New FWC with gas strut - not enough

[Wallowa]

I know this is old news...but if you load up the roof of a FWC with heavy items it becomes at a minimum problematic to raise or lower it...plus with too much weight if you torque [lose of control or uneven pressure] the roof raising or lowering it you can damage the roof frame, top sheet and seal.

We have the YakTraks and the FWC 160w Zamp solar panel...a few realities became apparent after using the Hawk with this configuration:

#1 Anymore weight and I would pop a hernia putting up top or lowering it.

#2 Add snow load and forget about it.

#3 Removing snow or any item on the roof would require a ladder and significant effort placing or removing stored items each time you raised or lowered the top.

#4 More weight high up on our Tundra/Hawk combo was not good off road; raising CG is not a good thing.

#5 Space is precious and adding more weight anywhere is not the best idea; so a ladder and or speaker jack not a good idea for us.

These are only our observations for our intended use off road and on ski trips. Our bottom line is to stick with the light weight limited space design and constraints of a Hawk.

Phil

 

[tree]

Jason, if you go with stronger struts, you may struggle a bit bringing the top down when not loaded. The speaker lift works quite well, not to mention, probably less expensive than 4 new struts.

whats the speaker lift idea? I have no struts.

 

[Smokecreek1]

After I added my second 100w solar panel, I added two 60lb interior FWC struts (I had no struts at all before) and have had no problems lifting it. Snow, now that and ice are different problems and there have been several threads here dealing with their removal problems because you really need to remove them (as much as you can anyway) before you lift Snow is the easier one to deal with and a good long handled brush/pole and shovel/scrapper (found a good one on a thread here several years ago that works well) usually work. Ice-man nothing easy about taking that off the roof. Scrappers, picks, hammers, window deicer spray, trowels (really help allot) heating pads; they all have their instances of sometimes successful use. The major problem with ice is retaining your cool and not putting a hole or tear in your roof as you try to pry the ice off. Hope this helps!

Smoke

 

[dharte]

Does that ratchet down as well?

No it doesn't, but lowering is much easier

 

[Oregonsurfer]

Thank you all for the replies. I've decided not to go with the speaker lift and try to find struts that will lift the roof with the rocket box up there. I've gotten a little pissy about this because I just bought this, paid $325 for the struts, +solar, paid for the Yakima racks up top and I cannot put anything on the Yakima racks and lift it. I contacted FWC by email to ask them what they recommend and I contacted my sales person in Tigard. Neither replied initially. I emailed my sales person back and he replied to about a missing part, but had nothing to help regarding the struts. He recommended the speaker lift. Nice....why did I buy the struts and the Yakima rack then? When mailing again....crickets. 26k into this and I get no assistance from FWC or the dealership.

I called FWC today just before closing and had to leave voicemail. We'll see if they call me back. At this point I just want to know what strength struts I have on there! Some old documentation says 30 in back and 40 up front. The dealership thought it might be 40 all around. If its 40 all around, I'll try a jump to 60 in back where the weight will be first.

 

[ETAV8R]

I'd say order new struts first. Think they are cheaper than a speaker stand.

http://www.wanderthewest.com/forum/topic/2974-roof-lifting-helper-shocks-thingys/page-27#entry86547

 

[buckland]

As I have a 2011 Eagle I had to have the 40 inch struts ..... not the 36 inch... NOTE the 40" struts cost a lot more than the 36".
I believe Finch model is the same as Eagle. I am attaching a chart with the requirements by Model. This list is 4 years old.

 

[ETAV8R]

I just checked on McMaster Carr and regardless of what spring rate you select they are $24.80 each. This also is one of the more expensive sizes on their list.
https://www.mcmaster.com/#gas-springs/=16gbcm8

 

[buckland]

Yes Spring rates are same price.... for the 36 inch struts. If you need the 40 inch struts they are not. (Eagle, Fleet and Finch)

 

[BILL98388]

I had internal struts from the factory but I changed to external 40 lb struts to my Grandby using parts previously discussed at WTW. I would be careful with more pounds of lift than that, you might reach (or go past) the strength of the attachment points.

Also, I believe that someone noted the internal struts push the sides of the camper outward and may cause a mismatch of the roof frame and the camper body, the seal might not be as good as original with the mismatch.

The "Law of unintended consequences" a corollary to "Murphy's law."

Bill

 

[BillTheHiker]

I have a 2015 Hawk with a solar panel, Yakima racks with bike and kayak attachments, and a cargo basket. I can't lift the roof, even with the factory struts. My solution is to use a ratcheting cargo bar (used normally to secure cargo in the back of a pickup truck), which is very compact when stored. It fits neatly next to the rear awning bag on the bunk pull out section. It takes just a couple of minutes to use this-the only thing that slows me down is I have to move the table (front dinette) to get perpendicular to the front lift panel.

Which brand cargo bar do you have?
The longest one I found via Google is 72 inches which would not lift the roof to its full height, but FWC owners with the gas struts are reporting that it is just the first few inches of lift that hard, so maybe the cargo bar is needed mainly to get the lift started.

 

[buckland]

One removes the tripod legs then it is used to lift the roof to a point where you complete the lift of a few inches to lock in place. I carry this tho haven't used it in years as I have the struts.

 

[dharte]

Which brand cargo bar do you have?
The longest one I found via Google is 72 inches which would not lift the roof to its full height, but FWC owners with the gas struts are reporting that it is just the first few inches of lift that hard, so maybe the cargo bar is needed mainly to get the lift started.

I don't remember the brand-I bought it years ago at a camper shell dealer. You are correct that it won' t lift it all the way up but once it reaches the maximum height of 72 inches, it is MUCH easier to push open.I can easily do it by myself. Getting it to budge the first couple of inches without the bar is nearly impossible even with two people-there is no leverage to get decent lifting force.