> Date:� � Sun, 14 Mar 2010 11:32:56 -0400
> From:� � The Bus Depot <vanagon@BUSDEPOT.COM>
> Subject: Re: Rear Hatch Struts
> 
> > I start with one new medium strength one, then test
> each
> > strut individually on the van, and replace the weaker
> one.
> 
> 
> As a general rule, I HIGHLY recommend replacing hatch
> struts in pairs, and
> not mixing an old and a new strut.� If the used one is
> not performing up to
> par (which is often the case), it makes the new one do most
> of the work,
> causing that one to weaken (if not fail) prematurely. So
> you end up in a
> viscous cycle, replacing one strut at a time much more
> frequently than if
> you simply replaced both at once.
> 
> - Ron Salmon
> � The Bus Depot, Inc.
> � www.busdepot.com
> � (215)� 234-VWVW
> 
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Ron almost always has excellent advice but I think he's not totally correct in this case:

One strut can't do more work than the other.  The struts are filled with compressed gas and they push as hard as the gas pressure lets them.  If one has lots of pressure, it will push harder than the other, but that's as far as it goes.  

You may replace one strut only to find the other was near the end of its life anyway, but there can be no causal relationship between the replacement of one strut and the wearing of the other.

tabe johnson/ex 87 westy