longer hatch struts?

briogio · Post by **briogio** » Sun Jan 18, 2015 5:46 pm

I just bought a 2004 Moonstone Vibe and I'm 6' 3", I'm hitting my head on the open hatch. Is there any way to get the hatch to go higher? Ha anybody done this?

In the immortal words of Bob Marley; "Got to 'ave a good VIBE"!

kaflex · Post by **kaflex** » Mon Jan 19, 2015 5:39 am

briogio wrote:I just bought a 2004 Moonstone Vibe and I'm 6' 3", I'm hitting my head on the open hatch. Is there any way to get the hatch to go higher? Ha anybody done this?

In the immortal words of Bob Marley; "Got to 'ave a good VIBE"!

I know how you feel, I'm 6'4" almost 6'5". I never thought about longer struts, I'm used to adjusting to everything.

tpar1220 · Post by **tpar1220** » Mon Jan 19, 2015 6:20 am

i am 6'3" as well, when i first got my 09 i would barely touch the roof with my head. drove it for couple weeks before i realized there was a lever that lifted and lowered seat. once i figured out what the lever did and how to work it i lowered seat all way down and now have plenty of head room. also have better vision under and around rear view mirror.

vibrologist · Post by **vibrologist** » Mon Jan 19, 2015 7:58 am

You guys have problems I just can't relate to. But since I am a compassionate guy I went out to my 05 base and opened the hatch.

If you want to use the existing mounting points there is not much room for longer struts. You really cannot see them with the hatch closed but I noticed that there is about 10mm of strut rod that have grime on them. That may indicate, but I am not sure, that there is room for a 10mm longer strut. However if these 10mm are designed as a reservoir for the gas and oil then my hypothesis is wrong.
If you move the mounting point on the body down by a few mm you should be able to use a longer strut.
How long? to find out I would disconnect both struts and open the hatch carefully beyond the normal limit and observe when things get too tight in the roof area.
You also need to maintain an angle between the lower mounting point and the hinge of the hatch to avoid difficulties when closing. Trigonometry should help figuring out the extended length of the strut. You will have a triangle between points A (lower mounting point on the car), B (upper mounting point on the opened hatch) and C (hinge pin of the hatch hinges).

hotbug1776 · Post by **hotbug1776** » Mon Jan 19, 2015 8:36 am

briogio wrote:I just bought a 2004 Moonstone Vibe and I'm 6' 3", I'm hitting my head on the open hatch. Is there any way to get the hatch to go higher? Ha anybody done this?

In the immortal words of Bob Marley; "Got to 'ave a good VIBE"!

I'm almost 6'3" and the car is lowered over 2". Imagine that debacle. LOL

hi-tower · Post by **hi-tower** » Mon Jan 19, 2015 9:06 am

at 6'6" I know what you mean. I hit my head on everything in cars. I am just used to it. I just duck everywhere. If you get it figured out I would be interested in the fix.

lannvouivre · Post by **lannvouivre** » Mon Jan 19, 2015 1:09 pm

My 6'2" BF has complained as well about it, however at 4'10" I have difficulty feeling any empathy whatever for him, the freakishly tall FREAK.

Bonezee · Post by **Bonezee** » Wed Jan 21, 2015 2:16 am

Ya I'm a freak too, lol. Here's a little hack I just learned recently, if you don't know, it works well. I always hated how the rear view mirror would be in my line of vision and I would be constantly ducking to look around it. Ok, the bar that comes down from your windshield, if you point that up you can tuck your mirror up into the ceiling. It doesn't give you much but it is around 2 inches higher and I notice a lot of difference.

briogio · Post by **briogio** » Thu Jan 22, 2015 12:26 am

Well in my first week of ownership I have found at least a partial solution. When you push up the hatch it will stop on it's own at a certain spot, if you keep pushing it up till it can't go up any more, you'll get at least 6" higher than where it naturally stops. Still not perfect but quite a bit better.

jayoldschool · Post by **jayoldschool** » Thu Jan 22, 2015 6:47 am

At 6'7", it's good to know that I'm not the only tall Vibe guy. Now if I could just do something about my knees hitting the door and the gear surround...

Doug14 · Post by **Doug14** » Thu Jan 22, 2015 7:23 am

jayoldschool wrote:At 6'7", it's good to know that I'm not the only tall Vibe guy. Now if I could just do something about my knees hitting the door and the gear surround...

6'6" here, you win tho.

vibenvy · Post by **vibenvy** » Sun Jan 25, 2015 12:13 pm

briogio wrote:I just bought a 2004 Moonstone Vibe and I'm 6' 3", I'm hitting my head on the open hatch. Is there any way to get the hatch to go higher? Ha anybody done this?

Since your "new" Vibe is 11 years old, perhaps the hatch struts need to be replaced...

petervivian · Post by **petervivian** » Sun Jan 25, 2015 6:12 pm

I replaced the struts in 2010, and they are not smooth already. Is it because of the hot weather here?

longer hatch struts?

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