We recently acquired a 1985 Mac 25 and one of the first things I did was install gas struts on the pop top. Before installation it took two of us to open and close the pop top. Now my lovely wife can open and close it by herself! The only catch I ran into was it didn't want to rest forward on the front braces so I installed bungie cords hooked to the brackets the braces slip into and now it stays put.
I installed the struts according to instructions on one of the forums under "Pop Top Gas Struts Mac 25 by Timo42". I used 90 lb struts. I read of one installation where the first time they tried to close the pop top after installing the struts it was so hard they thought they were going to break something. With that in mind I made sure to compress mine once or twice prior to installation and didn't have any trouble at all. BTW, that first compression WAS very difficult.
I installed the struts according to instructions on one of the forums under "Pop Top Gas Struts Mac 25 by Timo42". I used 90 lb struts. I read of one installation where the first time they tried to close the pop top after installing the struts it was so hard they thought they were going to break something. With that in mind I made sure to compress mine once or twice prior to installation and didn't have any trouble at all. BTW, that first compression WAS very difficult.