Glovebox extender frame gas springs

[Legoman]

My gas springs that lower and then extend the glovebox lid out toward the passenger seat are completely shot to hell. Can anyone please tell me, do these springs have internal dampers at the end of travel like the boot lid ones do or are they just conventional gas springs that slam hard against their travel stops when they hit full extension? I can't tell from my old ones because they are so shot, I can just move the pistons by hand freely at will as if there is no gas inside them at all.

The reason for asking is that if I get them regassed, the regasser guy I use usually can't restore any internal extent of travel damping (if present), so full exension damped gas springs become non-damped when I get them regassed. Regassing is my best option in this case as new ones will cost a fortune and take a long time to get to me since there are no stockists where I live.

Also, only one of the two springs has any tension force printed on it. The short one that fits at the back has 350N printed on it which is straightforward enough, but the long one that has the power lead for the glovebox torch battery charging point taped to it has nothing printed on it at all in terms of required spring force, which makes it hard to get regassed to the correct tension. The RealOEM description has 25N next to this part number. Is it reasonable to assume this means 250N spring force?

[Legoman]

Please can someone help me ID these circlips with a BMW part number? These are the circlips that retain various hinging parts of the glovebox suspension system including the rearward anchor bar both sides, the outer suspension strap at the bottom and the rearward gas spring piston end. For some reason these circlips aren't shown as part of the parts diagrams for the glovebox components and I don't know where else to look for them.

IMG_2321.jpg IMG_2322.jpg

[Cactuar]

For the clip: BMW # 07129904492

https://www.ecstuning.com/b-genuine-...p/07129904492/

[shogun]

bmwfans also says 25 N 51161954684 25N absorber https://www.ecstuning.com/b-genuine-...h/51161954684/
old p/n : 51161954683


years back I ordered some and noted down the details
Daempfer/absorber 51161954684 original BMW, SUSRON SUSPA COMPART AG, 90518-Altdorf Germany, 5116 1954684 10/08 011 00288E
---------------------------

Feder 51161948137 BMW, SUSPANDER nicht oeffnen! Hoher Druck! 90518 Altdorf Germany, 51.16-1 948 137 , Typ 16-1 016 01505H 400N 40/04

400N you can also see here for 51161948137 https://www.ecstuning.com/b-genuine-...r/51161948137/

http://www.bimmerboard.com/forums/posts/681889/

[Legoman]

Thank you for the circlip part number. No idea how you found that as it doesn't appear on any diagrams for my car.
I'm going to have to take my gas strut back to the regasser guy today and see if he can bleed it down again back to 25N force. I got it regassed to 250N thinking 25N was just so ridiculously low it couldn't possibly be right. Now my glovebox is ludicrously hard to close, so 25N must have been right afterall.

The smaller strut for the swing arm was much easier as it has 350N printed clearly on it, so that was self-explanatory. Perhaps there was a change of supplier or something when the original 350N springs became NLA and the new ones are now 400N. They have different part numbers and the OE one that I still have is now NLA. Either way, I got mine regassed back to 350N again and it works perfectly at that pressure.

[shogun]

Nice that you have such a re-gassing service available in Perth. The original shocks are now extremely expensive. For my 11/88 750 LHD there are these p/n's and MSRP prices
for driver side, the small box, only on EURO version, Absorber 25N 51161954684 $105.54

passenger side (right) large glovebox
Absorber 25N 51161954684 $105.54
Gas pressurized spring 51161948137 $206.34

[Legoman]

Nice that you have such a re-gassing service available in Perth. The original shocks are now extremely expensive. For my 11/88 750 LHD there are these p/n's and MSRP prices
for driver side, the small box, only on EURO version, Absorber 25N 51161954684 $105.54

Oh yeah I forgot about the other glove box under the steering column! Does that have a gas spring too? I should look into that. Mine just falls down as if there's nothing there at all. I use these guys who are not far from me. $25/strut to have regassed and from lots of experience, they last just as long as brand new ones do.

[shogun]

realoem shows one https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/sho...diagId=51_0992
but on my 750 11/88 there are no shocks on the small one, just the strap = Joint link 51451948273
probably realoem is wrong, that small box does not need a shock

[Legoman]

realoem shows one https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/sho...diagId=51_0992
but on my 750 11/88 there are no shocks on the small one, just the strap = Joint link 51451948273
probably realoem is wrong, that small box goes not need a shock

Yeah that's what my car's got too. Just the retainer strap, no gas struts.
The weird thing is though that in my car, the proper large glovebox in front of the passenger seat has as its swing arm suspension frame shock the NLA part number 51161928872. This is the 350N gas strut with the part number + 350N printed on the cylinder body. I do not have the 51161948137 strut at all which you say is the 400N one.

So I effectively have the struts from the driver's side glovebox RealOEM diagram but they're installed on the large passenger side glovebox. In all fairness, this does look correct when you see the components in reality. That 350N strut is very weird in having an extremely short rod travel. In effect all it does is provide a physical resistance hump between the swing arm being held back into the footwell or pulled forward into the front passenger's lap. Its full rod travel is probably not much more than 10-15mm only as it compresses slightly when the swing arm is pulled back toward the passenger seat. When the regassing guy saw the strut with the rod obviously much shorter than the cylinder it goes into, he immediately thought it was broken and wouldn't be able to be regassed at all. It's obviously a very special order gas strut specifically for that particular application, which is no doubt why it's now NLA.

[Legoman]

On the outer side of the glovebox back towards the firewall, there's a hinge arm that extends down and is covered with an 'L' shaped piece of clip on black plastic trim to hide all the metal framework of the suspension assembly. If one unclips this plastic trim, behind it at the lower extremity is the metal axle the glovebox rear hinges upon. At the inner side of the glovebox, the end of the axle forms what is the spigot upon which the piston end of the gas strut mounts. At the outer side in my car, there is no retainer at all. It just floats axially. There is a circlip groove machined into the end of the axle rod, which leads me to think there should be a circlip like those pictured above here, but in trying to fit one I've noticed considerable force is required to compress the walls of the glovebox inwards in order to make enough room to slip a circlip on. This leads me to thinking that perhaps it's supposed to just float axially with no outer retainer at all. Anyone know for sure?

Axle

Cover

[Legoman]

…There is a circlip groove machined into the end of the axle rod, which leads me to think there should be a circlip like those pictured above here, but in trying to fit one I've noticed considerable force is required to compress the walls of the glovebox inwards in order to make enough room to slip a circlip on. This leads me to thinking that perhaps it's supposed to just float axially with no outer retainer at all. Anyone know for sure?

Axle

Cover

Answering my own question… I bought the circlip to try out what fitting one would do and yep, it is better with one on there. I thought it would bind up and perhaps make the glovebox a bit stiff to move in and out but those fears were unfounded. For sure a circlip on there does put things under a bit of tension, but not so much as to create any new problems. Certainly with the groove machined there to take a circlip, it does indeed feel like one belongs there.

[shogun]

Gas pressurized spring 51161948137 is super expensive with MSRP $222.09 , # 5 here http://bmwfans.info/parts-catalog/E3...ox_2#1948137_5
On the German forum they found a aftermarket spring , they use this one with 400 Nm and others with 350 NM for about $ 25 https://www.sodemann-federn.de/be-6-40-400-t
pic shows dimensions, maybe you can find same dimensions and Nm on the McMaster site. site in English https://www.sodemann-springs.us/
Gas Springs With Welded Eyes https://www.sodemann-springs.us/products/welded-eyes

they make based on order, Gas Spring Configurator | 2000+ Dimensions https://www.sodemann-springs.us/onli...s-configurator