Club 80-90 Forums

Hi all.
I'm in the middle of converting my 4 berth into a 2 berth.
Poptop is going. Small ali custom made one being fitted.
Want to fit 4 gas struts in each corner.
See my professional cad drawing below.
Roof will weigh approx 20kg and I'd like a 24" lift.
Who's clever and can work out spacing or gas strength required?





Thanks in advance. K.

thats WAAAAY above me,hope you get it sorted

I did a similar thing with a Frod Thames van back in the time of trouser turn ups and Black and white tele's using a the top from a fiberglass railway signalling line-side equipment cabinet.
Unless you have omitted them for diagrammatic simplicity you don't show any means of controlling the for and aft or sideways lateral movement during erection or let down. Or even while permanently up for that matter .

I controlled mine with a cantilever device at each end which worked on the principle of a scissor lift. This was made from lightweight rectangular tubing with slots and rollers in the sliding parts. Being young and strong at the time I didn't use gas struts but they would obviously be advantageous. My one had canvas walls which tucked down the gap between the lip on the top and the lip which I formed around the van roof aperture.

Or have I got it all wrong?
Cheers
CS

Feck Karl, wayyyyyyy to late for trig one trigonometry! Need to know size of roof to start with. For 24" lift I would hazard a very rough guess at 25/26" struts. I guess the compressed length would be about 14" (roughly half of extended shock length then an inch each end for mounting eyes)

As your man has said in above post, need to take into account stability. If you just mount them on the sides then the roof will be very unstable side to side, hence same arrangement needed on the front and rear aspects.

Very similar to Oz bay window roof arrangements.

Pretty simple formula really - any problems just give me a shout.

Is the drawing from the side or rear? I made a beach buggy many years ago and made the whole body come up on gas struts, hinged at the front. Worked and looked fantastic if I say so myself. You can buy gas struts that you adjust the pressure in, id start by thinking about using them.