Truck Topper Door Hold Up things

[J.T]

I have a topper on my pickup truck. The rear door lifts up and has these two things that resemble small shock absorbers. Apparently they re getting weak, because the door dont stay up very well anymore. I'm tired of that damn door hitting me on the head. Temporarily I have been clamping a vice grips on one of those things to keep it up if I'm loading or unloading a bunch of stuff.

However, I'd like to replace them if they can be bought. First off, what is their correct name? Knowing that, I can google them. But changing them wont be as easy as simply remove and replace. They are riveted on, so I'll have to grind or drill the rivets off and replace with bolts. Then too, if they are sold, I suppose there are different sizes so I'll have to find a match. The topper is an after market thing and has no brand name on it, so I can only go by length and diameter.

Of course if there is an easier solution, such as some sort of prop, I'd consider that too. -OR- can the ones I have be repaired? (It dont look like they come apart).

Thanks in advance!

[Paul Drahn]

Any place that sells "toppers" will have them, or will give you the name of a place that does.

Paul

[Dean Hoffman]

Some here:

It's just the first one I happened on. I know nothing about the company or its products.

[clare]

They are called Gas Struts In many cases you can remove the strut from the ball fitting by turning or removing a clip. Most auto parts stores can get the struts - they are used for hood and trunk lids as well.

[Don Y]

They are gas (or pneumatic) struts.

You'll need to know more than just physical dimensions. They have different degrees of "springiness" as well.

You might consider a hinged "leg" that just *swings* out from the topper and falls into place (attaining its natural vertical orientation so it's like a "leg" that NATURALLY extends downward to lean on the floor/side of the truck bed. You'd *manually* push/hold it up when wanting to lower the topper.

You can also try a leg that you manually *lift* into position to hold the topper in its "up" position -- perhaps even having several extents to choose from (think of how hood on most new cars are held up)

[Terry Coombs]

They're called gas springs and all you need to know is the extended length , collapsed length , and the load rating . Lengths you can measure , load is usually stamped into the cartridge . Available on ebay for as low as 5 bucks with free shipping .

[micky]

JC Whitney used to sell one style of this. I bought one just for "emergencies" One usually had to measure and cut the leg to the right length.

Gas struts are surprisingly expensive, iirc.

[micky]

That's not expensive. Maybe there was no web when I last priced them, and increased competition has brought the price down. Or maybe it's something else.

[Terry Coombs]

More likely the Chinese stole that technology , as they've stolen most of the tech for the stuff they've flooded the market with . When you have no restrictions on pollution and basically slave labor you can make stuff a LOT cheaper .

[rbowman]

Something else. I replace a couple on my topper maybe ten years ago. iirc, it was about $25 for two at Champion Auto. It isn't really a problem but the ones I got were designed for a hatchback or heavier trunk lid so the topper panel closes slowly and requires some force.