Does anyone know a place that sells the rear hatch shocks, because i can't find a place.

 

1. TDS. Look at the top of the page for the ad.
2. AutoZone MAY have them in stock. Both them and NAPA may have to order them for you.
3. GM.
4. A junkyard. Tough to find good ones, though.

 

Try Autozone or Checkers. I got mine from Autozone for like $30 each. I know that Checkers carries a different brand and charge about $10 more.

 

i recommend tds, i bought mine from them. installed them last weekend, now my hatch lift all the way up as soon as i turn the key.

 

I bought mine from O' Reilly. Tip, you only have to buy one. You can feel which side is your worse one, and just replace that one.Thats what i did, and it works like a charm.

 

While we're on this topic, I just thought of something:
For those who have replaced their shock supports, how do they stand up in cold weather? Do they hold the hatch or just fail? I just love carrying a hatch prop in the winter time. Others may call it a baseball bat, but I call it a safety precaution.... IT HURTS WHEN THAT THING FALLS ON YOUR HEAD, SUPPORTS OR NOT!

 

I'd recommend buying both struts. Having two struts of varying strengths lifting your hatch is inviting problems. Now granted, I may be overzealous about perfection here, because possibly warping one of the hinges or misaligning the hatch could take years under this circumstance. Still, it's a possibility. I'd rather spend the little extra for both struts, just for peace of mind.

I bought mine at Autozone. If they don't have them on display, just ask the service counter, they usually have them in stock for our cars.

Maverick, I'll let you know how the struts work through the coming winter. I just replaced mine this summer.

 

Aw man you guys beat me to it.

Lon

 

even if it doesn't cause any damage, you'll still create problems in the long run. if your struts are as worn as mine (felt like i was lifting 100 lbs to open the hatch), then you really only have 1 strut lifting twice as much weight as it was designed to. theoretically, that would mean that you're going to wear out your new strut at least twice as fast.

 

Ditto, Autozone.

Be sure to get the correct weight supported for the arms. Look at the guide and it asks if the rear wiper is installed (?), which "wing" you have and a couple of other ones I can't remember.

I also replaced both at the same time. Doing one means that the other will be ready to die soon. AZ now sells cover boots to go on the supports. Haven't tried them though.

 

I've heard that a good it's a good idea to get the lift supports that are designed to work on hatches that have both the spoiler and the wiper, even if you don't have them on your car because they are stronger and will lift the hatch better. I'm planning on doing this, but are there any problems that would crop up because of using the more powerful hatch supports? I can't see how there would be, but maybe I'm missing something?

-Paul

 

One thing I found when I removed my spoiler for a paint job was that the hatch motor had to work a little harder to close and you really had to push the hatch down to get it to latch. Otherwise it was pretty cool watching the hatch fly up when you hit the button. I never realized how heavy the base Firebird spoiler was.

 

That's a very good point, however I don't have a hatch pull down motor (or a electric release...possibly in the future though ) so I don't think I'd really have anything to worry about if I went with the higher powered hatch supports...except making sure the hatch didn't smack me in the chin when I opened it and it flew up...now THAT would be a change!

-Paul