New Hood Struts - How Much Lifting Capacity?

[W201 sweden]

Please bear with me... :whistles:

We all know that the LS struts are prone to failure, which is ok. The replacement part price at the dealer

is however not OK... :cries:

You people in US have quite alot of alternative providers, it seems. There are alternatives in Sweden too,

but I need to know what force/capacity I need if I order aftermarket ones. The LS is rare here, so they have

no data to go on.

I checked my current struts on the bathroom scale, and came up with the following result:

Left strut just starting to compress, 27 kgs / 60 lbs. Almost fully compressed 32 kgs / 72 lbs.

Right strut just starting to compress, 33 kgs / 75 lbs. Almost fully compressed 43 kgs / 95 lbs.

At these values, the hood stays up a little while if it is warm outside, then starts falling.

When it is 15 degrees Celsius, it starts falling (not slamming) as soon as I let it go.

Can anyone here please confirm if they are both shot (or just the left one), and what new ones should be?

If you have a good working non standard part, I am of course interested in that, too.

/Alexander from Sweden

[pishta]

Please bear with me... :whistles:

We all know that the LS struts are prone to failure, which is ok. The replacement part price at the dealer

is however not OK... :cries:

You people in US have quite alot of alternative providers, it seems. There are alternatives in Sweden too,

but I need to know what force/capacity I need if I order aftermarket ones. The LS is rare here, so they have

no data to go on.

I checked my current struts on the bathroom scale, and came up with the following result:

Left strut just starting to compress, 27 kgs / 60 lbs. Almost fully compressed 32 kgs / 72 lbs.

Right strut just starting to compress, 33 kgs / 75 lbs. Almost fully compressed 43 kgs / 95 lbs.

At these values, the hood stays up a little while if it is warm outside, then starts falling.

When it is 15 degrees Celsius, it starts falling (not slamming) as soon as I let it go.

Can anyone here please confirm if they are both shot (or just the left one), and what new ones should be?

If you have a good working non standard part, I am of course interested in that, too.

/Alexander from Sweden

there is a large thread on replacements. My one good (?) one was only 50 lbs and the bad one was a trombone! I think 100+. My replacements from strongarm would not compress with my weight on them, leaning on them on a bathroom scale, but the leverage of the hood was able to compress them with little more than an old fashioned spring type hood support tension. the hood doesnt fly open either, just a controlled rise. about 30 bucks on ebay for a 93 Ford Mustang rear hatch. I think the part# was 4088. they are an inch shorter but still do the job.

[W201 sweden]

Thanks for your reply! I am well aware of the issue, and I read several threads that popped up when I searched.

However, I did not find any facts on the actual lifting capacity. For several reasons, I prefer shopping locally (instead

of E-bay), and the references to Pontiac hatchback, Mustang etc are of little use.

The brand I have selected is Stabilus, which makes OE struts for many german cars. They have an exact replacement

for the LS - not an inch shorter or whatever! I just have to pick the right stiffness.

It seems I will go for a pretty hard one, then!

/Alexander