Rear Hatch Hydraulics
Moderator: volvite
Definitely. When I open mine, I pull up on the hatch until it starts going by itself, but also keep one hand on it to slow it at the top. Still 100% preferable to having to lift the entire hatch up to the top by hand because of crappy OEM struts.silver x0ne wrote:I just did the 225lb ones, thanks for the part numbers! I have to say it is a hair on the strong side and I noticed the brackets on the body flex pretty bad if I just let the door go up by itself. I'll just have to be gentle with it.
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silver x0ne
- Posts: 31
- Joined: Thu Apr 01, 2010 10:45 pm
- Location: DFW, TX
I could hardly budge mine as well before I tried installing them. But, if you get the upper mount installed, pushing up on the bottom of them works fairly easily, or at least easy enough to slip over the bottom ball socket.miccar7 wrote:I ordered those 9416K149 struts from McMaster-Carr. They don't seem to want to compress. Is there a trick to getting them going? (On a positive note, this seems to be a really short job - 10-15 mins).
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silver x0ne
- Posts: 31
- Joined: Thu Apr 01, 2010 10:45 pm
- Location: DFW, TX
I think my hatch opens up further than before with the part # posted for the 225lb ones, but honestly I can't say because it has been quite a while.
As far as installing them I just put the hatch one on first, pushed up on the hatch and pushed the car side one on; it only took 5 minutes to install them from start to finish by myself.
As far as installing them I just put the hatch one on first, pushed up on the hatch and pushed the car side one on; it only took 5 minutes to install them from start to finish by myself.
That's one of the benefits of going with the McMaster struts-they open a good 2-3" more than the OEM. That's for any of their struts with the same dimensions, be it 175#, 200#, 225#, etc. What that means for most of us is no more bumped heads. And with the 225#, it also means no more sagging hatch, regardless of the temperature.
Awesome thread! Good info when mine starts sagging 
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RacerZX
- Site Admin
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- Location: Silicon Valley, CA
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This repair/upgrade is fantastic!!! Installed all 4 hatch struts in 20 minutes flat, and now the hatch not only opens wider but with AUTHORITY (I went for the 225lb units). Absolutely love it, two thumbs up.
Having a tall beautiful assistant helped a lot. Also, I figured out that if you pry up just a bit on the metal clip you can pull the socket right off the ball, no need to take the clips off entirely. I think somebody mentioned that up above but it didn't really click until I did a couple and groked it fully.
Having a tall beautiful assistant helped a lot. Also, I figured out that if you pry up just a bit on the metal clip you can pull the socket right off the ball, no need to take the clips off entirely. I think somebody mentioned that up above but it didn't really click until I did a couple and groked it fully.
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