Bed air or electric lift kit wanted

[Alek&Lucia]

Hi everybody,

I'm looking for air or electric bed lift kit. Something like Marathon and I think also Liberty installs in their coaches in their bedrooms.
Which will be better: air or electric ?
Any links or websites ?

Alek

[Jon Wehrenberg]

If you have neither, have you considered gas struts as an assist rather than trying to run air or electric?

It will take a little engineering, but my guess is if you set it up correctly you can use the struts as an initial assist and then when the bed is raised the struts would hold it.

[Alek&Lucia]

Hi Jon,

Yes, we have gas struts, and bed stays up, but it is little to heavy to pick up for Lucia, even when I'm off the bed ;)

Alek

[JIM CHALOUPKA]

Hey Alek, try bigger struts. Seriously, get it set up so it lifts the bed after you release a latch that holds the bed down.

After the latch is released the bed rises slowly. It would take little effort to stop it or to push it back down , if you get it set up just right. You need to try to seek the balance point where very little outside energy is required to go up or down.

[tdelorme]

Alek, Jim's advice is the way to go. A retro fit for an air or electric system is not worth the effort and expense when a stiffer air spring will work just as well. I think a 300# spring on each side will lift the bed even with you on it.:)

Our Foretravels all had springs only and the bed was always easy to lift.

[Alek&Lucia]

Where I can buy strong struts like that ?

[tdelorme]

http://www.easylift.com/?gclid=CJ7optfsrpUCFQgfswode2s8kQ

[Jerry Winchester]

When Loc and I were looking at Slick Willie's coach, his wife was way proud of the fact that she had re-engineered the Marathon air lift system with an electric servo set up.

Now she opens this rig up and here is the big whoppin ass actuator in the middle of the storage area under the bed that looks like it would pick up the whole back of the coach. Way overbuilt and seriously in the way.

Go with the big air springs and kick that gorilla sized dog off the bed.

[bluevost]

Alec,

I just changed my struts and my bed lift works great. 150# on each side, you can lift it with one hand. We have a Sleep Comfort bed, queen size, with the air pump attached to the bottom of the bed deck.

Makin' our way to Spearfish,

Ken

[JIM CHALOUPKA]

Alek, to get close on the weight of the bed, place a bathroom scale along side the bed and with the bed raised about two feet.
Place a suitable rod or board to support the bed at the cylinders theoretical mounting point, but along its side) on the scale and read the weight.
Once you get the cylinders you can move the mounting point to, or away from the hinge to make final adjustments.
Remember if you use two cylinders to divide the lift weight/bed weight by two, for the poundage rating of cylinder lift.

[Petervs]

I have a Marathon, and it has 2 gas struts to lift the bed. Worked pretty good until we replaced the mattress with a memory foam type which was heavier.

So, last time I swapped out a couple of bay door gas struts, I installed the old ones on the bed. it works perfect, and cost nothing!

The gas struts only cost $22 in any event.

[Loc]

International Bus Parts also sells stuts in different lifting capacities.

[Yankee802]

I have a Marathon, and it has 2 gas struts to lift the bed. Worked pretty good until we replaced the mattress with a memory foam type which was heavier.

So, last time I swapped out a couple of bay door gas struts, I installed the old ones on the bed. it works perfect, and cost nothing!

The gas struts only cost $22 in any event.

Where did you get the memory foam mattress? Short queen, cost?

[dale farley]

Geoff,

We bought one for the bus at WalMart and a thicker one for the house at Sam's Club. We were out of town when we bought the one for the bus, but it does a great job. I forget the exact cost, but I would say around $40-$75 and $150-$200 respectively. They are queen size and both work great.

[Petervs]

We replaced the entire mattress, not just an on top pad. Our bed is an odd angled shape, it tapers at the foot end.

We found a local mattress factory that custom made the mattress to our dimensions in 2 days. After all, they just cut a hunk of foam and wrap it in cloth.

Cost was the same as a queen size they sell, about $800 I think.

We used Regal Mattress Co in Vancouver, WA, but you might be able to find another company close to you.