[Swede71]

Just installed a Bajarack ladder, and should of thought of this earlier being the rear hatch is now not staying up. What is the best HD strut anyone can recommend to replace my oem ones, also looking for ones that work well in hot and cold climates being I live in Canada.

Thanks in advance.

[Swede71]

and one that works for a 2016 4runner, most websites that offer this only state up to 2015 models.

[HerT4R]

Originally Posted by SOcalTRAIL

~~~Upgraded Rear Hatch Struts / Gas Springs~~~

As many of you have also experienced, my rear hatch gas struts blew out a month or so ago. I spent the last few weeks searching for a replacement solution that would offer more lift to accommodation the Gobi Ladder and be as close of a direct "snap on" replacement as possible.

Well.... I FOUND IT!!!!!

After ordering 3 different pairs of struts with no luck, I came upon LiftSupportsDepot.com One of the very helpful employees invited me to stop by so we could try out a few different struts and see which one worked.

Those with the Gobi Ladder, here is what you want:

Lift Supports

When you order, you must put in the comments section the following: "Convert to 10mm straight ends"

Part#49124 244LB Force 22.7" Extended 15.45" Collapsed



Other than that, they give the hatch the perfect amount of lift, they are an easy upgrade or replacement of yours are already blown, and best of all, thy are DIRT CHEAP!!!! How does $17 / each sound!

Anywho. Thought I would share, I am happy to have my hatch back up and functional again, I got tired of resting it on my head as I grab my crap out of the back.

Cheers!

Permalink for reference.

also i found this by searching "5th gen blown lift struts"

[Swede71]

awesome, and I contacted them as well, they list that this one will work up to 2015 models however I gave them my OEM # for my 2016 and this one will work as well. It offers 20% more pressure so should work well with a ladder, will be ordering 2 sets for myself and a friend. Spoke with someone at their end and here is the link to the part they recommended. Search results for: 'pm1062n10'

[Randyman...]

I added a good deal of sound damping to my hatch a long time ago (many pounds of the stuff), and the stock struts are just BARELY enough to keep it open (won't open all the way unless I help it up). This is even with the rear speakers yanked out (who needs 'em clouding up the pristine front sound-stage anyway! ).

Do you think replacing ONE of my stock liftgate struts with one of those heavy-duty ones you listed would be a good compromise? Or is there a different model that is just slightly stiffer than the stock ones?

Grazie!

[Swede71]

Originally Posted by Randyman...

I added a good deal of sound damping to my hatch a long time ago (many pounds of the stuff), and the stock struts are just BARELY enough to keep it open (won't open all the way unless I help it up). This is even with the rear speakers yanked out (who needs 'em clouding up the pristine front sound-stage anyway! ).

Do you think replacing ONE of my stock liftgate struts with one of those heavy-duty ones you listed would be a good compromise? Or is there a different model that is just slightly stiffer than the stock ones?

Grazie!

if you added many lbs then probably a good idea to order both, and for the low cost of $27.00/each it is not a big investment. As an example, I think my ladder is 20lbs, my vehicle is only 2 months old and within 5 days of adding the ladder it now sometimes will start coming down on its own. So I will be changing both out to be on the safe side.

[1engineer]

Originally Posted by Randyman...

I added a good deal of sound damping to my hatch a long time ago (many pounds of the stuff), and the stock struts are just BARELY enough to keep it open (won't open all the way unless I help it up). This is even with the rear speakers yanked out (who needs 'em clouding up the pristine front sound-stage anyway! ).

Do you think replacing ONE of my stock liftgate struts with one of those heavy-duty ones you listed would be a good compromise? Or is there a different model that is just slightly stiffer than the stock ones?

Grazie!

You need to replace both. Why? Because if you only replace one then the stiffer strut will be the primary load holding strut and it will wear much faster.

[Randyman...]

Originally Posted by Swede71

if you added many lbs then probably a good idea to order both, and for the low cost of $27.00/each it is not a big investment. As an example, I think my ladder is 20lbs, my vehicle is only 2 months old and within 5 days of adding the ladder it now sometimes will start coming down on its own. So I will be changing both out to be on the safe side.

Will do. I guess it is kind of hard for these to be "too strong" considering the initial break angle and all - it would take a LOT of force to make the opening action become too quick or dangerous

Originally Posted by 1engineer

You need to replace both. Why? Because if you only replace one then the stiffer strut will be the primary load holding strut and it will wear much faster.

1E - I was not aware the load placed on these struts themselves affected their longevity (how is that different from when they are resting in the fully compressed closed state or if being held in a half-opened state?) - but now that you mentioned it it does make some logical sense. My concern along these lines was more to do with the tangential stresses placed on the hinges with an unbalanced force applied to each side of the rather heavy lift-gate (and the lever action force multiplications involved). But then again, my lift-gate is generally only opened for minutes at a time (unless I'm working on a project that involves the cargo area - which hasn't happened since I installed the monster system and damped the hatch about 3 years ago )...

Thanks for the well-informed input! I'll likely pick up a pair of those struts with the 10mm straight end specification.

[1engineer]

Originally Posted by Randyman...

Will do. I guess it is kind of hard for these to be "too strong" considering the initial break angle and all - it would take a LOT of force to make the opening action become too quick or dangerous



