PolarBlair Posted December 14, 2021 Author Share Posted December 14, 2021 17 hours ago, nickwilliams said: At risk of being accused of hijacking the thread, coming back to the original topic, I have managed to destroy two gas struts (one and then another) when the wind caught the door, so I gave up on struts and instead fitted a rear door stay out of a Discovery. No dramas there - best threads provide multiple options and let people weigh up the pros and cons for themselves. And gotta say, that looks very tidy and robust. I see you put in a bit of chequer plate to strengthen too. Any additional reinforcement on the other side of the panel? It also looks a fair bit more compact than a gas strut too with less to go wrong. Was it the nakatanenga strut you destroyed? Always useful for people benefit from the experience of others. Also how did they fail? Was it over-extension? The nakatanenga strut has a damper that slows the door down before it reaches full swing. Despite this I still wouldn't let it go uncontrolled. For me it was more about getting smacked by the door as it never wanted to stay open. Does the discovery stay do a good job of keeping the door open even in high winds? Lots of questions 😁 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PolarBlair Posted December 14, 2021 Author Share Posted December 14, 2021 Getting close now! Same as with the outside latch cover, I want this to fully harden before I give it a bit of wet and dry and overcoat with black. Found a few gaps where the printer under-extruded so filled with a little P.38. nice and smooooooth. Far from perfect with layer lines still visible here and there, but it's good enough for the girls I go out with. Have a fresh can of clear coat too for a little added protection. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickwilliams Posted December 14, 2021 Share Posted December 14, 2021 6 hours ago, PolarBlair said: Quote No dramas there - best threads provide multiple options and let people weigh up the pros and cons for themselves. And gotta say, that looks very tidy and robust. I see you put in a bit of chequer plate to strengthen too. The chequer plate was necessary because the floor panel and the side panel had started to part company. The base plate is made out of 5mm plate and the side is made from 3mm and they are welded together along the joint (it was the first piece of aluminium welding I did when I got an AC/DC TIG more than a decade ago). Quote Any additional reinforcement on the other side of the panel? It also looks a fair bit more compact than a gas strut too with less to go wrong. The assembly is pop rivited in place with mudguard washers on the back of the pop rivets to stop them ripping out. There is a steel bush held in place with a single M8 bolt which is the anchor for the inboard end of the door stay. The bush is fixed and the end of the door stay has a slight clearance on diameter and thickness so it rotates around the bush as the door moves. The M8 bolt is screwed through a piece of 3mm thick stainless and the 5mm plate and held tight with a flange nut. The stainless plate is in turn pop rivited to the aluminium to give it the maximum possible rigidity. Quote Was it the nakatanenga strut you destroyed? Always useful for people benefit from the experience of others. No, they were some I just bought from Struts-R-Us or something similar I found on line. Quote Also how did they fail? Was it over-extension? Yes, the wind caught the door when it was left open in a high wind and just ripped the piston out of the strut. Cue one oily puddle on the floor and a door straining at the hinges trying to fold itself right round the side of the vehicle! Quote The nakatanenga strut has a damper that slows the door down before it reaches full swing. Despite this I still wouldn't let it go uncontrolled. For me it was more about getting smacked by the door as it never wanted to stay open. I think the main reason to be using a gas spring is because it makes opening a door which has a spare wheel hanging off it much more manageable. I don't keep my spare on the back door so the novelty of having the door spring open when I opened the latch was fine for a while but got a bit tedious eventually since the door either had to be shut, or fully open. Quote Does the discovery stay do a good job of keeping the door open even in high winds? It's pretty good, actually. I have had it blow closed once, I think, but that was in a real hoolie. Because it has a defined open position with a detent it doesn't bounce around as the wind gusts like the gas spring used to. Of course, the Disco door is a lot heavier than the Defender rear door, but that just makes the positioning of the Defender door more positive. One thing which at first I thought would be a nuisance but I've come to like is that the Disco strut has a half-way open position which is surprisingly useful for example if you want to leave the back door partially open when the vehicle is in the garage drying out. Another major benefit of the Disco strut is that now I'm of an age where standing on one leg for any length of time isn't always a recipie for staying upright, it's clearly capable of handling the strain of using the door to lean on when changing before or after a caving trip! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PolarBlair Posted December 14, 2021 Author Share Posted December 14, 2021 Thanks, that's some good info! The first thing I noticed about the strut was its strength. I did test it without the spare mounted so I'm hoping it calms down a bit with the extra weight. Nearly took the wife out when she opened it first time. Silly as it is, I may have to look at a top strap or something similar to give me a half open option if I need to open it in town and don't have enough space. Too far down the rabbit hole now, but I can definitely see the strengths of the disco stay. Just had another very unsettling thought. If I'm transporting extra kids, the inside door handle may look quite tempting and doesn't have a child lock as far as I'm aware. Bad enough sat still having the door slam into something, but could be a bit of a disaster on the move Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PolarBlair Posted December 27, 2021 Author Share Posted December 27, 2021 Strut cover installed and working well. Could have been shallower away from the mount end but easily clears the strut bracket on the tub when the door is shut. I'll probably make a closed cell foam stopper for the end to keep more crud out in due course. Should have probably printed the flanges with 100% infill. Screw was a tad tight and crushed the print a little. Loads of tigerseal should keep it together well enough and fills in the voids from the chequer plate. If it fails, I'll probably just glue it back together and line the inside with fiberglass. Take the opportunity to fix my wrinkled Paintjob too. Will see how it holds up over time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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