Has this happened to you?

You go to the back of the car to quickly get something out of the trunk or cargo area, you open the hatch, start to get the object you need in a hurry, and BAM the hatch smacks you in the head.

This is an easy repair. I did this on our 2005 Saturn Vue, but the principles are the same for most replacements that use the snap on ball mount type mounting.

Mechanically Declined to Mechanically Inclined Rating 2

To start, open the hatch and use the locking pliers to clamp onto one of the struts piston rod (we'll call this strut 1). This will keep the hatch open while you work on the other strut (we'll call this strut 2). Using the screwdriver remove the clip from one end of strut 2, this will take a little prying on each side to fully remove the clip. It might be possible to only partially remove this clip and still be able to remove the strut but I find it better to have nothing holding the part on when I try to remove it.

Then repeat by removing the clip on the other end of strut 2. With both clips removed, make sure the locking pliers are still secure on strut 1, then tap the end of strut 2 to pop it loose from the ball mount. Do the same with the other end while holding the strut to not drop it on the car.

The new strut will need to be adjusted to line up with the ball mounts, don't unscrew the ends but turn the rod tightening the ends until the ends line up with the ball mounts. Now take the new strut and place the end on the ball mount, with the heal of your hand tap the end onto the ball mount, you should hear it snap onto the ball mount, gently tug on the end to make sure that it is secure.

Product shown in video:

Struts
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...

Now do the same thing with the other end of the strut. You may have to lift on the hatch to get the ball mount and strut end to line up. If the strut end is not aligned, you can still turn it to match up with the ball mount, turn in a tightening direction only.

With the strut mounted you should be able to remove the locking pliers from strut 1 and the hatch may even stay open. This will only happen if the old strut 1 has any pressure still in it. You can use the locking pliers on the new strut 2, but be sure to pad them so the pliers don't damage the new strut piston rod. This is where having a helper is better than using the locking pliers.

This will prevent the hatch from closing on your head when you remove old strut 1. Just one strut will not be able to hold the hatch up by itself.

Now just remove the clips from the old strut 1, pop it off just like the old strut 2, and put on the new one using the same process.
With both new struts in place and secure be sure to remove the locking pliers from the new strut 2 at this time, if you try to close the hatch while the pliers are on, something will get damaged.

Now close the hatch and see the difference, with the struts we bought closing the hatch is now a form of exercise. These require real effort to close, but opening is very easy, in fact it's best to stand back when opening the hatch. There are struts with lighter closing effort but the reviews showed that they failed quicker than these.


This is #HowWeDoIt to make videos and the tools we use:

Cameras:
#Samsung smart phones J7
#yi M1 mirrorless camera with 28 mm lens

Video Editing:
Software:
Open Office
#Filmora9
GIMP 2
Hardware:
Dell Inspiron 5570, 16 GB RAM