Installed Support Struts on Overhead cabinets

[jerryjay11]

When my wife smacked her head on an overhead cabinet door she asked me to fix it. Very easy to install. My cabinet doors height are 10" so I measured 3/4" down from the hinge side and 7/8" from the right edge. Removing the doors and drilling pilot holes made is easier and prevented cracking the wood. After mounting the strut to the doors with the 2 short screws I reinstalled them, swung the bottom of the strut down with door full open and drilled another pilot hole for the long screw. Yes it does come with the screws required to complete the job. Happy Wife Now!

P.S. I decided I'd post how they were installed because there aren't any instructions included and I've read other camper owners ask how to do it. The main thing is the amount of movement the rod has that determines where to mount on door and leaving room to fit the cabinet opening.

[Farmboy666]

sgfrye wrote:
Nice job. Our friends did that in their toy hauler. Ours open sideways but thinking of doing that mod in our pass thru storage doors and outdoor kitchen that open upwards.

My doors open sideways but after smacking my head a few times I moved the hinges to the top and added struts. A tip for easy mounting was to take a set of hinges off another door. Remove the door you’re converting and mount the hinges on the top rail and don’t remove the side hinges. Now mount the door using the side hinges to get it placed where it originally mounted, predrill and mount the top hinges to the cabinet and then remove the side hinges. Got the struts for about $7 a pair, used two on each door even though could have gotten away with one, redundancy is good.

[Fisherman]

That's definitely on my list of things this spring, 2 over the table and another over the counter.

[sgfrye]

Nice job. Our friends did that in their toy hauler. Ours open sideways but thinking of doing that mod in our pass thru storage doors and outdoor kitchen that open upwards.

[jerryjay11]

profdant139 wrote:
Jerry, it took me a while to get what you meant: "Hurts Donut." Very useful phrase!

Good job on the installation. I did the same thing on my cabinet doors. Thankfully, DW never walked into them -- she is only five feet tall. Unfortunately, I am 6' 3" and am always hitting my head on things.

Thanks though my wife is only 5' as well and has to climb on the couch to see and reach in the cabinets and then she is high enough to drop a door on her head as she is dragging stuff from the cabinet.

[drsteve]

My 2003 Jayco came with these installed from the factory.

[profdant139]

Jerry, it took me a while to get what you meant: "Hurts Donut." Very useful phrase!

Good job on the installation. I did the same thing on my cabinet doors. Thankfully, DW never walked into them -- she is only five feet tall. Unfortunately, I am 6' 3" and am always hitting my head on things.

[Toolguy5]

I need to do that as well.

[beemerphile1]

Good job. So nothing held the doors open previously? Our cabinet doors came with struts from the factory.

[gaymeadowsman]

We were at a country variety/grocery near a large lake shortly after we bought our trailer in 2014. They had a small RV section that had everything marked as "clearance". I bought 8 of those struts for $2.00 each. I still have 2 as backups if any that I installed wear out. IIRC Camping World sales them for about $8.00 a piece.

[azdryheat]

downtheroad wrote:
Nice job.....probably should have been installed at the factory in the first place.

I agree they should be standard. They are in motorhomes but not in trailers for some reason. I had to install them in my trailer.

[jerryjay11]

SidecarFlip wrote:
Mine open sideways and I've run into them before.

That would be known where I come from as a "Hurts Donut."

[jerryjay11]

I am use to doing minor to major repairs on our past TT so these mods are a breeze and gives me something to do.

[jerryjay11]

mat60 wrote:
I could use some for my under bed storage... Nice job with doors.

I've done them already though dimensions in the instructions didn't work for me so I had to use the "Trial and Fail" method until I got the sweet spot to hold the bed platform up without the struts lifting it all the time.

[jerryjay11]

In answer to DrewE it just so happens I got lucky and they do pull the doors closed as I close them. Still gonna keep the factory installed latches though, just in case the support fails in the future.

Also there are a lot of things I would liked to have had installed by Heartland, but I am sure it would have affected the price and since I am very capable I save the labor and inflated price of parts. I also installed grab rails on both entrance doors that the Mfg. could have installed.