Weak Bay Door Air Springs

[win42]

Does anyone offer a fix for weak air springs on the bay doors? Is replacement the answer and if so the best source.
I'm also looking for a source of the fancy lit up hand rail along the entrance interior right side. Bling a Bling Bling Bling
Thanks
Harry (Alias win42)

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Harry,

Try this site. I would check with Prevost to see if they will help you with the specs like length, end fittings etc. They have helped me find generic industry part numbers in the past.

http://www.spdhardware.com/gs2.htm

It looks like you can get these at your friendly NAPA store.

Good luck.

[mike kerley]

Harry, I've changed a few of mine with off the shelf parts from discount auto parts houses. They have different lengths and pressures, so you may have to experiment. Most of them snap in and out easily. Mine work good now in warm weather, but when it gets cold (50 or lower is cold in Florida) they will tend to droop. That's when I start looking for replacements.

Mike K

[Ray Davis]

I purchased my springs direct from Prevost. They had two versions. There was the "regular strength" version, which is their current spring. If I remember right they were around $25 apiece. They also stock a heavy-duty version for converters like Country Coach, who hang chairs on the doors making them a lot heavier than original. These were around $40+.

The connection to the coach had changed a bit since my coach (92-93), which required I purchase a set of ball joints (wrong word, I'm sure), over which the strut ends snapped. About $3 per connector.

The good thing about Prevost is that they were in stock, and immediately available. The bad thing is that once I got the struts, being able to actually install back in some of the bays (like the water bay) was almost impossible without tearing everything out. Luckily my primary problem was with the front bay, which is completely accessible.

Note, you may also way to replace the door safety latches at the same time. Many of mine were bent/worn. They are about $7 per latch.

Ray

[lewpopp]

I'll bet that Rich at IBP knows the proper gas shock for all door applications. I purchased one from them and I am pleased with the power. It was for under the bed and it made it a lot easier to lift the bed and it kept it up while searching for something.

I would be interested in where I could also get a nice looking entrance handle for the inside.

[MangoMike]

Jon,

Great resource site, will definetly bookmark it for future use.

Thanks,
Mike

[Jerry Winchester]

Had one of these gas spring / shock deals break where the rod attaches to the end that holds onto the ball. So I prop up the door, get out the tools and commence to taking it off so I can order a replacement.

Well, first off that end isn't a 1/2" wrench it is a 13mm. That sucks. Then when I got the whole thing tore out, I see where you can uncage that end piece and slip it off the ball leaving the hardware and just removing the shock which would have taken about 30 seconds vs 30 minutes. Now that really sucks.

So now I have the whole damn thing off and I will order a couple. I have a weak one on the water tank / dump bay door that keeps whacking me in the head depending on the OAT, so I hope that one doesn't have the Ray Davis issue.

It would be a whole lot easier working on the coach if I didn't have to do everything twice. Or the hard way.

[lewpopp]

YOU WOULD THINK...... That if someone purchases a coach made in METRIC LAND, you would purchase some metric tools. Jeeeze Jerry, I sent you some metric allen wrenches and now you want my Ace Hardware. Maybe a deal could be worked out. When they cremate me my tools won't burn.

Maybe the metric tools haven't reached the far dark side of Texass.

Lew

[Jerry Winchester]

I will admit that until you sent me the metric allen wrenches, I only had a 1/4" drive metric socket set.

But now I have a whole set of wrenchs. The problem was that the bay door was propped up on the only thing around (small plastic table) which facilitated me having to army crawl up into the bay where the AquaHot lives because some other numbnut parked his Tahoe in the hanger right next to the same door, so by the time I got up in there with the poor light, I had to army crawl back to the tool box and drag out the new wrench. However, some 5 year old kid in an electirc Barbie Car cruised up and whacked me about the same time, so I was already pissed.

Get where this is going?

[truk4u]

What a sight that would have been, Anaconda Boy army crawling in a bay with the AquaHot. Can you say, 10 lbs of s--- in a 5 lb bag.