60's Hydraulic Arm For Rear Hatch

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McMaster's have a 5/16 -18 stud not the 8x1.25 that is on the Toyota, per their website.


Dynosoar
 
8 mm = 0.314960" 5/16 = 0.3125" I am good with it :grinpimp: and so is my head :eek:
 
Lift Supports Depot

I just finished installing my new Hydrolic arms of the rear hatch on my FJ62. Took about 10 minutes of actual work, but about thirty minutes of trying and failing to get the clips out of the stock ones before removing them. Plus about 20 minutes of reading through this thread for tips.

THIS TREAD HELPED ME A LOT!

I got the Lift Supports Depot ones from Amaz*n for $43.

I used my 12mm open end and slowly backed out the stock ball mounts with the strut still attached. They had a lot of blue thread lock on them from the original installation I'm guessing. I did not need to use any liquid wrench or anything like that.

The ball mounts that came with the Lift Supports Depot kit are not metric, but the thread pitch must be the same or close enough. They went right in, but I had to use a SAE wrench because the neither the 12mm or the 11mm would fit.

I used blue thread lock on them.

Hatch opens and closes with ease and stays up..

I can't believe I've waited so long to do this.
 
Ordered the struts and ball replacements from reid's for my 1985 60 series. gas 124 / gas30 part #'s. Easy install and work great!
Thanks for the info guys :cheers:
 
Last edited:
I too just ordered mine from Lift Support Depot this morning and they already emailed and said they have shipped. They were 22.00 a piece and are the correct lengths. 11.25 extended and 10.93 retracted with 90#'s.
 
Installed the Reid ones the other day on my 1982 FJ60. They are definitely slightly too long, and push the tailgate all the way up into the rain gutter, as someone mentioned earlier in the thread. The LSD ones might be a better bet if they're a bit shorter.

That said, my tailgate definitely flies up fast enough to knock teeth out now. :hillbilly:
 
Cabrito said:
I just finished installing my new Hydrolic arms of the rear hatch on my FJ62. Took about 10 minutes of actual work, but about thirty minutes of trying and failing to get the clips out of the stock ones before removing them. Plus about 20 minutes of reading through this thread for tips.

THIS TREAD HELPED ME A LOT!

I got the Lift Supports Depot ones from Amaz*n for $43.

I used my 12mm open end and slowly backed out the stock ball mounts with the strut still attached. They had a lot of blue thread lock on them from the original installation I'm guessing. I did not need to use any liquid wrench or anything like that.

The ball mounts that came with the Lift Supports Depot kit are not metric, but the thread pitch must be the same or close enough. They went right in, but I had to use a SAE wrench because the neither the 12mm or the 11mm would fit.

I used blue thread lock on them.

Hatch opens and closes with ease and stays up..

I can't believe I've waited so long to do this.
Click to expand...



this sums up my experience exactly! took care of this in half an hour!

used the old struts for my hood supports as they still have life left and the hood seems lighter than the rear hatch. i will use "lift supports depot" again when they begin to fail, but for now they seem to hold good even in cold-a$$ colorado!

(fyi- i used oem 8mm hole on passenger side and tapped a similar nut on the driver side to 8mm for attaching ball mount)

thanks for all the info ya'll!
 
For those of you that used Mcmaster Carr 4138T559, did you reuse the old ball ball studs or use the ones with the new shocks? Since the thread is different was there a problem threading the new one in (if this is what you did)?
Thanks!
 
I used the mcmaster-carr and they were direct fit, no mod. I took the old ones off and screwed the new ones on. Super easy.
 
McMaster Carr Air Spring Compatibility

jzilla said:
For those of you that used Mcmaster-Carr 4138T559, did you reuse the old ball ball studs or use the ones with the new shocks? Since the thread is different was there a problem threading the new one in (if this is what you did)?
Thanks!
Click to expand...

The metric-threaded OEM ball studs are a direct fit to the McMaster-Carr air spring sockets. The ball diameters appears to be of identical size.

To separate the original ball and socket as previously stated in this thread you can either grind off the socket from the old air spring or fish out the tiny retainer clip and pull them apart without grinding. The advantage to grinding is that it can be done without removing the studs from the vehicle. Getting to the retainer clips to remove them would be challenging without first removing the studs from the vehicle.

With the OEM studs attached to the vehicle frame, remove the external ball retainer clip from the MC spring (easy) and pull out the ball. Add a bit of grease, pop the MC spring sockets onto the installed OEM studs, replace the MC retainer clips and you're done.

