In case anyone may be interested, It has been a week now that I replaced my
hatch struts. As many may know the right strut is more heavy duty than the
left stock recommended strut.

Left strut part # 251 829 331A ($14.95 at Veeparts in San Diego)
Right "heavy duty" part # 251 829 332 ($24.95 at Veeparts in San Diego)

Formerly, I had two "heavy duty" struts and the left one failed. My decision
to replace with the factory recommended left and right struts reveals the
following results.

Because I have the luggage rack I bought from Gary Lee in Canada
http://www.telusplanet.net/public/gary2a/rack/vanagonrack.htm
my hatch is quite a bit heavier. The new struts work fine but dip lower when
open about 1/2 inch due to the extra weight. I do have the strut support
Gary sent me installed as a safety feature as well.

In situations similar to my case I would replace with two "right hand"
struts for the extra "heavy duty" results.

Fortunately I saved the good "right hand" strut and will install that one
and return the left strut to exchange it for another "right hand" more heavy
duty strut when I pick up other parts.

William Polowniak
1989 Vanagon GL
1988 Mercedes 300 SE