I used McMaster 150# gas springs from PNW’s link above. Absolutely no problems with use or installation. I’m driving home after five weeks on the road with a rocket filled with skis. Before the substitution I had to use a 2x4 to support the tent. After installation I didn’t need the 2x4. Additionally, it was too hard to pull the tent down without the rocket box.
3 Likes
Eureka! I think I’ve found a solution to this while watching car issues on motortrend tv… saw one of the cars with hood support clamps and realized that’s exactly what we need to prevent it from drooping or unexpectedly closing… they have different sizes for different strut thickness… going to order some once I figure out just what the thickness is on our V2s
Of course we would have to put it on and off every time we use it but should only take seconds
6 Likes
Did you end up trying this solution?
I had to do mine because it broke off the mount. It is not easy to do it, you’ll definitely need someone to help you
Now facing the same issue, definitely concerned about the gfc post that it could shear the strut mounts for the v2…but it’s been a few years, how are people finding this solution working?
Is shearing the strut mounts recoverable or na?
For everyone wondering about what sheared strut mounts look like, here it is. Happened with the original struts, not even with the higher load struts. So I’d be pretty nervous to put a higher load strut on my camper. And if this happens on a trip (like it did for me), the camper is then unusable which is such a bummer
1 Like
Holy shit, what build number is yours?
#1682. V2 camper, so three years old now. Spent a day driving washboard (Hole in the Rock Road), and both strut mounts were sheared off at the campsite. Truly no idea what happened, and I haven’t seen anyone else posting with this failure. But both strut mounts failing at the same time with the tent closed is wild
1 Like
Im assuming it’s out of warranty at this point, is it fixable by yourself? Any damage to the tent material?
I say this because im 1601. I drive a fair bit on dirt roads, 4x4 parks, etc and pop my tent almost daily for work, so it sees a lot of action. Ive had my upper section not align properly when parked at an angle, where the sides are not level, and the tent wont close evenly enough that i have forced the close tabs together to make it work. Now i dont think I’ll be doing that lol. Probably try diving to a more level spot then closing it at that point… hope you get it fixed soon.
Have you found spare parts yet? Almost seems like this would be a good item to carry a couple of spares. Were these top or bottom spares?
With this happening with the tent closed was there a problem opening the tent? i.e. is it possible for the shocks to extend down the inside of the extrusion channel? Or just really heavy?
Yeah it actually wasn’t that hard to fix. GFC sent me new mounts. I replaced the broken mounts, detached the bottom part of the tent so I could lift it up high enough, then had a friend help me pop the struts back in. Total was about 3 hours of work with most of it going into figuring out how to detach the tent fabric from the camper
I had the same thing happen to me. My v2 is also older, one of the first ones they made. If you have a swing arm bumper that can also cause added stress which will shear it off. Warranty covered mine.
What do you mean when you say, “If you have a swing arm bumper that can also cause added stress which will shear it off.” How does a swing arm bumper affect the tent? I’m not following something
1 Like
If your swing arm is to heavy and goes to one side it racks the tent. If you try to close your tent with the swing arm out your tent will come down and be about a half inch off.
1 Like
Interesting, I have not had that experience and my swing arm is always open when I open and close the tent. I would think that, if anything, it would just tilt the entire truck.
That’s good its working for yours. I had the CBI single arm swing arm and ultimately ended up taking off the swing arm part because I didn’t want it to ruin the GFC
Can you expand a bit more on this please? I have the CBI dual swing. It’s bolted to my frame and have never noticed it affecting my camper.
I’m sure they can answer better, but it sounds like the heavy swingarm is causing extra truck bed flex, which in turn causes some flex in the GFC tent (misaligning top and bottom half), which eventually overstresses the strut mount(s).
1 Like
Exactly what @Vice_Chief said. I had the single swing arm which I think made it worse (35 spare and 3 gallons of fuel, sometimes a bike rack). Since the Tacoma frame is a C channel it twist more under load. You could box in the frame and that may help, but I didn’t feel like doing that.
2 Likes