"BUYER BEWARE"

[kiwijim]

G'Day All,

Here is a bit of advise when thinking of buying something off E-Bay............


Check out exactly what you are buying,
I have been waiting for over a month for a Hydraulic Damper to arrive from England to suit my Thomson Caravan.

A parcel arrived yesterday and I thought "You Beaut" .....at last I can get the Van mobile again........."Yer Right"!!!

The Damper I received was nothing like the original as advertised on E-Bay, the only thing similar was the length (300mm) that was all,

The shaft was half the thickness as was the barrel,
the Damper had a German manufacturer mark on it but also sported the original part number

the price label on the Damper stated 37.95 GBP,
I was charged 45.00 GBP

The freight charges were 8.50 GBP
the postal stamp on the parcel said it cost 4.50 GBP

Did I get a credit on the balance..........You may ask,
answer ..... "NOT ON YOUR NELLY"

time allowed for a credit return.......10 Days.......TO ENGLAND ? ? ?

BEWARE OF THE RIPOFF ARTIST they are out there.
The old damper on top & the so-called New duplicate below...

cheers kiwijim

[Deleted]

The joys of eBay.

But does it fit and does it work?

That's wot matters

[kiwijim]

"Yep" I have made it fit,
after a lot of re-bushing and having to make up spacers to pack out the under-sized Damper ends.

The new Damper in place

As for weather it works.............I guess I will find that out as soon as we get on the road again......It had better

kiwijim.

[bobt]

Hey Kiwijim

Always a risk when ya can not hold the thing in ya hands before you buy.

Glad you have been able to adapt it to work for you.

bobt

[kiwijim]

G'day bobt,

"Yep" risky for sure,
I recall the old saying.......Once Bitten Twice Shy,
that will sure apply to me after the big let-down, it took a lot of work to get the Damper fitted, I only hope it works properly when I tow the Thomson next.

I don't think I will be buying over seas again unless I know the person.

cheers kiwijim

[Deleted]

Kiwijim

I’m not familiar with the Beta overrun assembly, but looking at the diagram you posted up in another thread, it seems that the unit uses a gas strut - not a shock absorber as such (They are different.)

Accepting that I may be on the wrong track, but If it is a gas strut and the old unit is not physically damaged or has a rusted shaft they can be regassed for a fairly small cost.
The only trick is to find the original pressure.

It’s normal for older gas struts to loose pressure with a very small leakage rate over years yet still be perfectly ok.

Careful inspection of the body may reveal a KPA figure, or take the pressure of the new one you bought as a guide.

If you find the new one is too stiff or too light for good operation, again you can take that pressure as a guide to go up or down with regassing the old one.

Jim

[kiwijim]

G'Day Jim,

Great to hear from a person with such an elite name, ;D ;D ;D

Yes, you are right, it is .....or rather was a gas strut that was fitted to the Beta brake assembly,

I had considered having the original strut re-gassed,
but on very close examination I found that when I extended the shaft to it's full length there was pitting visible,
unfortunately the shaft was corroded to badly to have it re-gassed.

so that is why I decided to believe an advert on E-Bay which said the strut I purchased was the Genuine Item as fitted to the Beta System as made in the early 70'S.

I suppose I could have made loud noises about false advertising but whats the use,

maybe some-one closer to their home will set them straight one day.

Thank for sharing your thoughts Jim.

Cheers kiwijim