Despite the mixed reviews, I tried the longer MC 4138T569 springs hoping to trade the unpleasant too-high crash of the hatch with the gutter for the even more unpleasant too-low crash of the hatch to my head resulting from the shorter spring option. Unfortunately the closed length of 10.83 for the 4138T569 was just ever so slightly too long such that at the bottom of the stroke the spring would hit the internal length hard stop just before the hatch closed. At that point the springs were rigid links and the final few inches of hatch closure would visibly shift the entire hatch upward in the door frame about 3/16", just enough to prevent the center latch from engaging the striker hook on the tailgate. I can see how this would be hit or miss with various vehicles given the random accumulation of size and positional tolerance between vehicles (hinge placement, door position, ball stud position, tailgate position, spring hard stop length, etc) . The striker could probably could have been shimmed upward to make it work but I was uncomfortable with the introduced pre-load on the hatch hinges and its misalignment in the frame to try making it work.

Called MC to inquire of an exchange and they immediately sent the next size smaller 4138T559's and said to just send back the 4138T569's for credit.
 
Can you hook a brother up with a link? Thanks!!!

Cabrito said:
I just finished installing my new Hydrolic arms of the rear hatch on my FJ62. Took about 10 minutes of actual work, but about thirty minutes of trying and failing to get the clips out of the stock ones before removing them. Plus about 20 minutes of reading through this thread for tips.

THIS TREAD HELPED ME A LOT!

I got the Lift Supports Depot ones from Amaz*n for $43.

I used my 12mm open end and slowly backed out the stock ball mounts with the strut still attached. They had a lot of blue thread lock on them from the original installation I'm guessing. I did not need to use any liquid wrench or anything like that.

The ball mounts that came with the Lift Supports Depot kit are not metric, but the thread pitch must be the same or close enough. They went right in, but I had to use a SAE wrench because the neither the 12mm or the 11mm would fit.

I used blue thread lock on them.

Hatch opens and closes with ease and stays up..

I can't believe I've waited so long to do this.
Click to expand...
 
Just put in the new shocks from Mcmaster carr, I took an angle grinder with a cut-off wheel and carefully cut the socket of the OEM shocks in half to get the OEM ball stud out (I did not want to use the mcmaster carr ball studs as the thread pitch is a bit different). The size of the ball was the same as previously mentioned so it just snapped in no problem, also put some moly grease on each ball before putting it in the socket. Added some blue locktite to the threads (don’t forget the stock washers as well).
I think the two 90lbers are perfect, it does not open too fast at all.
For about $30 bucks you can't go wrong. Thanks for everyones help!
This is from the invoice.

4138T559 Gas Spring with Ball-Joint End Fitting, 90 lb Force, 15.24" Extended Length, 5.47" Stroke
 
jzilla said:
Just put in the new shocks from Mcmaster carr, I took an angle grinder with a cut-off wheel and carefully cut the socket of the OEM shocks in half to get the OEM ball stud out (I did not want to use the mcmaster carr ball studs as the thread pitch is a bit different). The size of the ball was the same as previously mentioned so it just snapped in no problem, also put some moly grease on each ball before putting it in the socket. Added some blue locktite to the threads (don’t forget the stock washers as well).
I think the two 90lbers are perfect, it does not open too fast at all.
For about $30 bucks you can't go wrong. Thanks for everyones help!
This is from the invoice.

4138T559 Gas Spring with Ball-Joint End Fitting, 90 lb Force, 15.24" Extended Length, 5.47" Stroke
Click to expand...

You noted that the thread pitch is different, which it is........but it seems that a few people claim that even with a different pitch it still bolted directly in?

I have the Mcmaster Carr struts in the basement waiting to go on my 60, but now I am concerned that the ball will not thread in?

Zack
 
Also with respect to breaking the OEM ball free from the body of the truck and hatch, I am worried that I will strip the nut head in my attempt to remove it. As others have noted, the ball/stud has thread locker on it from the factory making it hard to remove.
I read about this tip on the Toyota Celica forum, since the rear hatch struts fail often on the 2000 and up cars. The studs on the Celica's also have thread locker on them, and many people were stripping the studs and then having to cut off the rod and use vice grips the get the stud out.
What they are doing is heating up the stud first with either a lighter or a heat gun to soften the thread locker, then removing it. I have not done it, but it seems to be working. What do you think? Would the heat makes things easy?

Thanks,
Zack
 
mine actually came out with a wrench - i didnt need a socket. It may not be as bad as you think.
 
I took the studs out on three cruisers, two of them rusty. No problems, just go slow.
Yes the mcmaster carr studs will not thread in unless you force them, the thread pitch is different.
If you are carefull with the grinder it is no problem cutting them out.
 
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