replacing ottoman bed gas struts

marinheiro

I recently moved to Portugal taking my ottoman bed with me. I knew one of the gas struts was failing but thought I would sort it out when I got here. So. now I need to replace a pair of gas struts, 55cm long when open, 35cm when closed, with a sticker saying '900N'. I can't find any which are both the right length and the right strength. The most common close lengths are 50cm, and the most common close measures in Newtons are 1000N. Is it safer to get one with a shorter lenght (I guess I just won't be able to open the bed as much) or higher Newtons (it may be harder closing the bed?). I don't know how much practical difference 100N makes. Thanks for any advice!

grumpy_codger

First of all, are you sure that a longer strut will fit your bed in the closed position?

100N is 10kg.

And when closing the bed you have a lever, I guess, about 5:1 that makes it about 2kg extra force you need to apply. A big bottle of Pepsi is 2kg.

However, with shorter length, if your bed isn't fully opened (less vertical), it'll need bigger force to support it in this position.

ETA: and I think that both struts don't have to be identical; so you can replace only the faulty one.

MyRealNameToo

going from 900N to 1000N would be fine. Changing the length is more likely to be an issue. You also want to change both/all of them not just the one. You dont say what the stroke length is on the 50cm ones. You also need to ensure the mounting points are the same too

Failing that, check with the manufacture

marinheiro

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82160311#Comment_82160311

Thanks! Good to know I mainly need to worry about length. The mount points are eyelet fittings, which seem to be pretty standard. Unfortunately I can't check the other details with a manufacturer - the bed they came with was from Furniture Village in 2019 but has no manufacturer's name with it, and the original struts have no identifying markers apart from one sticker reading "900N" and another reading "BSSB19H0110014685", which I can't find a match to anywhere on line.

I've been taking the extended length of the originals as being the distance between the centre of the eyelets (55cm) and the compressed length as being the distance from the centre of the eyelet on the cylinder body to the other end of the cylinder body plus distance to the other eyelet centre, which is 35cm - giving a stroke length of 55-35=20cm. Is that the right way to measure it?

FreeBear

I've been taking the extended length of the originals as being the distance between the centre of the eyelets (55cm) and the compressed length as being the distance from the centre of the eyelet on the cylinder body to the other end of the cylinder body plus distance to the other eyelet centre, which is 35cm - giving a stroke length of 55-35=20cm. Is that the right way to measure it?

Yup, measuring centre to centre of the eyelets is correct. Stroke appears to be pretty standard for each length of strut, so you need the bear this in mind if fitting longer or shorter struts. Also measure the diameter of the eyelets, as these do come in different sizes. Annoyingly, many suppliers do not give the closed length or stroke, and miss of the fixing sizes…. I've also been shopping for a strut for one of my toys machines. Haven't ordered one yet, but I've found Struts Depots very quick to respond to email queries so will probably end up using them.

Looking at their fixed force struts, they can do a 550mm long 900N for a reasonable price of £16.61 (including free UK shipping). Not sure if they would post to Portugal.. Would be surprised if you couldn't get one from a local supplier.

marinheiro

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82161647#Comment_82161647

Perfect, I hadn't come across Struts Depots, and they do send to Portugal (£14, which considering the weight isn't so bad - and I need them!) I have ordered a pair. Thanks so much @FreeBear