Hymer B544

On our Hymer B544 1997, the drop down bed is getting harder to lift, and drops down very fast when we undo the safety belt holding it up for driving, so i'm guessing that the gas struts need replacing, has anyone any experience of doing this and if so, could you please let me know where you had it done and what it would cost including parts and Labour? ball park figure will do.

[quote="heanorboy
HI Pat

If you cannot find anybody to assist anywhere near you I have used and can recommend the following people

http://www.sgs-engineering.com/

They are based in Derby and you can send them your struts and they will refurb them for you either to the same pressure or higher if you wish.

They did the struts on my T5 camper so that the tailgate would stay up with two bikes on and it was still easy to pull down again. A refurb was a very lot cheaper than new for what I wanted

But be warned if you do decide to take off the gas struts if the bed is anything like the tailgate on a T5 it is B*//*y heavy and that is why it needs gas struts.



Might be of some use to others if not you but at least it gives you an alternative

David
[/quote]


Hi David

Thank you for that information, it is indeed nice to get an alternative method of fixing the problem, and like you said ... its handy for others on the forum to know that they can get gas struts repaired.

In my case the struts are not that expensive, I have had two quotes so far for doing the job.
I did consider doing the job myself but after looking on other forums. it seems its a 2 handed job. It takes a professional 2 hours labour cost, so i'd rather do that.


The two quotes I have so far vary greatly in price for Labour and the parts are similar.

I had my first quote from Peter Hambilton Engineering near Preston UK, they were recommended by the Hymer club international and another forum I am a member of 'motorhomefacts'. They are considered the finest Hymer Engineers in Europe and wont rip anybody off. They quoted me 150 sterling to include all parts and labour and vat. 70 for the parts and 80 labour.

The other quote i had was from Donaghey's in Donegal, it would have been my favourite choice but from the price they quoted which was 475 euro, I just cannot justify spending that on Labour charges, fair play to Michael from the forum who offered to send me the struts for 125 euro, but i want whoever supply the parts to fit them, as i cannot do it myself.
I know it costs extra for the ferry to the UK ... but sure we can have a visit to many relations we have up near Preston and still come out better off.

Thanks again David for your reply.

Thanks for finding them Paddy, i will have to measure up and see if the ones available as a pair will fit mine ... at that price you cant go wrong, I had already seen the single one that was for sale yesterday.
If i go down that line i will have to find someone to fit them, I believe you have to suppress the strut before you release them as with the pressure they could kick back and go through the windscreen.

Fair enough Tristan .. thanks for answering my post ... so with that knowledge do you have any idea what it would cost to have a pair fitted? As i would rather have the work done here in Ireland and also do you have time to do the job?

Pat

So bearing that in mind ..it would probably take me that long to order the parts anyway Tristan ... or do you have them in stock? As from my original post i was asking .. does anyone have an idea of the price for supplying the parts and fitting them?

Thanks for your reply.

Pat

Thats great to hear raglanroad, did you find it difficult to fit them following Hymers instructions? or need any special tools? I priced the struts up meself and could get them delivered to my home address for around 125 euro, but i was put off a bit by Donaghey's wanting around 350 euro just to fit them, if you read back on this post .. you will see its not been easy getting any information about fitting them, so im pleased at last to know that someone else has 'done it'
Thanks raglanroad.

no special tools

The ones I did were different , they were ball and sockets and had to be compressed.