for rear hatches with no extra weight on them, I sure would not use 2 of the
stiffer struts - makes it too hard to close. Ideally it should be easy to
open, easy to close, and always stay up.
The idea of one normal and one heavy duty sounds about right.
Sometimes I have to juggle struts between a few vanagons to get the right
mix of 'too stiff' and 'normal' struts.

and of course.........there is always the trick of installing a piece of PVC
( or metal ) pipe over the end ........so when you open the hatch, that
piece slides into place to lock one strut in the open position. When you go
to close the hatch, you reach up and help the piece of pipe slide back over
the strut , so the hatch  can close. Works great, inexpensive too.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Mike Collum" <collum@MYFAIRPOINT.NET>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Friday, March 06, 2009 8:41 AM
Subject: Re: Rear Hatch struts

> Rod Knutson wrote:
>  anyone remember which vendor?
>
>
> Several years ago I got two heavy duty hatch struts from BusDepot rather
> than one standard and one heavy as ETKA calls for.  It takes more effort
> to shut the hatch with them but they're still just as good (after using
> them in Maine winters)as they were when I installed them.
>
> I can hang a bicycle on the hatch and it still stays up, too, which is a
> real bonus.
>
> Mike