HI all,

let me start by saying thanks to all those who offered there advice on the pop top strut replacements and for the tips provided.

As always, the video is below but I wanted to share my experience in swapping these out.

Seriously, for the money and time spent, it's a whole new world for me.

I should probably preface this by saying that my van is a 94 model and from what I can tell, still using the original struts.

The main reason I wanted to go with new struts was because I'd just stuck around 30kgs of solar panels etc on the roof and lifting was becoming a bit of an issue, despite suggestions that it would be negligible once done.

Additionally, my top skirt was never quite right with lots of creases and slackness to be seen.

You'll also see the lean that was on the top which made for a lot of tension for the windows and made them basically unusable because of it.

My awning was also not rolling up straight and having to be forced to get the arms back in their locked position as the top was coming down crooked.

Pics below give you a good idea. of course the issues were made worse with the panels on top and this was when the pics were taken below.

when I measured my old ones, they came in at 450 for the outer and in their up position, there was 200 of the inner sticking out.

Now, I noted that they said, not to measure your stuts this way, but unfortunately, there was no real suggestion on how to measure them otherwise. So THANKS for that

So I went with what I could see. Mine were also a 120N as best I could tell. The number rubbed off when I tried to clean them to read them. I was basically winging it. 

I went with the 435N as the heaviest I could find.

Research says drop off the last 0 on the end and this is what they are rated at in kg per unit.

I worried a bit when they turned up and could not be compressed by hand.

In the end, they were the right choice.

these are the ones I went with from the gas strut guys ( no affiliation)

I figured the 825 was going to be close and I also put my hand up for the free . Not knowing which I needed, I figured it was best to have both handy just in case. In the end, mine used the 10mm cups .

I used the old ratchet strap method to compress them and you definitely need to be careful when doing this.

Also use some decent straps and ones that you don't mind wrecking as they tend to get a bit worn from where the ends of the struts make contact during the process.

I did find the continuous loop type easier to work with as you didn't need to get the hooks connected and they do tend to get in the way. One less thing and all that.

Just loop it around the struts and ratchet down to length.

If you use regular straps, just hook the loops together

For support I used timer which I had in the shed and paid attention to use stuff with a decent surface area to not damage where they were resting whilst supporting the roof (cheers for the tip)

I also ended up having to use the original hardware, like the nuts etc as there is a hole that they need to fit into and the new ones were a tad large.

So go easy with the old stuff as you may need to re-use it.

The end result is a pop top that now goes to full extension and all but opens itself when lifted. Pulling it down is easy too.

You can see the difference in the skirt with the new struts in place

As a result I can now open my skirt windows and close them fully. I've never been able to do that before.

The original plan was to do the struts first and then the panels, but deliveries didn't work out and the panels went up first.

Because of this I erred on the side of caution with the weights and put the 2 x 185 panels up due to reduces weight over the 2 x 235 I wanted to go with.

Now I know how easy it handles these, I may make the change later to the bigger panels.

All in all for what could be done in around 2 hours, taking your time and for under 100 bucks, it's well worth the effort.

Of course mine were buggered, so definitely worth the effort.

I also think most could do it with basic tools to get you through.

hope this helps anyone looking to do the same and as usual, the vid is below if you want to watch it being done and anything else I can't remember that's in the vid.

cheers Brett