Sending the hatch up with force ain't a bad thing. I would just be concerned that the closing of the hatch could damage the connection points.

But......since they make two different strength struts, and I doubt the support on the hatch is any different regardless of the OEM type used, you can't go wrong putting the heavier duty OEM one in place of the OEM one for non wiper/spoiler cars.:biggrin:

The real question is, if you have both a wiper and spoiler, can you go with a strut rated beyond the heavy duty OEM one? Now you are in uncharted territory. You may be able to strengthen the supports, and then you can be sure the stronger struts can't hurt you.

well, I will be the Guinia pig.. I bought the struts for the Aerostar and will see how they work once they get here. Honestly, except for the length, I do not see it being a problem as far as stress goes on the hinge and latch. If you look at the hatch design, when it is shut, the struts have almost no leverage on what the hatch is doing.

Just checking if anyone heard what the force rating was on the A-Zone struts. I think this is great that someone has come up with an inexpensive alternative. FWIW, the 430N bmw struts are equivalent to 97 lbs force.

I sent an e-mail message to the manufacturer, but no response yet. I'll call them tomorrow and try to talk to a person.

I took a good look at the strut mounting points. I would be shocked if one of these failed, seriously. Take a look at the pin mounts, very good construction.

I was thinking... if the ball/pivots/pins are a universal size, wouldn't the Blazer's be the same as the 318ti's? If the Blazer can handle them, so can the 318ti. I guess you could make an argument about how strongly they are attached to the sheet metal though, but I'm not worried.

Yeah, it's not bad- probably like new actually. Not like it jumps up and clocks me on the chin. I doubt that BMW used different mounting points/parts though so no matter which BMW-equivalent cylinder you use I bet the load points are gonna be OK.

I called Mighty-Lift/Strong Arm. 152 lbs. = 676 Newtons!? for the Strong Arm 4287. That doesn't seem right though. I'm probably thinking through this incorrectly.....

304 lbs total (Strong-Arm) vs. 190 lbs total (stock). ?? I can tell you you're NOT pulling down the equivalent of 114 extra lbs. Imagine hanging upside down and lifting a 10 pound weight with one hand. That's what it feels like. I was seriously expecting to hear maybe 500 newtons max.

I swear they don't seem all that strong :)

I also just called Sachs. The SG230031 is 160 lbs. = 711 newton.

I went grocery shopping yesterday. My struts are probably in need of replacing. One thing I have to check further, is whether my rear shelf hinge pins are jamming. If they are broken, and the shelf gets caught, it tugs on the hatch via the ropes, making it difficult to extend the hatch open all the way. I have had to push hard on the hatch to get it to stay up so it didn't fall.

I'm pretty sure the points where the hinge pin connects to the shelf is broken on the left side.

A simple test would be to unhook the ropes from the hatch, and open and close the hatch.

weird... could have sworn I did a post here.

Anyway, I installed the Aerostar lift struts today. Took all of five minutes to pull my dead bmw struts and installed the slightly longer and stronger ford ones. Strong arm part# 4784

With the hatch all the way open, the hinges come within half a centremeter of touching the painted sheetmetal of the roof. No amount of pushing upwards will bring them close though. It is nice to no longer have to worry about getting clocked in the head by the hatch. I stand 5'11" and the hatch when up is now far enough above my head that I need to use the internal pockets on the inside of the hatch to pull it down so I can close it.

When closed, there is no binding from the longer struts (inch and a half longer at full extension) and there is so little leverage for the struts to work on that the hatch does not "fly up" when you unlatch it.

As for how much harder it is to close, I cannot comment. On a chilly day my hatch would close on it's own.

Great find!
I need new struts too...
Ever since I got the wing on my car, I've had an automatic closing trunk haha...

-Randy

well, I said I would be the guinia pig.. so there are my observations so far. Once it warms up again on sunday, I will play with the hatch more. Right now it was 30 degrees outside and the wind was blowing. I still had to install the struts though.

I agree 100% on that one...

Wow! I put the Aerostar Stabilus/Sachs hatch struts on my hatch last night. First off, they are huge compared to the stock struts. They are also super strong. They do not have an ideal fit. Although they do not seem to touch or rub, when closing the hatch they are a little too long and slightly inhibit the smooth closing of the hatch. You can still close the hatch, but it binds just a little just before it latches.

I know. I know. I saw all the warnings about scary potential consequences to the hatch. I took a chance becuase Mad-Machine said the Aerostar supports worked in his post in this thread, but I think he used the Strong-Arm Aerostar struts and not the Stabilus Aerostar parts. Anyhoo, I would recommend against the Stabilus struts from the Aerostar, they are not a very good fit. I would go with the alternative Chevy/GM replacements from above or, if you get the Aerostar ones, get the Strong Arm ones used by Mad Machine.

I plan to pull these and get the other alternative lift supports.

Great thread. I have a wing and wiper and need to replace my struts. Looks like I'm going with either the Blazer or Strong-Arm Aerostar ones.