I have recently been refurbishing my boot-lid and it dawned on me that continuing to prop it up with an old broom handle was going to be out of step with its shiny new look. Time to replace the sagging gas lifts.
They were available on eBay, but a bit pricy. Having measured them up (480 mm, 200mm stroke) I turned up these on AliExpress. The originals have a simple hole at one end and socket at the other. I thought I could just drill out the ball on the boot hinge and use the ball and socket joint the strut came with, and the seller said he could supply simple hole fittings for the other end. Ordered a pair and that added up to $50, delivered.
When they arrived I started thinking about the socket for the top and it turned out the original strut's socket (plastic) just unscrews exposing a very coarse thread:
The new strut's ball and socket also unscrews, revealing a standard M8 thread. Was pretty easy to run an 8mm tap into the original socket, then wind it onto the new strut. The thing's always in compression, so the thread doesn't need to be very strong. They did go on a bit skewy but I doubt it's going to be a problem. I think the tap just followed the path of least resistance.
Here's how the top looks:
And here's the straight-hole as supplied for the bottom end:
35kg looks like it's a good deal more than is needed -- just one strut holds the lid up -- but it still closes easily. (don't go thinking you can get by with just one strut, the boot doesn't close straight)
Hardest part of the job was compressing the strut half an inch to engage the socket. Tried a couple of ways; in the end, levering with a 16mm open-ender from below the boot hinge did the trick.
Have fun,
Rob.
They were available on eBay, but a bit pricy. Having measured them up (480 mm, 200mm stroke) I turned up these on AliExpress. The originals have a simple hole at one end and socket at the other. I thought I could just drill out the ball on the boot hinge and use the ball and socket joint the strut came with, and the seller said he could supply simple hole fittings for the other end. Ordered a pair and that added up to $50, delivered.
When they arrived I started thinking about the socket for the top and it turned out the original strut's socket (plastic) just unscrews exposing a very coarse thread:
The new strut's ball and socket also unscrews, revealing a standard M8 thread. Was pretty easy to run an 8mm tap into the original socket, then wind it onto the new strut. The thing's always in compression, so the thread doesn't need to be very strong. They did go on a bit skewy but I doubt it's going to be a problem. I think the tap just followed the path of least resistance.
Here's how the top looks:
And here's the straight-hole as supplied for the bottom end:
35kg looks like it's a good deal more than is needed -- just one strut holds the lid up -- but it still closes easily. (don't go thinking you can get by with just one strut, the boot doesn't close straight)
Hardest part of the job was compressing the strut half an inch to engage the socket. Tried a couple of ways; in the end, levering with a 16mm open-ender from below the boot hinge did the trick.
Have fun,
Rob.