After countless oil-checks with my head holding the hood up and oil-changes holding the hood up with whatever's in reach, I splurged and bought new gas pressure hood struts. Now all I need is a trick to get the originals off. I tried various flathead screwdrivers to separate the ball-ends without any luck. I don't want to have to go buy another tool just get the hood to stand up by itself.

The new ones have nice retainer clips that will allow easy on and off (if it's needed), but the old seem to be just jammed on nice and tight. The car's a 1998 if it makes a difference.

 

you dont need to pop the heads off! i recently replaced mine, just get an open ended wrench and remove the bolt from both top and bottom... get something to prop up the hood first so theres no pressure on the bolts. Its a 5 minute process to do both. dont try to pop the heads out!

Devin

 

its there like a size or a part number for these? i need to change these too..

 

go to autopart store and ask for which ones to get. I went to autozone today and got a pair of mighty lifts for 24.99 each part # e95784.

 

When you "remove the bolt from both top and bottom" are you removing the actual end of the strut, or are you removing the ball part that is attached directly to the hood/body itself? The ends of the strut on mine don't really have even sides that were meant to get a wrench onto...and to make that one even worse the new struts don't have threaded ends. Also, since the new ones didn't come with the part that attaches right to the hood/body, don't I have to get it separated somehow? I know it can't be this difficult, right?

 

you are removing that "ball" which is actually a screw that goes into your hood

you never seperate the strut from the ball on the stock ones

 

Thanks. I guess I'll need to pick up some new "*****" right. Or is "heads" better terminology?

 

^^^^^ no need, they come with new hood struts; along with new washers as well

 

I guess I bought the wrong ones. All I've got are new struts... Hence the dumb manuever with the screwdrivers.

 

oh gotcha, try taking a hammer to the old struts and break apart the tops so the ***** can be used again

 

Now you've got the picture. And all with me holding the hood up with my shoulder. I should have been a mechanic!

 

Mine did not come with the ball joint either. I used a Dremel to cut the head open and reused the old ball joint. You have to be careful and don't score the ball joint.

 

Just getting this up at the top of the list again to see if anyone has new tricks for the hood strut removal/installation. I've got no dremel tool, so the only way I can see this working is getting the new ball-part joints unless anyone new has a trick for me to re-use the old ball...

Help?

 

Hey reido, do you happen to have a picture of one of your hood struts? Might make things a little easier.

 

I went to the local Kragen store and got them around $27 each. They come with the strut mount (ball on a cone-shaped part) which you screw into the frame. The best part with buying them locally is that if it's the wrong part, you can easily exchange it.

 

just got mine at advance auto for 19.98. they came with the ball ends

 

You guys obviously bought the right ones...luckilly I can still return mine for a pair with the ball-ends. Even called the local dealer service department and they suggested cutting the old strut-ends off to re-use the old ball ends (new ball-ends $25 per set). Without a dremel tool, and unrefined hacksawing skills, I'll probably just use your references and get the struts with the new ball ends...

Thanks for the info.

 

definitely a better idea to buy the new ones because the original ball ends were smaller than the new ones i put on. You might of had some fit issues

 

yeh def go to advance. there 19.98 as m oz said and comes w/ a lifetime warrenty.