[rheavn]

Picture #1 is the pipe clamp I used at first. It worked fine if you have access to both the front & rear ball mounts. Once you get to your plumbing bay, fuel tank bay, etc you won't have access to the inside ball mounts. Picture # 2 is the tool I manufactured after seeing the tool Newell used. Their tool was slightly different as they used a sliding hook to hold onto the panagraph hinge cross member. Pictures #3 & 4 are the tool in place.

I took one gas spring off & you only need to compress the gas spring about a half inch.

Handy hints: cut a 2 x 4 to hold up the door before you start. If doing a bay where access to the inside ball mount is restricted(plumbing bay, fuel tank bay, etc), unscrew the old gas spring from the inside ball mount. Then unscrew the ball mount from the new gas spring and screw the new gas spring onto the old ball mount that is still in the bay. Then you just compress & mount the front ball mount & it's done.

Caution: If your coach has the glass mercury switch to turn on the bay light when the door opens, take the time to unscrew the holder & move out of your way. I learned the hard way--they break!