C15D Hylo Roof Struts

[Black Knight]

Hi Folks. I've just bought a 92 C15D Hylo, and find that the roof gas struts give little/no assistance for lifting the roof. I've tried searching the Forum, but surprisingly found no relevant threads. The batch number on the struts would indicate that they are original, so it is hardly surprising that they are tired.
Can anyone advise a good source for replacements or equivalents?
Many thanks. Dick.

[jayjay]

A call to these guys might sort you out - they were very helpful when I needed repacements for my pop top caravan. I eventually had to send them one as there was very little identification on them for the chaps there to replace, so I sent one of mine and they found me two new ones.

They can sometimes re-gas the originals as well.

http://www.sgs-engineering.com/shop/...rch/gas-struts

[Black Knight]

C15D Hylo Roof Struts

Many thanks for your helpful tip, Jayjay.
I was able to source some new similar gas struts, but still find that I need a fair bit of muscle to get the roof up to the necessary height to insert the front hinged struts and the rear infill panel. Raising the roof entails bending into the Luton section and using my shoulders, which must impart undesirable strains on the centre of the roof (and my back!). How do other people do it?
It occurred to me that I may be making an unjustified assumption that the struts should lift the roof without applying muscular assistance, as I have no experience in any other C15D Hylo. Maybe the design is less than perfect?
I would be grateful if other owners could describe their roof-lifting techniques, tell me if their roofs self-levitate or not, and if they have altered the fittings to improve the system.
Many thanks
Dick

[maid of soay]

I used my granddaughter ...

[peterholden]

WE have friend who is disabled and has a C15 Hilo she manages and so there must be an easier way than the one you are using. Hopefully another forum member will come along with some advice

Peter

[Ian.C.S]

other types of raising roof can be raised electrically,I suggest you contact Ant at Avon Motor Caravans and ask THE expert what can be done.Of course the hinges may need a spot of penetrating oil?

[Graham]

I've moved this thread to "Ask Ant" I am sure he will be able to advise you.

[ant]

Hi Dick.
Firstly, you must raise the front of the roof first, if you don't it tends to pinch and becomes very hard to push up. Reverse the process when lowering, ie back down first, otherwise you'll pinch the rubbers at the rear.
Secondly, having got it up clean and polish the now exposed solid sides outside, you'll be amazed the difference it makes to the lifting effort if you keep those sides highly polished. They may look quite shiny but still polish them so they're slippery!
Lastly, put some oil on the struts once in a while it keeps them sealed.
Apart from that don't skip breakfast!!
Ant

[Black Knight]

C15D Hylo Roof Struts

One of my pet hates is people who start a thread, ask questions of a technical nature, and then don't bother to give feedback on how the problem was solved, or what adustment worked. Without feedback or thanks, eventually no-one will respond, to the disadvantage of all.
Therefore, here is an up-date on the saga of my C15D Hylo roof.
Firstly, I quickly realised that I could not continue to lift the roof with a bent back, as two slipped discs in the distant past would swiftly return to give trouble. I found that by kneeling in the aisle between the rear seats, facing forward, I could keep a straight back and use my thigh and arm muscles to do the work. (I am 6' tall, if you are shorter this might not work!). However, there was still too much effort required. I could not believe that Romahome meant it to be so difficult.
I then bought a set of four new struts, exactly equivalent to the old ones, but was utterly unable to compress them enough to fit them. The supplier was good enough to swop them for shorter units, which he assured me would do the job, which I was able to compress the small amount required, by using tie-down ratchet straps around the ends. Doing four wrecked the straps, but they lasted (just) long enough. Result--not much improvement at all!
At this point I did what I should have done in the first place--just sat and thought about the problem. The strut mountings are such that the struts are roughly horizontal in the closed position i.e. NO lifting force at all. It is not until you have physically lifted the roof yourself that a vertical component of the extension force comes into play. I reasoned that if I could alter the mountings so that a vertical component was present from closed, then less lifting force would have to be supplied by me. This would require moving the inboard mounting down, or the outboard mounting up, or both.
I also realised that the new, shorter struts would now be of inadequate length for the front, although working OK at the rear, so that meant I was back to long units which I could not compress. Of course I still had the four old units, which seemed very tired, but still too strong for manual compression. My wife kept asking "What do you want for Xmas?", so I asked for and got a 24" sash clamp from Screwfix (cat no. 29861). An afternoon in the workshop with drill, grinding wheel and file modified the clamp to a strut compressing tool, and the job began to make progress.
The original struts were 300 Newton force, but had obviously lost some of that. The new ones were 300N, but still felt not quite up to the job.
It came to me that a pair of the old ones might add up to say 400N, and would be worth an experiment.
An hour or two with a drill, taps and a ruler produced a different set of mountings, but without ruining the original positions so that I could return to standard if it did not work.
The end result is shown in the attached photo, taken with the trim panel removed. I can now get the roof moving on its upward journey with much less effort, it continues up on its own, and settles about 1/4" higher than the safety struts. The downward journey, which used to succumb to gravity, now has to be assisted with a very firm and sustained pull on the supplied pulley system, and is much harder than the upward one (which is what is supposed to happen, according to the Romahome manual).
I can only conclude that Romahome designed the mountings wrong.
There are some gotchas in this modification, I will expand further if required.
I will also attach pics of the sash clamp modifications, which would be a useful tool for anyone changing gas struts in any application.
The proof of the changes will of course be how it all works during this coming seasons holidays, I'll try to remember to let you all know.
Many thanks for all the replies,
Dick