Thread: Gas Struts
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Old 04-03-2023, 04:09 PM   #60
rickst29
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Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Reno, NV
Posts: 1,318
Default TM-bottom-attached strut mounting (EDITED).

Here are photos from the assembly YESTERDAY, which required a bit less than 2 hours of drilling and assembly with screws of slightly the wrong size (1/4" width, 1-1/4" length, rather than 1" long).

I had to cut the middle screw for the strut attachment ball post assembly down to only 7/8" of bolt length under the hex head. The hole for this centered mounting screw lies directly underneath the ball mount post. If the "countertop support" angle bar was thinner (it's 3/8" thick), then a screw could possibly fit with the head inside the angle - but my 7/8" bolt length (required to go through all the sheet metal, two washers, and still thread the nut completely) was too long to fit. One way or another, you need to limit the inside height above the mount corner plate to just the bolt head OR the nut, with a helping washer.

A 1-inch bolt, if I had one, would have been slightly too long here (again mounted reverse, with the nut on the "top" and inside the strut ball mount. But, with a 1" screw, I could have simply add a couple more flat washer on the outside (under the bolt head) to prevent the "nut" end of the bolt from sticking too far into the inside of the ball mount post assembly.

Yesterday I connected the 12" long, angled countertop support bar to the middle of the L-bar face with two more 1-1/4 SS bolts. using an existing hole in the countertop support and then drilling another to correct angle of descent for the countertop support. In the photo, the end hole of the countertop support went through the middle of the 12" long L-bar face.

But, when I went out to the Trailer, that caused the end of the L-bar mount (against the TM floor) to unfortunately run into the last of the floor mount screws for the original (and still required) TM 4" high L-bar (thinner metal, with the torsion bar guide hole going through it).

I chose to drill new holes in my L-bar for the "countertop support bar" connection screws, each moved about 1" towards the "rear" of my L-bar. The L bar is moved further from the front of the TM box backwards, but the strut mount remains in about the same place. Load on the floor mount screws becomes less balanced, with even more downward pulling forces on the screws closer to the Lift arm - but I'm hoping it will still hold together well enough.
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