rear hatch lift shocks - stronger ones

i'm in the process of building a ladder that bolts to my rear hatch to make access to my roof rack easier. i need some replacement shocks that are stronger than the stock ones. the stock ones will keep it open once i push it up, but its pushing their limit. anyone have any part #'s or suggestions.

thanks, matthew

sarvermr said:

i'm in the process of building a ladder that bolts to my rear hatch to make access to my roof rack easier. i need some replacement shocks that are stronger than the stock ones. the stock ones will keep it open once i push it up, but its pushing their limit. anyone have any part #'s or suggestions.

thanks, matthew

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Try putting two stock hatch struts on each side. That way they don't have to work as hard. Its pretty easy to fab up a little bracket that allows you to bolt two struts together, and there is plenty of room under the edge of the hatch to allow it. I have a little ladder as well, and this fix allowed my hatch to be raised under its own power.
Good luck,
Buck :canada:

Buck Jackson said:

Try putting two stock hatch struts on each side. That way they don't have to work as hard. Its pretty easy to fab up a little bracket that allows you to bolt two struts together, and there is plenty of room under the edge of the hatch to allow it. I have a little ladder as well, and this fix allowed my hatch to be raised under its own power.
Good luck,
Buck :canada:

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thats a pretty good idea. do you have any pics of the brackets you made and your set-up? any pics of the ladder?

thanks, matthew

sarvermr said:

thats a pretty good idea. do you have any pics of the brackets you made and your set-up? any pics of the ladder? thanks, matthew

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Sorry Matthew, I don't have any pics, but here is what i did: The new strut mounts directly beside the old strut towards the opposite side of the vehicle, ie if you are standing behind the vehicle, they look like they are side by side.

Upper attachment:
Removed the upper pin
replaced pin with a longer threaded bolt, same diameter (can't remember, 1/4"?)
ran bolt through bracket, strut, bracket, and then into new strut
put a nut and washer on over 2nd strut

That held the upper eye of the strut which is the easier one by far.


Lower attachment:
Removed strut
cut threads onto the pin (this was a pain in the a$$, but worked)
reattached lower part of strut (minus plastic end cap) over newly threaded pin
threaded a coupling nut onto the newly cut threads
drilled out the hole on the new strut to fit over the coupling nut
tightened a little shorty bolt and washer into the coupling nut, done.

Ladder:
To do this, i checked out a buddy's Landrover Discovery II, many have a factory ladder. I made mine very similar to his. First i fabbed the ladder to fit the shape and height of my hatch (i used electrical conduit: way cheaper than tubing, pretty good strength, and all weather). I wanted it mounted on the driver's side to not interfere with my passenger side tire mount. I curved the ends of the conduit to sit flat on the top of the hatch and flat on the bottom of the hatch. I welded tiny metal plates with holes drilled to mount into the hatch itself, and then used metal screws to hold it onto the hatch. As soon as i was done, i realized this was too weak to support my fat a$$, so i welded plates on the inside of the hatch to distribute the load a bit, and bolted through the tiny plates on the outside into the bigger plates on the inside. Its still a bit flimsy, but it does the job, as long as i don't jump up and down on the ladder, it holds fine. If i could do it again, I would really beef up the hatch in the areas i want the ladder to attach, and i would make it out of DOM tubing, but hey, this did the job.
Hopefully some of this made sense to you, and you can follow my clueless instructions.
Good luck, and PM me if you run into trouble, I can probably do a better job describing it if i think about it more. I have to get my wife to let me buy a digital camera!
Buck :canada:

thats a great description of the dual struts. i think i can handle that. thanks!

as far as the ladder, i used 3/4" pipe (1" outside diameter). it is curved to match the hatch. the top is welded to some angle that is bolted on either side of the hinge. the bottom is welded to some angle that rests on my c4x4 bumper when the hatch is shut. it is also tied into the hatch on each side just below the window and at the bottom of the hatch. i have to put in to more rungs and then i'll post up some pics.

matthew

Sounds like that will work, its essentially the same thing i did, except mine does not rest on my bumper. although, maybe i will look into making it do so, seems like it could support a lot more weight that way.
Glad i could help,
Buck :canada:

hey buck,

i was thinking about drilling a hole in the stud at the bottom and then tapping the hole and threading a bolt in there to extend it. what are your thoughts?

thanks, matthew

sarvermr said:

hey buck,

i was thinking about drilling a hole in the stud at the bottom and then tapping the hole and threading a bolt in there to extend it. what are your thoughts?

thanks, matthew

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My wife's away with our Xj right now, so i can't go look at it to see if I think that would work, but I will say this, the setup that i described above is pretty flimsy. The extra struts only assist the main ones to do their jobs, so I imagine that as long as you can get it to hang in there tightly, it will do the job for you. Mind you, it sounds like your ladder is a bit beefier than mine is, and likely yours will weigh more. As long as the hole you drill and the bolt you insert are not going to majorly weaken the stud, I can't see why it would not work. Hopefully my advice is worth more than the paper its written on... :rof:
Good luck,
Buck :canada: