I have wondered if this was the thing to do BEFORE your struts go bad - to
keep them from getting that way.

Anybody care to venture an opinion?

Marshall Ruskin
84 Westy "Lucky" AKA "Iron Igloo"

>Here's a solution that does not require replacing the struts at all:
>
>Get a piece of 3/4" PVC conduit.  With the hatch open and held by a helper,
>measure the distance between the point where the hatch strut attaches to
>the bus and the opening in the housing where the metal rod goes into the
>strut housing.  Subtract about 1/4 to 1/2 inch, measure the PVC conduit to
>that length, and cut with a hacksaw.  Pop the circlip that holds the
>hatchstrut to the bus, slide the cut PVC piece over the metal strut rod,
>and reattach the rod and circlip.  When you open the hatch the PVC falls
>into place to take the weight of the hatch.  To close, lift the hatch a bit
>and slid the PVC up over the strut body and let the hatch fall.  Not
>factory, but it works.
>
>Alan Bosch
>& Phred ('88 Wolfsburg) - with a hatch erectile support :o)
>Rochester, NY
>
>
>
>
>Keith Adams <keith_adams@TRANSCANADA.COM>@GERRY.VANAGON.COM> on 02/14/2000
>04:43:58 PM
>
>Please respond to Keith Adams <keith_adams@TRANSCANADA.COM>
>
>Sent by:  Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
>
>
>To:   vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
>cc:
>Subject:  Hatch Struts
>
>
>Once again, I got overwhelmed by info from the archives (BTW, can you do
>compound searches?), so a quickie...
>
>What are the best replacement hatch struts, without breaking the bank?
>Are the ones from the FLAPS good enough?
>
>Chers!
>Keith in his 86 Westy WBX
>