I bought hood and hatch struts tonight. i put the hatch struts in and everything was going well until i overtightened the bolt where it connects to the hatch and snapped the bolt head off, turning a 10 minute job into a 1.5 hour job of having to disassemble half of the hatch to get that in a position to drill it out and thread a new bolt in. its done now, and the hatch opens freakin awesome, its almost hard to pull it down to shut it! lesson learned, 20 year old small mild steel bolts can be overtightened.

im gonna do the hood struts tomorrow, and im pretty sure those too are a ten minute job but i dont really want to turn it into a 1.5 hour job like the hatch struts (let me tell you that hatch is HEAVY with no struts attached).

so, looking at the hood struts the bottom clip looks pretty simply, just wedge a flat screwdriver in there til it pops off, but the top looked a bit different. how does that one work? any tips for a smooth and quick install?

i know its a simple thing, but i just want to make sure, TIA

 

It's pretty basic, sounds like you have a handle on it...

 

twist and pop for 90% of the hood shocks i've seen.

 

so pop the bottom clip out with a flat screwdriver and then just kinda twist the shock til it pops out, then just snap the new one on over the little nub at the top and pop the clip back on the bottom?

 

the top clip should be the same as the bottom one, or at least thats been in my experience, and what is presently on my cars, but yes, twisting slightly with the shock itself won't hurt, but don't force it or you will ruin the shock and/or the mount, of which you don't want to do. Just wiggle and use the flat head up top too.

 

i think the clip was a little different, but it was getting dark...was gonna do them tonight but obviously ran out of time given the hatch strut issue, so ill have to take a better look tomorrow

 

cool, they popped right on in less than 10 minutes

so so so so nice to open the hood and hatch now, putting the ttops in the bag while holding the hatch up with my head got pretty damn old

 

Yea, try wearing a baseball hat with the nipple at the top while doing that. Gets agrivating quick lol. Glad it was easy.

 

hahahaha funny thing you say that because i always wear a hat when i go out cruising and every single time i had to put the tops in or out id say 'ok now dont put my damn head so that the nipple of the hat is right on the hatch' and every single time--without fail--the hatch would come down right on the nipple, ouch