrate to the inside. I used 3m 4200 on the holes to seal it and a dremel to cut off the excess length from the inside.
The other mounting points only go into the thin wall tubing after it penetrates the super thin roof material. Not beefy. I'm keeping my eye on those but after many up/downs they are holding up fine.
The bottom front mounting point goes through the 1/4" thick C- channel. Plenty strong, but do remove your bed mattress before screwing those in... the screws will penetrate to the inside. I used 3m 4200 on the holes to seal it and a dremel to cut off the excess length from the inside.
The other mounting points only go into the thin wall tubing after it penetrates the super thin roof material. Not beefy. I'm keeping my eye on those but after many up/downs they are holding up fine.
Jon R
Senior Member
The upper attach points to the roof shown at the left of this picture are the weak point. The brackets are held by two relatively small screws into the aluminum roof valance and frame.superduty said:
Edit: Vic and I responded at the same time so I repeated some of what he already covered. My pic might help, though.
Attachments
If you look back a long time ago search on install I made a pdf of 15 page instructions for my eagle. Here is a 1/4" aluminum plate installed on the outside front and back (different dimensions ) which gives both side opposing force balance so relieving all stress from bolts and wall structure. Rock solid
Attachments
One advantage of using a speaker lift is I can stop the decent anytime I want. My camper is old and no longer has the 'fold in' helpers. The speaker lift allows me to stop the decent and correct the stowing of the sidewalls.Vic Harder said:
Nope. 2x80 and 2x60 No fooling around...superduty said:
Buckland, isn't that area already stronger than the others? What did you do for the area that JonR posted a pic for?buckland said:
I think that is apparent. I prefer the front and back lifter location.
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