With the struts that hold the gull-wing doors open beginning to loose their holding power I decided to upgrade from the Vans supplied 500N to these 600N struts.  I am told these have a slow open so at the end of their stroke they will dampen the opening. 

The distance from one attachment point to the other on the door/cabin top is 11-3/4″.

UPDATE:  The new 600N struts do not seem to have a slow open at the end of their stroke, in-0fact they accelerate while opening and will clang open at the top of stroke.  They also have WAY more lifting power than my non-panel doors need and it is possible that their overpowered size is why they do not slow open at the end of stroke.  Once you open the door about 5″ they will push the door open and accelerate on their way to their stops. 

I ordered a special tool from Bansbach to let some juice out of each strut instead of sending them back to get their pressures reduced.  My current opinion is these struts are NOT better than the Vans hardware although they are a lot cheaper.  Their stroke is reduced leading to a reduced open dimension on the doors (see picture below).

Bansbach on left, stock Vans on right.

Stock vans strut on left (passenger side) and new Bansbach on right (pilot side).

The tool Bansbach tech support told me about to reduce the pressure in the struts.

$27.09 shipped for the tool.