In alt.home.repair, on Thu, 01 Oct 2015 19:37:29 -0700, Don Y
wrote:

On 10/1/2015 6:48 PM, wrote:
I have a topper on my pickup truck. The rear door lifts up and has these
two things that resemble small shock absorbers. Apparently they re
getting weak, because the door dont stay up very well anymore. I'm tired
of that damn door hitting me on the head. Temporarily I have been
clamping a vice grips on one of those things to keep it up if I'm
loading or unloading a bunch of stuff.

However, I'd like to replace them if they can be bought. First off, what
is their correct name? Knowing that, I can google them. But changing

They are gas (or pneumatic) struts.

them wont be as easy as simply remove and replace. They are riveted on,
so I'll have to grind or drill the rivets off and replace with bolts.
Then too, if they are sold, I suppose there are different sizes so I'll
have to find a match. The topper is an after market thing and has no
brand name on it, so I can only go by length and diameter.

You'll need to know more than just physical dimensions. They have
different degrees of "springiness" as well.

Of course if there is an easier solution, such as some sort of prop, I'd
consider that too. -OR- can the ones I have be repaired? (It dont look
like they come apart).

You might consider a hinged "leg" that just *swings* out from the topper
and falls into place (attaining its natural vertical orientation so it's
like a "leg" that NATURALLY extends downward to lean on the floor/side
of the truck bed. You'd *manually* push/hold it up when wanting to
lower the topper.

You can also try a leg that you manually *lift* into position to hold the
topper in its "up" position -- perhaps even having several extents to
choose from (think of how hood on most new cars are held up)

JC Whitney used to sell one style of this. I bought one just for
"emergencies" One usually had to measure and cut the leg to the right
length.

Gas struts are surprisingly expensive, iirc.