Vanagon hatch strut, shock rear door strut
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Vanagon Rear Hatch Struts

So now you have a rack on the rear door, how do you keep the door open with the added weight?

• If your hatch struts are in good shape, the rear door will stay open by itself with just a rack mounted.  The rack alone does not
  make it noticeably harder to open the door.
• With bikes, tire or gas can on the rack the door will not stay open by itself.

There are several things you can do:

1.  Some people can open the rear door with a rack and one item mounted (tire, bike, gas can).  A strut
     prop tube can be used to hold the door open. See this page for pictures   Hatch strut support 
     This option works fine for a lot of people.  I include this tube free with all orders. 
     Make sure your hatch struts are in good shape, new ones are not that expensive. 
    
2. The vanagon parts book specifies a different hatch strut for each side of the door. 
   Left side 251-829-331B lower strength
   Right side 251-829-332 higher strength
   If you use two right side hatch struts you may find this to be adequate to keep your door open.
    
3. No longer available
   I have a supplemental hatch strut kit which adds an additional strut to your door. 
   This third hatch strut may partially or fully compensate for the added weight of a rack and cargo. 
   You can add one or two additional struts, as required. 
    
4. No longer available
   I have extra high force hatch struts which replace the stock hatch struts.  These are direct replacements for your original struts and
   compensate for added weight on your door. 
   New original equipment style hatch struts have about 630N in force.
   Extra high force hatch struts are about 910N.