Catalogue works well if you are buying new struts and the supplier will even
calulate the size and geometry for you, but as a true LRO you are probably
going to obtain a couple of struts from the wreckers. In this case what you
want to do is look for something that is supporting a similar weight. This
means most likely a strut from a small hatchback. Now you need to layout
your system so that the struts lift the gate the correct amount and also
keep it closed by going slightly overcentre when the gate is down. Do this
you need to know the open and closed length of the strut. It's a good idea
to get the closed length before you take it off the donor vehicle. With the
gate propped open where you want it to "park" position the strut with the
rod end close to the bottom of the gate and adjust the position of the
cylinder end so it is just high enough for the strut to be not quite fully
closed when the gate is shut.
Make drawing of the end positions and use this to fabricate the end
brackets. The strut ends and hinge pin locations should be such that when
the gate is shut the line of force from the strut acts through a point
"outside" the hinge pins. Hope this makes sense. You'll probably find that
using two struts there is plenty of spare force to lift the light LR
tailgate so be sure to make the overcentre geometry work or you'll be losing
teeth as the gate opens itself as soon as you release the latch.
> Its the 'set up and strength' I was concerned about. How does one tell
> what
> weight a gc will support (from p/n , catalog etc.), other than manually
> testing it?
>
> JT/ric
>
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