Date:         Tue, 20 Nov 2012 19:52:18 -0500
Reply-To:     The Bus Depot <vanagon@BUSDEPOT.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         The Bus Depot <vanagon@BUSDEPOT.COM>
Subject:      Re: Rear hatch struts  - heavy duty
In-Reply-To:  <9E5C195E-5C7E-4A61-8EE1-6271A7483FBE@yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

> The Vanagon comes with two different hatch struts...one is medium strength
and
> one is heavy duty.  They do this to make it easy for people to pull the
hatch down.
> 
> I never use the medium strength because they do very little.  I put too of
the heavy
> duty ones on my Vanagon ten years ago and they still hold strong.  I do
not have a
> rack on my hatch.
> 
> My point is...I am not sure what BD is selling...either way...never use
the original
> combination.  I will make it a little tougher to pull down the hatch, but
they will last
> a long time.


To clarify, the original configuration was a weaker strut on the left and a
stronger on the right. Most people go with two stronger ones instead, which
is generally enough to hold up a hatch with a little extra weight (i.e. a
bike rack without bikes on it), or to last you a very long time with no
extra weight. That's the ones Zoran are referring to. They are genuine
Boge/Stabilus, and we have sold these for years and always keep them in
stock:

http://www.busdepot.com/251829332

The ones Harry referred to are a new even stronger one that we are now
importing directly from Germany. Allegedly you could even leave a bike on
the rack with these (although I should reiterate that I have never tried
that myself so I can't guarantee it):

http://www.busdepot.com/251829332hd

I always recommend replacing hatch struts in pairs to extend lifespan. 

 Ron Salmon
  The Bus Depot, Inc.
  www.busdepot.com
  (215)  234-VWVW

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