Dont think it was the strut

In the first picture you will see the kink in the side wall when folded down, this is with out the strut fitted,with the strut it was a lot worse,the aluminium with a crack in it is only trim.

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In the second picture of the two rivets on the left of the strut one was just a rivet head and the other was missing,to the right of the strut you can see two screws originally only the outer one was there,i drilled the hinge and fitted a second screw.

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On packing away i noticed there is room for one more rivet which i will do next time,it would appear as if the hinge fixings failed not the strut.

Whatever it was at least you've sorted it out now

I had been thinking people talk about strut failure but when you think the struts are designed for car tail gates how many times do they go up and down in that situation,if you used your dandy every weekend for a year that would be struts operating 100 times,on a car they could do that in a couple of months or less,whilst obviously struts could fail its probably worth checking all hinge ect fittings associated with a strut as failure here could make it look like the strut failed first causing the damage to hinges or fixings.

mike wrote:I had been thinking people talk about strut failure but when you think the struts are designed for car tail gates how many times do they go up and down in that situation,if you used your dandy every weekend for a year that would be struts operating 100 times,on a car they could do that in a couple of months or less,whilst obviously struts could fail its probably worth checking all hinge ect fittings associated with a strut as failure here could make it look like the strut failed first causing the damage to hinges or fixings.

Mike

Yes the frequency of operation is less but on a car you often have 2 gas struts for a quite light structure.
I'm not sure of the stresses on a single strut from the six's wall but I'm sure I've seen articles suggesting that larger diameter struts should be used on the beds if replaced or your own fitments are being made.

Kevin.

Tow Itch wrote:

mike wrote:I had been thinking people talk about strut failure but when you think the struts are designed for car tail gates how many times do they go up and down in that situation,if you used your dandy every weekend for a year that would be struts operating 100 times,on a car they could do that in a couple of months or less,whilst obviously struts could fail its probably worth checking all hinge ect fittings associated with a strut as failure here could make it look like the strut failed first causing the damage to hinges or fixings.

Mike

Yes the frequency of operation is less but on a car you often have 2 gas struts for a quite light structure.
I'm not sure of the stresses on a single strut from the six's wall but I'm sure I've seen articles suggesting that larger diameter struts should be used on the beds if replaced or your own fitments are being made.

Kevin.

Yes a consideration, there are two struts for each wall and of course it is heavier than a tail gate,just didn't want people to jump to the conclusion that its there strut that's gone and caused the damage when it could be the other way round.