idiot here needing help with gas hatch supports | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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idiot here needing help with gas hatch supports

LONO100

Explorer Addict
Joined
March 23, 2011
Messages
2,911
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City, State
Bay Area CA
Year, Model & Trim Level
03 sport trac XLT
hey fellas, i dont know if i put this in the right section, but the gas supports for my camper shell went out and so i went to my local autozone to get a set of replacements. they couldnt look up the exact shocks i had being that it was from a camper shell so they found me a set that looked exactly the same as the ones i pulled off my camper shell. the pair cost me 50 bucks. anyway, i get home, pull them out of the package and i noticed that they dont compress at all. i figured once i get the eight of the glass hatch on them it might push them down and get them going. no luck! they were as solid as steel with no play. i pulled them off and tried compressing them with my hands and no luck.

this is my first time installing a set of these and im not sure if im missing something. they fit perfectly onto my camper shell, they just wont compress and let the hatch down. i know that on some shock absorbers theres a tape or some sort of release, but im not sure if there is one on these lift supports. the instructions dont mention anything about it. any help with this would be awesome because im pretty damn confused. thanks fellas.
 



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A lot of lift supports may look the same but they have different compression ratings. One might compress at 10 lbs. another might be 75 lbs. So it's important you get get a OEM or aftermarket replacement for that exact application.

As for what you need for your camper, if you can't find one that's intended for it then I would go to a dealer for it.
 






the set of supports i bought were for "glass hatches", it didnt have any kind of compression rating on it, and it also said they were "universal". going to a dealer sounds like a good idea, but finding a leer dealer in my area is going to be a little headache. thanks for the advice.
 






I would just type in your Lear cap model, then gas struts, and google it. Lots of online camper sources...
 






thanks joe. sounds like a good alternative if i cant find a leer dealer. the reason why im leaving that as a last resort is because i hate returning things i buy online!
 






thanks for all the help fellas. i was locate a leer dealer that was only about 12 miles from where i live, they had the correct struts i needed. cost me 55 bucks for a pair. i was also able to return the ones that didnt work. thanks again for all the help.
 






Cool... Glad all worked out ok! :thumbsup:
 






Get the numbers off the old ones and do a Google search. I got mine from amazon. The were about 12 USD and had free shipping
 






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