1E - I was not aware the load placed on these struts themselves affected their longevity (how is that different from when they are resting in the fully compressed closed state or if being held in a half-opened state?) - but now that you mentioned it it does make some logical sense. My concern along these lines was more to do with the tangential stresses placed on the hinges with an unbalanced force applied to each side of the rather heavy lift-gate (and the lever action force multiplications involved). But then again, my lift-gate is generally only opened for minutes at a time (unless I'm working on a project that involves the cargo area - which hasn't happened since I installed the monster system and damped the hatch about 3 years ago )...

Thanks for the well-informed input! I'll likely pick up a pair of those struts with the 10mm straight end specification.

Think about it this way - if you were on a weight machine doing a bench press and one of your arms, even though it was gripping the bar, was only putting out 75% effort while the other arm was putting out 100% effort. Which one will wear out first?

We see this condition all the time in off highway mobile equipment. If a function takes two hydraulic cylinders to operate correctly and one of these cylinders loses some efficiency because of a leaking internal seal, the cylinder doing the most work will fail prematurely if the other cylinder is not fixed quickly. Just like your arm on the bench press.

[Randyman...]

Roger 1E. For my own edification (quite seriously) - can you explain how the load placed on the fixed-pressure strut cylinder affects its longevity and stress? (and not referring to a hydraulic piston/cylinder used in heavy machinery where the hydraulic pressure is delivered externally and will obviously be higher for a given load-carrying capacity if its companion cylinder is failing)?

Can you maybe liken this to a shock/strut where the damping action and force are generated form different components? (the shock to control/damp movement and the spring to carry the load)?

Thanks!

[wanderer33y]

Originally Posted by Swede71

awesome, and I contacted them as well, they list that this one will work up to 2015 models however I gave them my OEM # for my 2016 and this one will work as well. It offers 20% more pressure so should work well with a ladder, will be ordering 2 sets for myself and a friend. Spoke with someone at their end and here is the link to the part they recommended. Search results for: 'pm1062n10'

Exact fit? No changes needed on the eyelets?

Just trying to make sure before i push the button

thanks!!!

[Randyman...]

Originally Posted by wanderer33y

Exact fit? No changes needed on the eyelets?

Just trying to make sure before i push the button

thanks!!!

From what I see above:

When you order, you must put in the comments section the following: "Convert to 10mm straight ends"

And that's all it takes for a bolt-on swap. I'll be able to confirm first-hand soon enough

[elusive01]

Originally Posted by HerT4R

Permalink for reference.



also i found this by searching "5th gen blown lift struts"

Thanks for the reference. Decided to pull the trigger on a ladder because of this! Couldn't justify an impulse buy on the ladder+strut combo from Gobi.

called bajarack to place an order on a ladder (5 week production) and ordered these struts.. Struts shipped out by the end of the working day.

[1engineer]

Originally Posted by Randyman...

Roger 1E. For my own edification (quite seriously) - can you explain how the load placed on the fixed-pressure strut cylinder affects its longevity and stress? (and not referring to a hydraulic piston/cylinder used in heavy machinery where the hydraulic pressure is delivered externally and will obviously be higher for a given load-carrying capacity if its companion cylinder is failing)?

Can you maybe liken this to a shock/strut where the damping action and force are generated form different components? (the shock to control/damp movement and the spring to carry the load)?

Thanks!

Alright,
The lift gate strut is simply a pressurized (nitrogen) cylinder with a piston and rod. There is a metering orifice in the piston and the pressure on both sides of the piston (rod side and base side) and the pressure is equal on both sides. How does it go up if the pressure is equal? Because there is a differential area between the base side and the rod side of the piston. The base side has a bit more area (because of the area of the rod itself - you must subtract that out of the total piston area) and since the formula for force is (lbs per inch squared times inches squared) you can see you will get more force out of the base end.
Geometry also plays an important role here. In the liftgate closed position, the strut is vertical. As you start to raise the lift gate the strut starts to lean back towards the gate and that causes a bit more leverage, which helps raise the gate. In addition to that the gate swings in an arc from it's pivot around the hinges. Once you have gotten it up so far the gate becomes easier to lift. Imagine lifting a trap door in the ground. It's heavy to begin with but once you pass 45 degrees it becomes easier. So that is how it works.
Now, the gas struts maintain the same pressure inside them regardless if they are open or closed. What causes them to fail is the leaking of the nitrogen because of a seal failure. The new struts you are ordering are stronger because they either have A) A higher nitrogen precharge or B) They are a bit larger in diameter or C) They have a higher differential area between the rod and base side of the piston. These three things are the only way to make a stronger gas charged strut. I don't know which one of the three the manufacturer did nor do I care. I only care that they are stronger lol.
If you mismatch the struts then one side will be carrying more of the load. Over time you could have a slight twisting effect on the hinges and torsion on the lift gate. Now since one side is doing more work it will be prone to failure quicker, even though the internal force of the pressurized nitrogen hasn't changed, the amount of work has. Put a matched set on it.

I compared it to hydraulic cylinders because they have the same components in them and in some applications they work the exact same.




Hope this helps.

[wanderer33y]

Originally Posted by Randyman...

From what I see above:

When you order, you must put in the comments section the following: "Convert to 10mm straight ends"

And that's all it takes for a bolt-on swap. I'll be able to confirm first-hand soon enough

True Randy, but that was from a different strut/part number referenced Part#49124, I was referring to part# pm1062n10. Do both part numbers need the same comment added when ordering.