Foretravel Owners' Forum For owners and Fans of Foretravel Motorcoaches September 10, 2025 ...

cabinet springs

April 13, 2017, 01:03:55 pm

Just a reminder as it has been posted before, the cabinet springs and the bay springs should be installed with the rod end down. I just went in the coach for a pre-check for 1st of June vacation and found 2 more cabinet doors lost pressure. I have been replacing them and installing them correctly as all of mine were upside down. I tried once to flip one and broke the end off so now just changing them when they fail.

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Re: cabinet springs

Reply #1 – April 13, 2017, 01:07:13 pm

Hmmm, actually did not know that!! Must be something to do mechanics and forces at end of cylinder?
JohnH

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Reply #2 – April 13, 2017, 01:20:03 pm

Don't know if this helps but can't hurt,when I have the coach at home I open all the overhead cabinets as it holds the cylinder
in the open position and not fully compressed,when we got our coach we had to replace every one.

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Reply #3 – April 13, 2017, 04:26:08 pm

Rod down insures the seal is coated with oil and less likely to loose pressure.

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Reply #4 – April 13, 2017, 05:15:48 pm

Reply # 3 is the correct reason.

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Reply #5 – April 13, 2017, 05:49:25 pm

If one gets 'weak' would a drop of oil in the exhaust

side help it get a new life?

Carter-

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Reply #6 – April 13, 2017, 06:04:35 pm

There is no exhaust side they are hermetically sealed with nitrogen and oil. The seals dry out when there is no oil present which is the reason to mount them seal side down.

Gas Spring Mounting Instructions & Gas Strut Installation Guide | Industrial...

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Reply #7 – April 13, 2017, 06:19:14 pm

I replaced mine when I bought the coach in 2008 and again a couple of yrs. ago.  Rod ends always down.  But I have not had to replace any of the larger units on engine, generator, or basement doors.  I'm looking for something different for the cabinet doors, but haven't found anything.  Like something with just a spring.

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Reply #8 – April 14, 2017, 11:32:53 am

One trick when replacing gas springs for the bay doors is to purchase only the higher force ones (120 or 60 lbs) and migrate down the large door springs to smaller doors as they get weaker.  My recollection is 6 ft doors use 120 lbs springs, 4 ft doors use 60 lbs, and the small doors use 30 lbs.

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