TT cabinet question

Someone asked earlier is the metal or the plastic supports for the uplift doors are better. I now have the answer. Week before last, I forgot to close one of my doors and closed the slide out on it. The door was above the slide but the strut caught the corner of it and broke in half. The door fell safely on top of the slide. If it had been a metal strut I'm sure my door would have been torn off. I'll keep using the Plastic struts!
As I said in post #3 I bought 3 extra struts while they were on sale so I was able to change it out right then. "Note to self, Don't answer someone calling from outside when closing the slide."

By the way, the struts ARE the ones from RV Designer.

I tried the RV Designer spring loaded struts, but they were way too strong. As I was trying to close the cabinet door, the wood joint tried to separate. Therefore I stopped and removed the strut. I'm now back to using the v-notch stick like Tin bender suggested. Easy and no real risk of damage to the cabinet.

I recall a spring like affair that we used on some boat hatches. It was a spring that mounted on the hatch and the framework that was set to hold the unit open at a convenient angle but was easily kicked over to fold the hatch down. Yes it did have a possibility of being accidentally knocked but it was quite inexpensive and effective at the job it was designed to do.

Maybe this is to simple or crude a solution but here it is anyway. We had that situation on our old trailer so I just cut some 1/4 by 1/2 strips of Walnut with a slight V notch on one end and a slant cut on the other and left one just inside each cabinet door. Upon opening, just grab the prop and wedge the door open. Effort, minimal expense,zero.
Just an easy way out.
Tinbender

I struts on all our "lift up to open" doors. They work really good and gives us the ability to use both hands to retrieve items. I installed one on each side of the doors.

Our TT didn't come with door supports and it's a real pain.

I've already ordered gas struts that were waaaay too strong. I've seen these supports made by RV Designer (H277 was the model # I think).

There's next to zero selection available in Canada. Does anyone know of a Canadian supplier?

Also, I've seen plastic & metal units. Which is better?

Thanx in advance for any help.

dup....

There is an RV gas prop and also a spring only cabinet door strut. These are also made by AP Products and JR Products. The prop length and force rating you need will depend on the height and weight of the cabinet door. For a small overhead door, you may need just the spring type strut.

I think there are sizing charts for these. Mounting them in the correct position is important so that the geometry keeps the doors closed tightly enough and won't bounce open/closed which means using the correct bracket in the correct position or a prop/strut with integral bracket at one end.

Our TT has overhead cabinets in the slide with 9" tall doors and gas props on the doors. The props are 6" extended and have an integral bracket on one end and look like JR Products #H277 in the photo. They can't have much of a force rating.

Looking at the photo in the above photo, the upper joint in the strut needs is farther away from you when facing the door in a closed position so that it pushes the door towards the cabinet. If using a gas prop, you want the right bracket/ball so it does the same thing. These little struts don't have much of a stroke and you need to measure to make sure the strut can compress properly when closed. As mentioned, I don't think these particular struts have instructions. Maybe you could try sketching it on paper first. In some cases, the strut interferes with the hinge and you need to relocate a hinge- BTDT.

While visiting friends out of town one weekend a couple of years ago, we stopped at a small discount store. They had a a Rv section smaller than the one at Wal Mart, but they had 8 of the struts pictured above for $1.50 a piece. I only needed 5 but I bought all 8.
There are no instructions and it took me a while to figure out that you had to install them EXACTLY as they are pictured to get them to work.

Any home store like Lowes or Home Depot will have "lid supports" in the hardware Dept. They come in various types. Most any one could be used in your application.