I tend to agree with this statement.  If it were a push-pull pair, one would
have been extended for installation, and the other would be collapsed. I
doubt that was the case. Mounting hardware differences has my bet too.

Bradley Flubacher
State College, PA
'81 diesel rabbit
'82 diesel westy
'82 diesel van
'84 GL wasserboxer

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM]On Behalf
Of Bill Marshall
Sent: Tuesday, March 05, 2002 8:47 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: Rear hatch struts revisted. Why do they fail?

I was thinking........

If one strut is pushing up, and one is pulling down, or if one of the struts
is stronger than the other, wouldn't the hatch eventually get torqued into a
potato-chip shape?  You know, 'body by Pringles'?

I'll bet if there is any difference between left and right, it will be in
the
orientation of the mounts, not strength or 'opening-closing'.  My guess is
that the closing would be best handled by gravity.

Just my 1.825 cents worth.

Bill Marshall
85 GL Tiico