Review on 🚗 Enhance Your Vehicle's Performance with SACHS SG214021 Lift Support in Sleek Black Design by Jonathan Sriubas

What I Need: Quality gas springs for our 2003 Chrysler Town & Country; The original parts were marked Chrysler part number 04894554AC and were manufactured by AVM. What I don't like: Replacing parts more often than necessary. My philosophy: buy quality, not the price. quickly and without spending time on another car to drive with a quality brand. I paid the price within a year. what looked good at first didn't even last the next winter. What a disappointment (literally!). The search for a suitable replacement for this application revealed a few options. Reading reviews of several competing products and not even knowing some of the manufacturers, I noticed that the reviewers mostly commented that they looked okay at first. Several reviewers mentioned the weak hardware. But I've also seen some people take the time to write additional information after a part has been in service for a year or two and comment that the springs are no longer satisfactory. So I was willing to pay a little more (well maybe twice as much) to get a known quality product. What you get with this Sachs SG214021 is actually part of the Stabilus Lift-O-Mat®. I don't care where they are made (two of the things I have were made in Mexico) but the Stabilus company behind them is a well known and trusted German company. Gas springs: 1. During operation, you must securely support the back door. I used a six foot stepladder with some stacked 4x4 wood blocks I had on hand. And then a couple of 1x4's as extra shims which I added or removed here and there in a batch to fine tune the position of the tailgate during operation (makes it easier to align the car mounted ball with the gas spring). socket).2. The original gas springs had ends held together by non-removable (from the gas spring) ball joints that required a T40 (Torx) screwdriver to remove from the body. These ball joints have an M8×1.25 thread. Underneath is a thick washer (it appears to be about 2mm thick, I didn't measure it). You need to save and reuse them. There is also a small lock washer under the large washer that holds the large washer to the bracket. You can also reuse them if you like.3. The original mounts had some dirt on the threads. I'm pretty sure it was thread sealant, which makes sense since water flows around these fasteners. It also makes it difficult to loosen the fasteners. I used an 18" breaker with a T40 socket to break them.4. The new fasteners included with the SG214021 bolt most efficiently with a 13mm (or 1/2 inch) socket. I recommend lubricating the threads with thread sealant. For my application, which is exactly what you would expect from M8 devices, the manual specifies a tightening torque of 28 Nm (21 lbf ft).5. When shipped, the ball sockets on each end of the gas spring are oriented 180° to each other. During installation, just prior to attaching the second end, rotate the ball joint (using a 13mm spanner or adjustable wrench) and carefully align with the ball joint axis.6. To engage (or disengage, if/if you ever need to remove) the ball seat on the gas spring from the ball retainer, push back the metal spring clip on the back of the ball seat slightly. Work, back door worked great. No more falling on your head when it's cold!