Pneumatic Struts

Does the hood or trunk on your Ferrari no longer stay up by itself? Monroe, the shock absorber company, also manufactures a line of “Max-lift gas charged lift supports” for automobile hoods and rear hatches at very attractive prices. Your local Monroe shock absorber dealer should have a “Max-lift” catalogue. Does the hood or trunk on your Ferrari no longer stay up by itself?

Monroe, the shock absorber company, also manufactures a line of “Max-lift gas charged lift supports” for automobile hoods and rear hatches at very attractive prices. Your local Monroe shock absorber dealer should have a “Max-lift” catalogue.

All the struts made by Monroe are listed by compressed and extended lengths and also by the style of the ends by which the struts attach to the car. What is not listed is how much weight they will hold up but that is available by calling the tech line number listed in the catalogue. All you need to do is measure the fully compressed length and the fully extended length of the worn out strut on your car from the center of the mounting bolt or stud on one end to the center of the mounting hardware on the other end. Use the figures you obtained and compare them to minimum and maximum lengths in the catalogue. Finding a strut which matches perfectly is rare but usually something can be found which comes close. A new strut with a slightly shorter compressed length will work as long as it has enough extended length, while a slightly longer compressed length may not allow your car’s hood, rear hatch, or trunk lid to close. A longer extended length may or may not work. This is something you will have to measure. A slightly shorter extended length may not allow for as much opening but you might be willing to live with it. It sure beats getting hit on the head with a heavy hood that won’t stay up any longer.

Some adaptation with alternate bolts, washers and bushings may be necessary to adapt the ends of the new strut to your car. Determine downward load of the open hood or hatch with a broom stick and a bathroom scale. Remember to divide that figure in half if your car uses double struts and then make sure you pick a slightly higher load rating than your calculation.

We recently had very good luck replacing gas struts on a Ferrari 365 GTC4. We used part number 901002 on the hood with great results. An alternative is to install struts with adjustable gas pressure or to have the old struts rebuilt.