Braving replacing the bed struts

[Googlebot]

It’s a 7 year old Hymer Exsis. Bed goes up and down okay, bit heavy though and had an awful clunk on the right hand side. Took the cover off and all fittings fine, nothing loose. Decided it had to be the strut itself.

Managed to get the old one off, though it did appear about 10mm too long which will be fun putting it back....

Loosened the bolts, raised the bed and supported and just had enough room to get the spanner in. Still had to lever it off the stud with limited room.

Sent the details to SGS and await the price. Did order it about 6mm shorter to make refitting easier.

Tried it without the strut and it made the same clunk on the side I took off which makes me think I was right. There is some obvious oil leakage too round the seal at the bottom of the piston.

2200N they are rated! Best be careful when I fit the new ones....

 

[tonyidle]

The pivots on the Hymer bed mechanism (and probably most other makes that use gas struts) are incredibly crude. There are no bearings of any sort and the pivot fulcrums are bolts with Nyloc nuts not tightened fully. While you are replacing struts loosen the pivot bolts, lubricate with chain spray lubricant, then tighten the bolts fully & back off 1/4 turn. The cracking noise could very well be a dry (non) bearing. I'd also be surprised if the pivot bolts weren't too loose - they slacken off with use.

 

[Googlebot]

Good idea, will do that when I fit the new struts.

Evidently they are not designed for frequent use.

 

[Googlebot]

SGS rang at 10am. They had a pair to fit on the shelf and will be delivered tomorrow. So far so good as I couldn’t find them anywhere online.

£90 delivered.

Here is hoping they go back on easy enough.

 

[Jev88]

Are you sure you want replacement shorter than originals?
I also recommend you pole blankets between you and the windscreen when fitting......

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Googlebot]

The screen is well protected and they won’t be under tension when I fit them I hope. If so I will be putting up something to protect the screen.

I did think to go for original length, but they can’t get longer as the bed stops so didn’t see the point. Time will tell if I cocked this up. I am hoping it will make fitting easier without affecting the operation. They are still 5mm too long, even after ordering shorter ones.

Thanks for the advice though, all good stuff.

 

[Figaro]

Good luck with the replacement gas strut.
The main bed pivot bolt dropped out on mine recently, no way could I align the holes up to replace the bolt as the gas strut was working against me.
In the end I had to remove one end of the strut (furthest from windscreen). Now I have the main bolt back in place of course I can`t reconnect the gas strut !
It`s only about 2-3 mm too long.
Reading on here I funster compressed his with two large jubilee clips fastened together and tightened.
I`m awaiting delivery from ebay and will try the method over the Easter weekend. I thing it should work for the small amount of compression I need.
I`m not sure ordering a shorter strut was a good idea, but I guess you`ll find out soon.
They are a pain in the a$$

 

[Figaro]

Just read your post above.
I could be wrong, I often am, but I think they extend when bed down, compress when bed goes up and extend again when bed in up position.

 

[Googlebot]

I watched mine and they just compress when the bed goes down. Makes it a pain to fit them though I agree.

Another tip I saw was to get some paracord through the eye at one end and then tie off at the other end. Use a rod/screwdriver as a windlass to wind them in a few mm until you can get them on the bolt. Not sure if it will work but another option if you are stuck. Once the eye is on the bolt you can just cut the para cord off.

Will update tomorrow, hopefully good news and not bad. ??

 

[68c]

In a way you are lucky, on my van the bolts that secure the end of the struts have the bolt heads outwards with not enough clearance to remove them. Would have to lower and tilt the whole frame to get them out. Love the French!

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Googlebot]

In a way you are lucky, on my van the bolts that secure the end of the struts have the bolt heads outwards with not enough clearance to remove them. Would have to lower and tilt the whole frame to get them out. Love the French!

Wow, reminds me of working on the old Renault cars. Access is rubbish so let’s put the bonnet to open forwards....

 

[Googlebot]

Managed to get one back on today.

The short answer is, unless you can get them on without compressing them, don’t bother!

I used a car jack to compress one, then used climbers 4mm prussik cord to tie it shut. The cord either stretched or slipped or broke. This isn’t cheap cord, it is top quality stuff and no chance!

SGS did say they were unusually powerful at 2200n.

Ended up making them slightly shorter by taking off the eye by unscrewing it and grinding it down. With the bed fully raised I was then able to just about lever it onto the lower bolt.

Need to lubricate everything up and find the nylon washer I dropped somewhere.

Then it’s onto the other side!

 

[Googlebot]

All done!

Took a lot less time for the other side now I know what I am doing.

Lubricrated everything up, tightened and then slackened a bit all the fixings and can confirm, the clunk is gone and the bed raises much easier.

As already said, unless you can do it without compressing the struts, don’t bother unless you have the tools to compress the struts so that you can just slip them on. It didn’t affect anything having them a bit shorter but they were still about 2mm too long. Doesn’t sound a lot but I really struggled to get them on the mountings.

Onto the waxing the outside tomorrow!

 

[Figaro]

Glad to hear you got the struts on
I did mine this weekend using two jubilee clips looped together.
It did work but I only needed to compress them a few mm which was just a well as I was running out of thread to tighten much further.
The funster who passed the jubilee clip tip was @Rapido925 and he had to fully compress them.
That must have been scarey as a slip or failure of the clip would have been like a small bomb going off

 

[Googlebot]

Yup, I hopefully wont be doing them again.

I wouldn’t even try to fully compress them, I only needed 5mm ish and couldn’t do it. A crowbar and lots of patience was needed.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}