My fix for the ever-elusive hatch struts

[jdeitch]

I just picked these up. Price was right. We'll see what I get...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/19063364780...NX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649#ht_3949wt_922

 

[therealg]

I did this mod with the McMaster struts about 2 months ago, best $40 (struts, shippingand nuts) i have spent in a while. Hardest part was trimming the bolts on the bottom so they didn't hit the hatch. Great easy, fast and cheap mod!

 

[Cruisin'Carolina]

Just installed the McMaster struts. Have to give a big thumbs up on this one. Great fit and I only had to grind a little bit of the stud and nut away on the bottom. Works perfect. Thanks again for a very very inexpensive option. Took me about 20 min tops to get this done. My fat ass had no problem compressing the struts enough to get them to mount on the studs.

Did you get the thin nuts?

 

[patride71]

Nice!
Just ordered mine which is about $120 cheaper than getting ones from Mr. T.
I'll spend for OEM, but not for these!

I did this install a few weeks back.
Great upgrade and pretty easy install even for a 1/4 banana like me.

 

[Trollhole]

Did you get the thin nuts?

Nope I just bought some stainless nuts from ace and ground those down along with a little of the bolt. Grind with them together and it makes it really easy.

 

[GCRad1]

THANK YOU GABE for this awesome little post! My 80-Series had the droopy hatch too!

The culprit, factory gas-juice has left the tube! Dust traces the escapage path.

So I made the McMasterCarr order for both the struts and the thin nuts. Package arrived and my mission begins. This is going to be the shadetree-parking lot installation version.

I start by getting a stick and proping up the rear hatch.

A good place to place the stick up top in is in the rear-hatch handle slot to keep it from popping out and dropping the hatch on your head.

I get the right side strut removed. I don't have a vice and my workbench is working overtime holding too much crap to even work on it, so I figure out a way to just work on the tailgate.

I toss the gas strut-tab into the vice-grips so I can hacksaw off the press-in post.

Now onto the other side's mount and this time I figure out how to get a little more heigth out of the vice-grips by placing the mount in at a angle.

Now to drill out the pressed in shaft-pins:

The pins have a natural drill point.

Vice-Grips to hold the mount and drilling begins!

Mounts drilled and toss on some paint to prevent rust.

Mount up the new strut to the mounts. Note bolt/post is rather long with the thin-nut on.

So I rig up my vice...

Vice-Grips that is!

We are going to cut the excess bolt off.

I replace the stock grease with some Bel Ray waterproof grease. Yea, I ride motorcycles too.

LocTite for the vibration sensation at woop city. I heard that Death Valley has a 27-mile road with 6" square ruts that will vibrate your teeth loose.

Re-install the top mount.

This shows you how much lift we are going to have! At this point I will need to remove the left factory strut so I can push the door up to.

The stick goes straight up and I need a little booster block to get it up enough to get the new longer strut in place. SWEEEET!

I add a couple of washers to the mounting bolts for a little clearance for the strut bolt and nut to clear the side of the body.
Duplicate process for the other side and now you are FINISHED!

New and improved!

 

[stockfj80]

Just want to thank the original poster for doing much of the leg work and research. Was wrenching yesterday replacing all 4 shocks on my buddy Fj and decided to replace the struts. Took me about 30 minutes per vehicle (replaced mine too).
For reference the nuts you need are 5/8-18. You can pick up the thin one at Home Depot for $1.06 for a pack of 8. Think they are called jam nuts.

 

[Trollhole]

THANK YOU GABE for this awesome little post! My 80-Series had the droopy hatch too!

You can skip the hacksaw and go straight on to drilling it out. It will come apart once you drill far enough into it.

Great writeup.

 

[sethzilla]

I did this mod over a year ago and the complained!!!!!!

Since it didn't droop, she couldn't reach it now to pull down!

So i hit up the classified section and got a new handle.(old one was broken) then looped a piece of 1" nylon webbing under the handle bolt and now she can.

Money well spent IMO. If you haven't done this to your rig yet, you should.

 

[Philk]

Just did this mod

I just did this mod. I was out reading this week, saw the post, went and ordered the 90lb struts and nuts. Started on it this morning and knocked it out in no time. Skipped the hacksaw step (per Trollhole) and just drilled out the old struts. Used the washer idea on the lowers and bam....like new money!

Thanks to all that have posted and provided step by step pics. This was a very easy mod and for only $40!

Phil

 

[rockrod]

just ordered a set of struts from M-C and will install once they show up. My lift gate is a bit droopy when the weather is cold and I am tired of smacking my head.

 

[djsherif]

Got mine from flea bay (gasstrutguys), install took 5 mins with a 10mm socket. Perfect fit ($90) delivered.

 

[Bryan E.]

I finally got my rear hatch struts installed

Finally got my rear hatch struts installed a few weeks ago. Few tips for anybody about to try this.

If you have access to a small dremmel or angle grinder with a cut off wheel, it's so much quicker than using a hacksaw. I used the saw to cut my new bolts short but wished I had my cut off wheel from work.

Drilling the rivets out what a bit of a problem but only because I didn't have a vice set up at home, nor a drill bit set so I was using less than ideal drill bit size but all in all, took about 45 mins to an hour and half that time was looking for tools. Garage needs organized better.

Ready to do the front hood struts next. That hood hurts when it knocks you on the noggin. Ouch!

Great cheap replacement struts and I can't recommend this change over tip enough. Top mod for dollars spent in my book, esp. if your struts are getting so you can't trust whether they will hold or not. That's how mine were. Some days it would hold, others, bang.

Thanks for the original poster figuring out what parts to use and others that posted pictures and all. Great thread.

 

[B3A5T]

Thanks for posting and showing the step by step.

 

[fountainhead]

Thanks for posting and showing the step by step.

Ditto.

I just completed this mod. I ordered the struts and thin nuts...40 bucks to the door, and it all arrived the day after I placed the order.

I didn't use the hacksaw, but I did use some bolt cutters to separate the factory strut from the bracket before drilling the rivet out. To me, that made it easier to drill. I cut the excess bolt off (and shaved a bit off the nut) at all four ends with a cutoff wheel and used one washer on each nut on the bottom brackets; although that wasn't really necessary.

The rear hatch literally opens on its own now...with surprising force. For what it's worth, I have the rear spoiler, and it doesn't touch the roof when the hatch is open.

 

[rockrod]

i didn't bother with a hacksaw. used the drill to remove the pivots - they come right out.

this is a 15 minute job at most.

OP thanks again!

 

[Cancruiser]

I did this install a few years back. No problems so far. Thanks to the original poster for all his research.
Now, is there something similar to do for the hood struts???

 

[mendozart]

Just did this fix today. Thanks to the original poster for all the leg work, made this fix a total breeze.

 

[kbahus]

Here is another big thumbs up to this thread. It's amazing having a hatch that opens on it's own and doesn't hit me in the head when it's cold out.

 

[angerhater]

has anyone ever tried the 120# struts and mounting the spare to the hatch? think it could work?...having something added to the bumper to help support the static load...has it been done? or should i be a guinea pig?