Wander the West: roof lifting helper shocks thingys - Wander the West

I have seen the posts where people have added those shock things to the outside of there campers that help lift the roof. They look like they are attached to the roof and the body of the camper.


What I need is help locating the correct ones. I want one that is made to be outside in the elements and strong enough that it does most the lifting for when my wife needs it. So it needs to be able to lift what 50, 75, 100 lbs?
Help me out here. I plan on attaching one to the front and one on the rear of the camper.
Thanks, Scott

The Saints, on 04 March 2010 - 03:44 PM, said:

My lift system was installed by FWC at the factory in Woodland. It is installed on the inside of the camper. Here is a picture of the verbage printed on the side of the struts. Hope this helps.

thank you, I will try to do something with this.

The Saints, on 05 March 2010 - 05:21 PM, said:

Here are some more pictures that might help you out. Once the roof is up, the struts can be removed with a small screwdriver in about 30 seconds (use screwdriver to depress small clip). When you are ready to lower the roof again....just clip the struts back on.

Leadsled9,
Thank you, that helps a lot. I was curious how they kept the struts out of the way when the top was down. With those pictures I think I may be able to make something myself. I will keep a post of my progress, although timely it may be.
Scott

I bought the parts today, so in four days I may be able to start the project.

The Saints, on 09 March 2010 - 01:31 AM, said:

Where did you buy the struts, cost? May add to my Hawk

billharr, on 08 March 2010 - 06:46 PM, said:

Keep in mind....depending on how much weight you have on the roof....you can get more powerfull struts to offset the additional weight.

If you go too high however, the roof will be difficult to lower. When you have the struts properly matched to your roof weight....the roof will come down nice and slow, but will not have any problem coming all the way down.

The first post on this thread by Leadsled9 has a picture. I read the brand of shock and went to that site.
Suspa.com.
I looked at the shocks. His is rated for 40lbs. With two in the front that equals 80 lbs of lift. The next size up is rated at 60 lbs. that was too much for me.
I bought four shocks and eight brackets. Two shocks in the front, two in back. the shocks are $20.00 each. the ones rated for 60 lbs are $25.00 each.
the brackets were $2.00 each and I wasn't sure which ones would work best.
The company emailed me this morning to tell me they shipped out.
nice.
Scott

Per your original inquiry I know what you are talking about with the struts on the outside, there was a picture that went around a while back that looked intriguing. I might pursue something there one of these days but I'm swamped right now. For the gas springs on the outside I'd look into springs for the marine environment. A quick search looks like "Attwood" and "Taylor Made" are a couple companies that offer stainless gas springs for salt water environments.