I too recently replaced both my hatch struts and it bugs me that it's so
difficult to close. But I put the thought aside when I recall how many times
that hatch fell on my head while I tried to hold it up and do something else
at the same time. I'm sure pulling then pushing that hatch closed must be
good for the deltoids or something.....

Alain Pierre
86 Westy
Toronto

on 8/9/00 9:20 PM, John Reynolds at kayakjr@juno.com wrote:

> ---SNIP--- You can get them at bus depot but boy oh boy are
> they strong.  It takes some muscle to really close the hatch now.  I
> think
> it was advised to replace both at once but not really sure why now.
> ---SNIP---
>
> Yeah, I think that they are ridiculously  strong , I can barely close the
> hatch with two hands!  Try it with one and you'll pull  a groin muscle.
> To put numbers to it, it take 23 Lbs of force to start the hatch back
> moving with the force increasing to an even 50 pounds on this hot day!
>
> To be fair, I complained to Ron, and he offered to take them back.  He
> stated that I was only the second person to complain - so all you westy
> owners must be a lot stronger than me!  I did not take him up on the
> offer since I thought they would "loosen up" - they did not.  My wife
> could never close this hatch back though.