Door Strut Replacement

[David T]

Probably the "best" idea in struts would be if the vendors could have them made with a valve on them so they can be refilled. I agree with Elvis, the torsion bars never need to be adjusted unless they were tampered with to compensate for weak struts. There is a problem now though, different vendors sell struts with more or less power so it could be necessary to have to loosen the torsion bars if you get a set of overly strong struts. I also see some torsion bars that were set when it was cold and in hot weather the doors bounce WAY too much! You have to be willing to allow for diminished lift in cold weather. With some installing remote door launchers they want the doors to pop open ALL the way and that requires having the torsion bars set towards the higher side. I like to set the torsion bars so when you push the doors open all the way, they will stay fully open and not droop back. And at about 70 degrees F. This could be a good project for someone, to find a way to retro-fit a set of dead struts with a shrader valve and experiment with pressures. Shouldn't take much, just have to find a good spot to drill and tap for the valve and braze it to the strut.
David Teitelbaum

[Elvis]

David - there ARE struts available with such a valve !

I bought mine about 10 years ago, I installed 3 sets now on different cars.

www.deloman.de sells them now:
http://www.deloman.de/index.php?main...roducts_id=396


drilling a hole and installing such a valve on your own - DON'T DO IT !!!!

we are talking about 170 to 180 Bar of pressure inside the strut !!! -> 2600 PSI !!!!
(to compare - you fill up the tires with ~2 Bar -> ~30PSI )


But you're right about too strong struts being sold out there.
The car I worked on recently had exactly this problem.
The drivers door closed like sh.., torsion bar was set too low because of that
extra strong strut. The door twisted a bit and could never close nicely, it needed
the torque of the torsion bar to be set correctly.
That strut had printed 1200N on it, but I think it had a least 20% more.
As a result the attachment on the fibre glass was bent and loose !!!

[David T]

Just because it is a very high pressure doesn't mean it can't be done, it just takes the right tools and techniques. The link you posted goes to a site in German and I don't read German. Does he ship to the US? Can he refill the struts when they get weak? It may not be worth it to us in the US when you add shipping to it. It does seem like the way to go.
David Teitelbaum

[leroyvette]

I posed this similar question/problem several weeks ago in another thread---I was exploring the idea of stronger struts for cold/winter use, then change over to standard "lift" for warm weather/summer use. My doors droop in this temperature(35-45 degree), but were OK at 80 plus. I even tried to find stronger lifts at local auto supply, but no luck. The adjustable lifts would be the solution---any ideas, please let it be known.

[Ron]

Another possible option-
O'Relly Auto Parts has a thick catalog that let's you pick from A LOT of configurations and strengths...I can't get to the receipt right now and I removed the sticker from those on the doors, but your local store can chase the product line down with the number(s) off of the louver struts: 4404, 15607 (stronger than what their regular line listed for a D). They were not on their computer.
No problem summer v/s winter, so far.

[Rich]

The link you posted goes to a site in German and I don't read German....It does seem like the way to go.
David Teitelbaum

Same webpage in English here, not that it will help with the detailed questions:

http://www.deloman.de/index.php?main...96&language=en

[Elvis]

Just because it is a very high pressure doesn't mean it can't be done, it just takes the right tools and techniques. The link you posted goes to a site in German and I don't read German. Does he ship to the US? Can he refill the struts when they get weak? It may not be worth it to us in the US when you add shipping to it. It does seem like the way to go.
David Teitelbaum

This is Wolfgang, he sells to everyone who wants something.
He's the guy with the race Delorean, golden one, Bi-Fuel one, and he is the guy who
is bulding the cars to travel around the world with them in 2016.

Of course at the exchange rate at the moment the struts aren't as cheap as local
ones, but still not that expensive.

Refilling - last time I refilled them I used an air pressure gun pump.
Shipping them back and forth over the Atlantic to refill them makes no sense.
Instead we should look for a good and easy way to refill them.

180 Bar is nothing to play with !

Maybe you can find an american company who builds them with a valve, too ?

[Rich]

I posed this similar question/problem several weeks ago in another thread---I was exploring the idea of stronger struts for cold/winter use, then change over to standard "lift" for warm weather/summer use.....The adjustable lifts would be the solution---any ideas, please let it be known.

Yes, for the purpose of this thread let's separate "adjustable" from "rechargeable".

The deloman struts seem to be rechargeable such that after a few years one can renew them with high-pressure gas.

"Adjustable" struts would allow a compensation for temperature effects. This is difficult to achieve since normal gases in a confined volume naturally lose and gain pressure with temperature variation.

[David T]

I think instead of the word "adjustable" use "temperature compensating". Done with valving. Just a little more complicated and expensive but doable. Doubtful if you are going to find something like this in a catalog. It could be made up custom but in a small run would probably be prohibitively expensive. So, the ultimate in door struts would be a rechargeable, temperature compensating, door strut with a 2 stage damping valve so the doors would not bounce when fully opened. If enough people asked for such a strut maybe one of the vendors would have it produced.
David Teitelbaum

[robvanderveer]

Perhaps a stupid idea, but why not keep 2 sets of gas struts? One for summer and one for the winter? Then you'll never have to adjust your settings again.