Bifold rams and struts - top or bottom fit?

[drinfinity]

I’m fitting a bifold bed, which will have gas rams and fixed struts. Do I put these on top of the bed (pop top side) or under the bed (cabin side) or even rams under struts over?

Putting them under gives a nice finish in the top when the bed is in use, but they are on display in the cabin for me to bash into.

Putting them over means less to smack my head on when the bed is up ( most of the time) but might interfere with sleeping. Mitigating the ‘over’ is a 50mm thick mattress up top which will be above the struts.

 

[Bigsidavies]

I’m fitting a bifold bed, which will have gas rams and fixed struts. Do I put these on top of the bed (pop top side) or under the bed (cabin side) or even rams under struts over?

Putting them under gives a nice finish in the top when the bed is in use, but they are on display in the cabin for me to bash into.

Putting them over means less to smack my head on when the bed is up ( most of the time) but might interfere with sleeping. Mitigating the ‘over’ is a 50mm thick mattress up top which will be above the struts.

On mine the fixed bar sits below the bed and therefore inside the downstairs living area.
The gas ram sits above the edge of the pop top roof but there is a cutout in the bed board so that it sits flush when the roof is down.
I can only find this one pic.

 

[drinfinity]

Thanks for the picture, really helpful. That gives me at least one more consideration. Your strut crosses the gas ram, hence the need for the one up/one down arrangement.

 

[paddy26]

Checkout my post here for details of how I did it: Pop-Top Roof Bed Hinges

 

[drinfinity]

@paddy26 Thanks for the photo - so in your example no crossover, and both on top.

 

[paddy26]

@paddy26 Thanks for the photo - so in your example no crossover, and both on top.

Correct. No crossover and both on top

 

[Bigsidavies]

Correct. No crossover and both on top

Do you have 2 gas struts and a fixed bar on each side then? The photo shows 2 gas struts but your description mentions a bar also.

 

[paddy26]

Do you have 2 gas struts and a fixed bar on each side then? The photo shows 2 gas struts but your description mentions a bar also.

I wasn't able to get a fixed bar so I used 2 boot struts from a mk4 golf that I already had. They are so stiff they don't compress so they act as fixed bar.

 

[doodahoops]

Have got so far now. After covering will need to install struts and stays.




Where could I get fixed bar or stays.



Golf struts are very cheap - how do you fix them on and off. Ideally want something attached permanently. The ‘bed’ will be our ‘wardrobe’

 

[drinfinity]

I followed @paddy26 for the various fittings. I got 120N gas struts to start, but upgraded to 220 to give it more strength to hold mattresses up there.

The stay was some steel rod from B&Q, which I threaded on each end with a die (cheapo of Amazon as I don’t use them much) , and the ends from the same place as the struts.

fittings for the beds gas struts

the company i bought my van from are choosing to wait out transporter HQs supply issue (8 weeks and counting) rather than adjust their supply chain to any of the uk based gas strut makers. and because its not even the only issue i've got with the vehicle, im going to do it myself. does anyone...

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