XP and XPL hood spring

[gp1200x]

Anyone have any clever ideas on how to increase the hood spring tension on the 97 XP and 98+ XPL units? After 25+ years the hoods usually need to be propped up with a paddle since the spring has become too weak to hold them up.

Not a big issue but if anyone has any clever and cheap idea on how to solve the issue let me know. Replacing the actual mechanism is probably not worth it since it probably costs a fortune.

 

[Grim]

I use to dab a little hydraulic fluid, transmission fluid... on the shock cylinder, run it up and down and coat the seals, sometimes it would reenergize the seals for a little while longer. My front hood shock is about 50 to 80 bucks, so not too bad but not cheap!

 

[gp1200x]

Thanks I'll try that. I didn't even realize it was a strut and thought it was just a spring compressed with a tube around it. Never had an issue but now both my skis have to be propped up to work on them and makes it a hassle. I was hoping someone would say there is a cheap replacement unit from a car that works but that only seems to apply to the newer unit with a standard strut mount. I may just spend the $120 for a new pair.

 

[mikidymac]

They aren't available from Seadoo anymore. You can take measurements and try and match one up from McMasterCarr.

 

[gp1200x]

I found some suitable ones on Amazon and measured them but trying to determine the force needed is somewhat of a guess work. My old ones still had a lot of force needed to compress but I have found no specs stating their gas pressure. I will take one of my old ones and put it on a scale and press on it and go from there but I think I am going to need over 100 lbs of gas pressure as a guess.