# New Drop Down bed Gas Struts Needed Southern England



## thegreatpan (Oct 29, 2007)

Hi all,

Took my 1992 B544 out for a winter time spin today, with nothing on the bed the front kept sagging down, which from previous posts I presume is a failure of the drop down bed gas struts.

Is there anywhere in/near Sussex that would do this job for me? 

If so how much should I be expecting to pay


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## JohnsCrossMotorHomes (Jul 21, 2007)

thegreatpan said:


> Hi all,
> Took my 1992 B544 out for a winter time spin today, with nothing on the bed the front kept sagging down, which from previous posts I presume is a failure of the drop down bed gas struts.
> Is there anywhere in/near Sussex that would do this job for me?
> If so how much should I be expecting to pay


To be honest, depends on what is required to fix it, you can always give Glenn or Ian a call and ask them, we are in East Sussex.

Regards

Peter


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## citroennut (May 16, 2005)

hi tgp,

i have now used this company twice and received excellent service both times. it is possible to do the job yourself. it is quite easy on the b class, needs to be done with the bed in the up position and obviously propped as high as possible to take the pressure off the struts.

cheers
simon


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## carol (May 9, 2005)

We had to get our done on the 640 back in 2004 in Portugal.....we couldn't drive it - it was too dangerous - and they needed a 4 ton compression something to do it....not an easy job we were told....the poor guy ended up putting his shoulder out.

Carol


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## thegreatpan (Oct 29, 2007)

Hi Simon(citroennut) or any one who has replaced the Hymer bed gas struts,

Don't suppose you know what gas strut you ordered, I phoned SGS they said they needed a model number, but the label on both my struts is facing the van wall?

Regards

Dave


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## carol (May 9, 2005)

We ordered ours from Brownhills Preston - and we only had to give model and registration number and they were sent to us in Portugal - but the ones we received were a lot larger and stronger - proving in our minds that it was a Hymer fault - but they would not have it - yet so many were being replaced around that time.....

HTH

Carol


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## citroennut (May 16, 2005)

hi dave,
can't advise on the ones for yours as mine are different and i now cannot remember the last ones. if you pull the bed down and look in the side window you may be able to see the spec. it is painted onto the black body. you will be able to measure the length of the black body and the extended length of the ram, dia. as well of same. the number you will be looking for will be along the lines of 2000N. this is the pressure of the ram.
cheers
simon


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## CliveMott (Mar 10, 2008)

Given a choice I would NEVER use gas struts. They will ALL fail, the only question is when.

The only bit on my car that failed was the gas struts that hold the bonnet up. What ever happened to a simple reliable prop?

I fitted gas struts to hold open a big door on the overcab locker in our old camper - replaced them twice. Foolishly I removed a simple spring based compression unit to fit the gas struts. - Idiot!

To prolong their life gas struts should be fitted so that the oil inside them resides around the seal where the ram comes out.

C..


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## thegreatpan (Oct 29, 2007)

Following Carol's advice, replacement struts were £58.00 the pair from Brownhills preston. The spec has been increased from 1300N to 1700N!

Removed the back strut split pin & washer first, with bed fully up I then levered the bottom mounting away, the strut "expanded" about 15mm at enough speed to make me jump, I then lowered the bed partway to access and removed the top mount. Replacement an easy reverse of the dismantling sequence, but the front split pin was awkward. On the other side I got SWMBO to hold the bed fully up for removal of the back mounting, and no suprise "jump" this time.

Total job time for me as a DIY fool was about two hours, most of which was faffing with the split pins. 

The bed rises and falls as it should and no longer "sinks" when driving.

Thanks for all the advice


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