My rear hatch struts on my '85 were not holding the glass hatch up and I was going to fork over the $70. to buy two new ones when I hit on an idea. I took Locktite blue thread locked, raised the hatch. drizzels thread locker on the struts and worked it up and down a few times. I let it sit overnight and now the struts hold up my hatch. Cheap couple dollar fix.

 

sounds like good idea.. i just wedge a coke bottle between the grass and the roof...

 

That's interesting. How long do you think that will work? I wish I had tried something like that before I bought the crap VB ones only to turn around and buy the Strongarm Struts instead.

 

i replaced only one and it works fine, besides driver side is a bitch to get off. when the coke bottle fell out and glass hit me in the head was motivation enough to spend 30$

 

I thought I needed new ones. Then I took off the louvers and surprise surprise!

 

JC Witney makes a latch assist. Its $8 and it is a small bar that attaches to the strut. When you raise the strut it is spring loaded and pops the bar so that it holds the strut up. To release, just pull it out and let it fall.
Its awesome and you need only one.
http://www.jcwhitney.com/autoparts/P...splay/ss-10101

 

One of my cars had that on it. Worked great.

 

How about the tried and true vise-grip on the shaft fix?

 

Coke ? Grass ?