Kingham - bed gas lift struts - don’t work!

AS 2018 Kingham - Just back from a week on the IOW (very pleasant too) and have noticed that it’s a real effort to lift the bed which I can only deduce is because the gas lift struts (one of each side of the bed at the mid-point) might have failed.  Has anyone else had this problem?  I’m thinking of making a strut (similar principal to the strut that holds a bonnet up on a vehicle) or updating the gas struts and replacing them as the bed +mattress is pretty hefty!  Has anyone else uprated their gas struts - any pointers on where to source them?  Or is this a warrantee job?  Thanks all

Our Duo was built with the car bonnet rod, so I put gas struts on myself. They come in varying lengths and strengths. Usually the strength in Newtons is marked on them. I can't remember what strength I got but you would probably need stronger ones for a Kinham bed. Cheapest are from China via eBay or Amazon, UK sourced ones are at least double the price.

Thanks Paul, will start researching....  There’s no rush as the Mrs is quite good at holding the whole thing up while I load/unload all the campsite stuff from under the bed!  :-)

Paulmold wrote:Our Duo was built with the car bonnet rod, so I put gas struts on myself. They come in varying lengths and strengths. Usually the strength in Newtons is marked on them. I can't remember what strength I got but you would probably need stronger ones for a Kinham bed. Cheapest are from China via eBay or Amazon, UK sourced ones are at least double the price.

I'd pay double, having had two of the cheapie Chinese ones fail within a couple of years.

It's not a job you want to be doing too often, and it's a pain if they give up at the start of a holiday.

I would suggest you make a car bonnet prop anyway and leave it loose in the bed box. Then if you do have a strut failure you can firtle in there without supporting the bed on your head!! 

PLOUGHLIN wrote:

Gromit wrote:

Paulmold wrote:Our Duo was built with the car bonnet rod, so I put gas struts on myself. They come in varying lengths and strengths. Usually the strength in Newtons is marked on them. I can't remember what strength I got but you would probably need stronger ones for a Kinham bed. Cheapest are from China via eBay or Amazon, UK sourced ones are at least double the price.

I'd pay double, having had two of the cheapie Chinese ones fail within a couple of years.

It's not a job you want to be doing too often, and it's a pain if they give up at the start of a holiday.

I would suggest you make a car bonnet prop anyway and leave it loose in the bed box. Then if you do have a strut failure you can firtle in there without supporting the bed on your head!! 

Where are they double price ones made?

I'll take a guess -  China !!!..

Perhaps I should have said, if you're not in a hurry get them from China but if you want them quick then China-made ones can be got from UK for double the price

Hi , yes the bed is quite heavy , if it's lifted with anything on top as well as bedding , it won't hold , it's a wise idea to have a back up , which is easy enough .cheers Ron

Try SGS based in Derby.
They offer either to refurbish your existing strutts and increase their lift if wanted of sell you new.
I used them to do the struts holding the rear door on a T5 VW really good.
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David

Heanorboy wrote:Try SGS based in Derby.

I would also recommend SGS - I've had excellent after-sales service from them in the past.