Gas Strut for early (1997) Anschau Komet trailer

On Thursday, March 15, 2018 at 5:51:25 PM UTC-5, Dan Marotta wrote:
McMaster-Carr?


Given everything else required to keep a glider flying, changing the struts should not be hard for the mechanic watching over the plane.

The struts seem to come in standard sizes.
I've had good luck with the reducible force struts from McMaster.
https://www.mcmaster.com/#gas-struts/=1bvbdcz

The only trick is setting the force.
You only get one chance to dump the gas down to the right force.
I cobbled a rig with 2x4's, pulleys, and a spring scale to do this.

Use something safe to hold the trailer open when swapping the strut.

I ordered the same Bansbach struts (QS-28-350) two years ago for a 1978-vintage Komet with the external hinges. Only difference was I asked for 1600N and they've been fine so far.

The critical dimension for my trailer was compressed length of 452mm which is slightly less than this strut w/their standard hinge eye...Bansbach swapped in a different set which brought the length down.

Lead time for their "quick ship" items wasn't bad, seem to recall 1-2 weeks. You can custom order to any spec but lead time jumps out further.

On Friday, March 16, 2018 at 10:15:02 AM UTC-4, wrote:
I ordered the same Bansbach struts (QS-28-350) two years ago for a 1978-vintage Komet with the external hinges. Only difference was I asked for 1600N and they've been fine so far.

The critical dimension for my trailer was compressed length of 452mm which is slightly less than this strut w/their standard hinge eye...Bansbach swapped in a different set which brought the length down.

Lead time for their "quick ship" items wasn't bad, seem to recall 1-2 weeks. You can custom order to any spec but lead time jumps out further.

Thanks for the info, however I'm not clear what you mean by "Bansbach swapped in a different set". Do you mean a different set of hinge eyes? Or something internal in the set. This must have been the issue with mine, and the reason for failure. The old struts had shorter eyes that were fixed to the strut, adding hinge eyes to the previously fixed side effectively increased the overall length. Could you possibly provide a part number or a photo of the hinge eyes that you are using?

On Wednesday, March 7, 2018 at 10:22:14 AM UTC-5, Bill wrote:
I'm looking for a resource for a replacement gas strut used to open the trailer top for a early 1997ish Komet Anschau glider trailer. This trailer has the external hinge. I'm hoping to find a suitable replacement from a US supplier.

Thanks for your help.

Bill

On Thursday, May 10, 2018 at 9:44:02 AM UTC-4, wrote:
On Friday, March 16, 2018 at 10:15:02 AM UTC-4, wrote:
I ordered the same Bansbach struts (QS-28-350) two years ago for a 1978-vintage Komet with the external hinges. Only difference was I asked for 1600N and they've been fine so far.

The critical dimension for my trailer was compressed length of 452mm which is slightly less than this strut w/their standard hinge eye...Bansbach swapped in a different set which brought the length down.

Lead time for their "quick ship" items wasn't bad, seem to recall 1-2 weeks. You can custom order to any spec but lead time jumps out further.

Thanks for the info, however I'm not clear what you mean by "Bansbach swapped in a different set". Do you mean a different set of hinge eyes? Or something internal in the set. This must have been the issue with mine, and the reason for failure. The old struts had shorter eyes that were fixed to the strut, adding hinge eyes to the previously fixed side effectively increased the overall length. Could you possibly provide a part number or a photo of the hinge eyes that you are using?

I had great success with the Bansbach QS-28-350 1600N struts and they are installed on my Anschau/Komet trailer. Bansbach USA was very helpful and after receiving the struts, I ordered new (shorter) strut end eyes. Bansbach sent me via email the dimensions of all the strut end eyes available and I ordered after measuring. You can order direct from Anshau in Germany and while it will cost a little more, it is an easy solution.

On Saturday, May 12, 2018 at 12:55:57 PM UTC-4, Bill wrote:
On Thursday, May 10, 2018 at 9:44:02 AM UTC-4, wrote:
On Friday, March 16, 2018 at 10:15:02 AM UTC-4, wrote:
I ordered the same Bansbach struts (QS-28-350) two years ago for a 1978-vintage Komet with the external hinges. Only difference was I asked for 1600N and they've been fine so far.

The critical dimension for my trailer was compressed length of 452mm which is slightly less than this strut w/their standard hinge eye...Bansbach swapped in a different set which brought the length down.

Lead time for their "quick ship" items wasn't bad, seem to recall 1-2 weeks. You can custom order to any spec but lead time jumps out further.

Thanks for the info, however I'm not clear what you mean by "Bansbach swapped in a different set". Do you mean a different set of hinge eyes? Or something internal in the set. This must have been the issue with mine, and the reason for failure. The old struts had shorter eyes that were fixed to the strut, adding hinge eyes to the previously fixed side effectively increased the overall length. Could you possibly provide a part number or a photo of the hinge eyes that you are using?

I had great success with the Bansbach QS-28-350 1600N struts and they are installed on my Anschau/Komet trailer. Bansbach USA was very helpful and after receiving the struts, I ordered new (shorter) strut end eyes. Bansbach sent me via email the dimensions of all the strut end eyes available and I ordered after measuring. You can order direct from Anshau in Germany and while it will cost a little more, it is an easy solution.

Sorry, what I meant was that Bansbach shipped a different set of hinge eyes with their otherwise-standard quick-ship strut. The response from their USA sales support engineer was the following:

"The Quick ship part number QS-28-350 with the S4 hinge eyes attached would have an extended length of 812mm and a fully compressed length of 462mm. We could get this down to 452mm by pairing up the quick ship with our A1, M10 hinge eyes instead. I have prepared a drawing and updated your quote."

The effect was to get a semi-custom strut without having to add to the lead time that would have normally resulted from that.

This may be a bit late, but in case it helps, here is my experience with an Anschau Komet trailer used to host a Remos G-3 (https://www.anschau.de/s/cc_images/cache_55991629.JPG).

The original gas struts lasted only a few years. Using the gas struts labels, I identified the manufacturer and ordered two pairs.

After installing them, I noticed that opening the top became much more difficult than before.

I contacted Anschau and they reluctantly revealed that they customise the gas struts (increase the preasure and fill the two in a pair with different preasures, one to help lift the cover in the first part and one to keep it in the upper position).

So, if you have problems with the gas struts (and if you keep the trailer long enough you'll certainly have), better contact Anschau and get a quote for the gas struts.

https://www.americangassprings.com