DIY hood strut - possible?

Went to my friends house yesterday and found some rear window struts that go to an S10 Blazer rear window. lucked out cause they are BRAND NEW (except for just missing the top locking clips - hoping I am able to find some replacements to make this work)!!!! Tested them on my hood (used only one) and it holds up fine. They aren't as long as the RedLine ones but imo should do confused.

Anyone know where to get some strut ball pins/brackets? I Googled it and found some nice ones that look similar to the RedLine brackets, but they were about $6 ea. plus shipping, can't find them anymore.

Ref image (the ones on eBay looked like these)
http://media.photobucket.com/image/recent/freedomxj/Hood%20Lift%20Install/DSC_0005.jpg

 

.. anyone?

 

try red line and see if you cant buy those directly

 

Try here for the fittings

http://www.mcmaster.com/#gas-spring-end-fittings/=ia4r35

 

this is what the ends look like on the struts that I have.

 

just realized, I don't really know the "mm" of these things. going to try and see if the parts are laying around anywhere at my friends, last resort ... ask someone at a Autozone or something.

 

Do you have a Napa or similar around you? Here, you can call Napa and give them the closed length, the extended length & the weight it will support and they can struts rather inexpensively. I've been thinking the same thing but just haven't had an opportunity to start work on this. I was hoping to get someone with the Redline kit to take a few measurements and it shouldn't be terribly difficult to put your own kit together. Last time I bought struts for a hood they cost me ~$20 for a pair to give you an idea. That was many years ago though and I know they've probably doubled in price by now but that's still a far cry less than a kit if you can get measurements.

 

NICE, there's one around my place, I'm going to bring them the part to make sure too.

on another good note
Parts
http://www.redlinetuning.com/QL-parts.html

Bracket Kit
http://www.redlinetuning.com/QL-HBRACKET-KIT.html

 

DIY hood struts!

Super happy how they turned out. I initially installed 100 lbs struts but they are way too overkill. I am replacing them with 40 lbs ones right away. Hopefully they are much better.

Here are the parts:

C16-08316 20" 40lb Per Gas Strut Shock Lift Support for RV Door Bed Storage Truck Tonneau Cover Camper Shell Rear Window and Other Heavy Duty Box Lid, Set of 2 Vepagoo

20" struts

$15 10MM Ball Stud Mounting Brackets for Gas Struts Lift Supports Shocks Spring Prop Silver 4PCS, with 16 pcs Screws

10mm ball stud mounting brackets

You could use a little longer strut if you want the hood to open higher. I wasn't interested in this because my ditch lights are close to hitting the windshield with the hood prop rod.
These are installed just like Spiker.












The driver side strut does have minor contact the fuse for my subs but I'm not worried about that.
The strut also slightly touches the brake fluid reservoir when lowering. Also not worried about that.

 

For anyone interested in using parts-store stuff, '01-06 Acura MDX hood struts are pretty dead-on. I actually ended up finding them by backing my way into them by open/closed/weight specs from what Redline uses. I specifically used Stabilus 4B-092294.

Napa 735-1898 & -1899 work for brackets, but other than local availability they're not really cheaper or better than other ones you can online.

FYI, try flipping your struts @dpele, they're supposed to be the other way around, and they should clear a bit better closed with the rod instead of the body towards the front! And thanks for your post, I stumbled on it a couple weeks ago & it inspired me to try something I've been wanting to do but was too cheap to spend $100 on a kit for.

 

Tween the struts and the tower I'm figuring you really know how to get it up.

ETA: I'll scope y'alls only fans, but if mine has more subscribers I'm roasting you.

 

Try gasspringsshop.com they have nice stuff in SS and lots of connectors.

 

I read 31lbs weight for the struts. I don' think that will be enough.
I installed 40s because the 100s were way too much. 40s barely held my hood up and I had to lift it myself. I ended up going 80s at the end but I think 60s could work...

Edit:
I installed the struts in the same orientation Redline and Spiker have on their instructions. I don't thing flipping them will help with my clearance. Thanks though!

 

How about the 10 ton crane?

 

You're into suspension but don't know shibari. There's shortcuts to everything.

Or you'll leave us hanging like an episode of Miami Vice.

 

If you don't need all that LDF-4 I could "rehome it" to a mountaintop near me.