Door and Louvre Struts

[Rich]

Good points here.

Yes, propping the strutless door as high as you can helps reduce the torque preload - but don't let the edges of the door hit the T-roof panel.

Yes, if you use an Allen key be sure it's long enough. It needs to insert fully into the bar and still have enough shank length for the bracket to fully escape from the bar onto the key shank before the bar can be unwound.

If the wrench is only partially inserted in the bar you run the risk of mushrooming the end of the splines making the bracket harder to remove or install.

How well one can lever the other (short?) leg of the key with a cheater bar I cannot guess. But it can be done.

Doing it solo likely probably is best done with a bracket that slides right off the splines like it's supposed to. With rust/scale that's less certain to be the case.

And as far as how far to move the adjustment my experience is that each spline jump is worth about 4-6in. of door rotation measured from sill to bottom of the door in the hang test. Another hint might be to look for pencil matchmarks on end of bar and bracket. The factory method calls for matchmarking before adjustment so you know where you came from. Going back to the 'factory' setting could be a good start. There are notes in this forum that you can pick up a mini-adjustment tweak by using the bracket mounting hole tolerance before final bolt tightening to put a little more or less twist into the bracket/bar for a given spline choice.

Those PDFs are good but don't tell you to remove the strut and open the door as far as possible. It's important because the further you can get the door open, the less torsion energy the bar will have. For a bar as over adjusted as yours there will still be quite a bit left but any relief makes things easier. The only down side is you have to keep reinstalling/removing the strut to test the bar adjustment.

Because I've never had any help, I've always done these adjustments and removals by myself without a jig using a long handled L shaped hex tool with a jack handle over it however DO take Rich's advice and seek help, it isn't easy and it is possible you can shatter your rear windscreen if you slip regardless of method.

[GeneralLee01]

To update on this, I have been chasing materials and tools, prepping the car, and building the jig to do the torsion adjustment. I have found a chip out of the glass on the left side where someone must have allowed the bracket to hit previously. To prevent any accidents, I have fitted up a sheetmetal plate over the glass below the bracket.IMG_6602.jpgIMG_6603.jpg

[dn010]

It might be better to use a block of wood so that it can absorb some of the strike should the bar/bracket release on you while you're adjusting it.

[GeneralLee01]

It might be better to use a block of wood so that it can absorb some of the strike should the bar/bracket release on you while you're adjusting it.

I considered several other materials including wood, but due to the tight space I thought it may interfere with the tools and cause more of a problem. The sheetmetal is a heavy gauge and is backed with 3M tape.

[GeneralLee01]

Just to update on this, the adjustment is now complete. Everything went very smoothly using the jig and I ended up reducing the tension by 4 splines. I am thinking that three may have taken it back to the factory setting but I am more comfortable with this for now as the door opens firmly and holds open easily.
IMG_7114.jpg

[David T]

Four spines is a LOT! Usually you only go 1 or 2.