Rear Gate pneumatic/hydraulic... thingys

Whatever their called, anyone know? One on each side and when you lift up the gate they extend and hold it up with hydraulic pressure.

The left side is leaking everywhere - is it serviceable, replaceable, what? Cost to replace? Where to buy other than the stealership?

thanks,
Mike

go to your local auto parts store and ask for rear liftgate struts

Liftgate Supports/Struts. They should be available locally to you, for $20-$25 each.

They're fairly easy to replace - they're on ball studs. Just make sure you pull the wire retaining clip before you try to pull the stud off (take a close look at one end, you should see what I mean. They push through the ball socket, and then clip around the shaft. The new struts should come with new clips - but keep the old ones for spares.)

I find it helps to clean the ball studs once you get the struts off, and put a touch of grease on there to free everything up. You can use pretty much anything - I usually use red "moly" grease because it's what I use on everything else, and it's already loaded in the grease gun. Just squirt a little on your finger, and wipe down the (CLEAN!) ball stud with it. You don't need much.

Be careful with the ball studs - they're a pain to replace, OEMR only, and they usually have to be ordered (2-3 days or so.)

5-90

I just bought a pair for a friend ... don't remember if I got them at Auto Zone or Advance Auto. Price was $21 and change each.

Always a good idea to replace the lift struts in pairs. If only one is replaced it can cause excess stress on the rear hatch and lead to problems especially the fiberglass hatches. Good Luck

Woody

Ah, good point grasshopper. I found them at Advance for $17 each, but only bought one. I'll go back and buy th other side too.

Thanks for tips y'all!

Mike

Also, if you have the metal hatch, get a friend to help hold up the hatch while you are replacing the strut. Heavy metal items falling on your head suck.

Michaelarchangelo said:

Heavy metal items falling on your head suck.

Click to expand...

Experience is a tough teacher. It gives the test first, then the lesson.

I used a scrap 2x4 to prop the door up after my lesson was over.

Michaelarchangelo said:

Also, if you have the metal hatch, get a friend to help hold up the hatch while you are replacing the strut. Heavy metal items falling on your head suck.

Click to expand...

That fibreglas hatch is heavy when it hits your head - that is usually the first warning that my lift struts are failing...

Ouch. "I wish people would stop hittin' me on the head..."

5-90

The worst for me was when I was working on my old SHO. The back three spark plugs require you lying on the motor to reach them. Long story short, me on motor fighting plugs, hood struts fail, and crunch me.

I went back and bought the other side after recommendations in the post and am typing with one hand right now as a result of replacing them.

Note, when you pop one side off, the other side will NOT hold up the hatch!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I had my left hand on the main body of the jeep right where the gate would impact the body when closed when the strut finally broke free of the lower ball joint. The gate slammed shut on my left hand and completely latched with my entire hand caught/slammed between the gate and the body of the jeep. Once I realized that my hand was completely caught all the way at the knuckles, I had to reach around and pull the release lever to open the gate off my hand.

That f'in gate is seriously heavy and thank God it didn't break my hand. That thing must weight 70-80 pounds and feels a lot heavier when slammed down. A 2x4 solved the problem and after 2 beers the pain finally subsided enough to finish the job.

Oh well, make sure that bitch is prop'd up before you take off one side of those struts.

mike

one of my family members did somthing simmilar but it was with the car door. he locked the door then closed it on his hand. got his hand stuck in the door. well the keys where in the other pocket and he couldent reach around to get the keys out of his pocket. took us an hour to relize he was missing. and it was in the dead of winter and was 20 degrees.

The Physics Police enforce that law.
They always get their man, and the punishment always fits the crime.

ya they do the hoods not light either