Maintenance & Restoration

spaghettiroad · 07-21-2017, 05:40 PM

My trailer's hinge are on rear of trailer are pressing to hard on exterior of wall and damaging exterior wall. When top lifted without springs no issues,,,,,Placement is center on the top and angled to the back. Should I get lower LB graded springs ? Problem the lower the smaller in size they get? Or do I reinstall no drilling closer to the front?

J Ron · 07-22-2017, 11:22 AM

gowesty.com has cylinder kit for VW Westfall top to assist raising. They look like they may be longer and work better by moving the lift point forward. Moving the cylinders should reduce stress on the himge.

k corbin · 07-22-2017, 01:51 PM

I would keep on being the primary lift spring when opening the trailer and let the small ones be your assistant

You should trust in the engineers who decided on the placement of those gas lifts, they got the right balance of location for helping to hold the roof open. What your mistake is was thinking that the gas shocks were meant to do all of the work of the lifting.

The main issue here is that the walls are not sufficiently tied together because of the large cutout area and therefore they will flex and spread apart no matter where you put the shocks or how strong the shocks are. The further forward from the aft end of the opening you move the greater the tendency will be for the walls to spread until you hit the mid point of the trailer which is where the maximum for the weakest area with the most tendency to spread will occur. So the advice of the person who suggested to move them further out their current location should not be followed as it will increase the issue rather than decreasing it.

spaghettiroad · 07-22-2017, 01:58 PM

Auctially my issue is not in the lift but bringing the top down. The force at which is applied to the hinge area when pulling the topdown is the issue. I'm quite comfortable in assisting as much as I can with helping the springs lifting and quite happy with that as long as they do their job simply holding the top up.

spaghettiroad · 07-22-2017, 02:25 PM

My 84' trailer was the prototype. In 86' they changed to the piano hinge design with a stronger with a beefed up rear wall.

J Ron · 07-22-2017, 03:30 PM

The upper end of the cylinder is like the center bar on a seesaw. Moving the cylinder further forward will transfer tension forward and relieve pressure on the hinge when lowering the top.

J Ron · 07-22-2017, 03:35 PM

PS Moving cylinder forward is cheapist and easiest way to reduce tension on the hinge. You will need longer cylinders. The cylinders that goeesty.Com sells are much longer than what you have. I put these cylinders on 3 VW Westies.

spaghettiroad · 07-22-2017, 03:35 PM

So keep the bracket where it is on trailer shell and move bracket on top closer to the front allowing for longer spring? I'll need longer springs but keep same weight requirements ? Thanks

J Ron · 07-22-2017, 03:37 PM

PSS that's gowesty.com.

J Ron · 07-22-2017, 03:42 PM

It may be worthwhile to move forward on trailer also but that's something you can look at when you get new cylinders.

spaghettiroad · 07-22-2017, 03:46 PM

How much further on the top would you recommend ?

spaghettiroad · 07-22-2017, 03:47 PM

Trying to avoiding excessive holes...

J Ron · 07-22-2017, 04:05 PM

Go to gowesty.com and enter pop top in the search area and touch or click on the pix of the cylinders and look at the pictures. You can probably adjust from where Gowesty puts them if you need to. Holes can be filled, short bolts can do it. Work on getting stress of hinge.

Jan Dyke · 07-22-2017, 10:46 PM

just wanted to say interesting trailer, never seen one like it before
Jan

Borrego Dave · 07-23-2017, 12:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spaghettiroad

My 84' trailer was the prototype. In 86' they changed to the piano hinge design with a stronger with a beefed up rear wall.

A couple things Pat. Being it's a promo unit you may think of beefing up the hinge area like the production units had. As far as your gas cylinders, I replaced the two on an aluminum door frame of a truck cap/shell. I didn't know they came with different lb ratings and I only went with the length. Needless to say I was wrong. They were for an SUV and WAY to powerfull for my lightweight door which pretty much blew apart as I forced it closed. Good side, it was all fixable.....and the new cylinders I bought worked great, after I learned they come in pound ratings too

. So now that I've just admitted to the world my mistake, figure what kind of weight the lid is to stay up and find a cylinder maybe 10 or so #s over that with the length you need to use the same holes but do make sure the connecting end is the same as what you have. On another note, in one of your pics it looks like there is a support pole at the front of the top in the upright position. If so, the cylinders are really only needed for ease of set up and take down.

spaghettiroad · 07-23-2017, 03:21 AM

Yes ! I'm thinking it was my bad as well. I'm the moron who introduced cylinders that were too strong. I'm first going to attempt lighter rated ones and simply go as low rated as I can ; where top will lift with my assist, cylanders will hold top up on their own and when pressure is applied by me to lower top, the correct weight rated cylinders won't put overly compress newly reinforced wall. Thanks for the confession !

spaghettiroad · 07-23-2017, 03:29 AM

So with you thinking borrego Dave, if the cylinders are holding the top up on their own, they are too strong to use ....I will test that theory

spaghettiroad · 07-23-2017, 03:40 AM

Btw that chrome pole in the front of pic #2 is an adjustible pull up bar used in doorways ! With mcGiver in my thoughts, I placed it there because old cylinders were dead. It works but always in the way !

Borrego Dave · 07-23-2017, 03:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spaghettiroad

So with you thinking borrego Dave, if the cylinders are holding the top up on their own, they are too strong to use ....I will test that theory

No, holding up the top is fine and that's all you're looking for and that's all they're for, it's the closing power that you don't need to over power. Disconnect your cylinders and feel the weight of the roof with your hand and kind of guess the weight. Really should be pretty light. All you're trying to do is hold it up with them, nothing more

. If I had to guess, it would be 20#s or less. I asked about what looked like a support pole in your pic. If you have and use that, cylinders really aren't needed.