Happy New Year to everyone!!

The bed on my Frankia i650 is becoming increasingly difficult to raise and won't hold in the raised position unless empty. I assume the gas struts have failed. I have found some struts that seem to be a direct replacement online and am now wondering if this is a diy Task??

Has anyone done this recently or should I get a professional to do the job.

The struts are about £38 each including Vat. I guess labour charges to actually fit them at a garage will add significantly to this cost and I'd rather spend the money on diesel if I can fit the items myself!

Thanks

I'd cut a couple of bits of wood to support it in the fully open position and DIY it, it's only a nut at each end, just don't undo them with them compressed.

If you google it, there are companies that specialise in re-charging gas struts.
I'm not sure what costs are like compared to buying a new gas strut though.
It maybe worth checking out.

If anything like the ones on hymer then it is a relatively easy job. Lower the bed, remove side curtains and the struts are right in front of you. Release one end at a time to remove the strut. Replacement is just a reverse of removal. The hardest part is compressing the new strut enough to fit on the securing lugs.

I must admit to being rather confused about the methodology here. The above explanation seems entirely logical to me, bed lowered, struts extended and pressure lowered. However the Hymer International Club suggests raising the bed to its highest point, with the mattress removed and removing the fixing on the end of the strut. Seems to me that the strut would be under great pressure in that situation resulting in the piston being forced towards the rear of the vehicle rather rapidly.

Which is the correct way to do it please?

Found this if it helps

http://www.sgs-engineering.com/gas-s...assing-service

DJM

And this

http://www.sgs-engineering.com/help-...-my-gas-strut/

DJM

I have had to replace the struts on hymer beds twice over the years and this is the easiest way I have found for doing it. To try with the bed raised you have very little access to the struts as you have to reach up the side of the bed frame. With the bed lowered it cannot fall down as you remove the struts and they are easily accessible plus you are working from a stable platform. To compress the struts I used a couple of long jubilee clips connected together and fitted the around the outside of the new strut and tightened them up to get the locating holes to match up with the fixing lugs.

I had one of my struts fail last summer with a small puddle of oil . I replaced both at the same time and kept the undamaged one as a spare.


Mine are made by Stabilus ( something like that ) and I quoted to them the part number, and they sent it to a UK contact who sent them out. Really easy to fix.


Mine were not re-fillable, so a replacement was the only option.