Steve, in the catalogue of the same firm (Dictator) you mention, there is at least one gas spring type that works thanks to the difference between outside air pressure and inside nitrogen pressure. Granted, it is a pulling spring, while all others are the pushing kind that work as you describe it. It simply means there are different systems possible.


One of my club's trailers also had a strange gas spring failure once, luckily on an outside system: the spring gradually refused to open completely, after some time it opened only 8 inches or so. It felt as if it was blocked by some mechanical lock. But it still could be compressed for the remaining stem length, so it wasn't a blocked leak hole nor loss of nitrogen pressure. Any ideas on what went wrong?