Door struts

Just to put this out there, I ordered some new struts looking for a heavier lift since my doors must be heavy with leather, fabric, aftermarket door handles and latch. The vans hd at 135 lb were ok but still wore out and I?m not yet flying except in the hangar. Found a company called Guden selling a 146 lb lift, same dimensions with selectable threaded ends. I went with GGN220-VLF-X for the gas spring, the ends are EF204 that I selected. Total cost for everything $31.34 before freight. Caveat is they do have a stronger lift force although I use a strap to release and grab the door so you have to watch the upswing but for a heavy door these seem to be working out so far. Cold in the hangar now but will see during warmer weather in the far future.

I just purchased replacement door struts direct from Vans. They are a different brand than my 2010 originals. Standard duty (500 N) one is $40. Oddly, the HD 600 N strut is triple that price(???). The new standard ones have a nice damping feature: let them go, the doors fly up, but then slow noticeably before coming to full open. But to get that damping feature, you have to mount them upside down compared to the originals, e.g., cylinder end attached to the door, thin rod end attached to the cabin.