ok, last night i was grabbing some stuff out of the back of the 7 when she decided to attach me (hockey stick support slipped), so i decided its time to replace the lift supports. I've heard of people having problems with the stregth of the VB ones, being mine has louvers on it, and i didn't want to pay 40 bucks a pop for the mazda trix one. i went to the local advance auto parts and i ordered the armstrong 4709's at 16 bucks a pop.

the armstorng struts


the parts that come with it, c-clip, new ball joint, new pin


my 84gs that attacked me


i'm sure we've all seen this before, my choice was a cut down hockey stick. make sure the glass is supported well so it doesn't whack you while your trying to fix it.


this is the factory c-clip, mount, and bracket.


take a flat head, place it in the little opening at the closed side of the c-clip and give it a poke. it should pop right off.


now take a phillips and poke the old pin out releasing the lift support from the bracket on the glass.


at the bottom of the strut you will see a ball joint that is secured to the car with a 12mm fitting.


use a open ended 12mm wrench to loosen this. be carefull cause theres a washer between the bolt and hole, it should stay there due to the pressure from the panel.


take the new ball joint and start screwing it in. i noticed the nut was a little smaller and sunk into the panel a little further so i hand tighten it then put a cloth over the ball and used a slip joint pliers to tighten it up.

 

now take the top of the lift support and place the braket in like the factory on was. slide the pin through. i used the slip joint to slightly bend them toward eachother to slip the c-clip in since its a tight fit.


now take the other end of the strut and simply pop it on to the new ball joint. repeat with other side. done.



i hope this could save you all a couple bumps on the head. its a good feeling to have it done.

 

I just did the left one on my car because I didn't want to mess w/ the rear wiper. The Strong Arm strut is plenty strong enough to hold the hatch open w/ a single good strut.

 

+1

FB owners = cheap ***

 

you "should" always replaced them in pairs. the weight of the glass not supported on one side can crack it. i don't have the rear wiper so i was ok, but i do have louvers so one wouldn't be enough anyway.

 

I always heard it would prematurely wear out your new strut. I find it hard to believe that preference for a single side would crack the glass besides my old struts would hold the window long enough to make you think its gonna hold. Then like the OP's 7, it attacks!

 

there was no hold in mine, if the hockey stick moved, CRACK on the back of the head.

 

Only replacing one strut will cause extra twisting force on the hinges, something they were not designed for.

 

There's no Advance store in this state, and the online store led me to the same $32 strut that I got once at NAPA. You might want to stockpile those $16 strutsand/or resell them on ebay for, say, $45 a pair. If you can still find them in your area.