BMW E39 touring Tailgate Strut Replacement DIY / No BMW tool Needed!

[Eskimo22269]

Going to look for the part today. Hopefully I can just get a wrench in there to remove it

[CPHES]

It’s tight in there. If you can get one of those ratcheting box wrenches, and use plenty of penetrating oil, you could have a chance. You have the gate and hinges off?

[BimmrMeUpSnotty]

Isn't it the same nipple as the ones for the hoods and trunk lids? If so, junkyard mission!

[CPHES]

The part # in realoem says no. I checked. The e39 touring is the only fitmentt. Brought to us by the dude who chose a centerbore of 74.1

[BimmrMeUpSnotty]

Maybe that idiot Bangle did something right for a change, making it bigger, stronger for the extra weight of the tailgate, didn't do op any good though.

[CPHES]

In Post #1 of this thread, there is a Pic that shows that fitting - it's odd looking ( the 11th picture down in his sequence ) you need to get the remaining bits out.

[BimmrMeUpSnotty]

Getting the new one in there is gonna be fun.

[Dvbimmerk]

Take out the speaker and grille from the headliner. You will have access from there. It’s a hex bolt I believe.

https://youtu.be/pVe9GI4k6hk

It’s in German but they remove the bolt you are referring to...

Good luck!


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[CPHES]

Neat - Thank you.

[BimmrMeUpSnotty]

Hey man, thanks for posting that video! I will be pulling the head liner down soon to re upholster it, I'll order the struts for the tailgate before I do it, I already have the small struts for the glass. Didn't know those nipples unscrewed from below. Last time I replaced the struts on my other wagon, I used a long pry tool to pop them off, and pop them on, but since op busted a nipple on his, I'll do it the other way.

[sienayr]

hmmm, I've done this job twice, and the hardest part is getting those damn plastic hinge covers over the wires correctly, making sure the rubber sleeve is inside the groove of the plastic hinge covers to keep it attached and not expose the wires to friction. I don't think those krauts in the video got the job done right. I had to check the video just for that to see if there was some secret I was missing.

[WilliamFinland]

Not yet but thats Im doing next.. not much room even then and the gas strut blocks the way to theball.

[topnotchrally]

Thanks heap for the DIY. I did my trail gate struts today. I did it a bit different. When putting them in I didn't put the pin in because I found it difficult to get it on the pin, the gate has to in exactly the right place for that to work. I put it in place (no pint) then wiggled it around until I felt it sit down on top of the pin. Then I used the fan lock tool (great tip!) to leverage it into place, prying upward against the roof. Worked the charm. Then I adjust my gate support so that the pin lined up. Cheers!

[Grinningogre]

1. Did you use the spanner, and not the clutch holding tool?

2. If the spanner, did you use that end to lift/press down the ball ends of the struts?

3. The longest fan clutch set that I can find on Ebay with a slim and flat cross-section is 320 mm (12.5"). Occasionally there are ones 350 mm long (13.75" but non as long as 457 (18") - not even 450.

Would one of the shorter ones still do the job?

[CPHES]

Fan clutch tool? What ? This is the Tailgate - that won’t fit. What are you looking to do ?

[CPHES]

Fan clutch tool? What ? This is the Tailgate - that won’t fit. What are you looking to do ?

[Grinningogre]

The man who started this thread, and who provided the very good and well illustrated "how to do this job", says that he found his fan clutch tool the best of what he had available to lift off/press back on the struts from/onto the ball pins which locate their front ends. He also says that the tool needs to be about 18" long (that is 12" plus the average length of these struts).

If you look up fan clutch tool on Google you will see that it is a set of two tools for dismantling an engine cooling fan with a viscous coupling. One tool is a long thin, flat spanner with a 32 mm open end. The other is a special bar of similar thickness and length that is used to hold the clutch shaft stationery while you turn off the nut with the spanner. He says that used one of these two tools for the struts job, but did not say which,.

I can't find this tool set for sale with length any greater than 35 mm maximum (a little under 14"), which is well short of the 18" the man advises. So I wondered, and am still wondering. if I could still do the job with that sort of total length (14").

Obviously the most suitable minimum length (18") is easily found in a good pry bar set, but the round cross section of shaft this type of tool makes it much less stable on the top of a strut than a flat tool when manoeuvring both strut and tool into the right position in the very restricted space between the two roof skins.

[CPHES]

Ok. So, that is the difference. I have the BMW tool set, and printed TIS. I also have the fan tools - they don’t look alike at all. Just because he found one to fit, does not make it universally so. There is at least one more home grown solution out there. Let me see if I can find it.

[jp5Touring]

Copper pipe and a pry bar worked really well for me couple years back. Agree hardest part was getting all the wires back in the plastic covers.
Tied hatch to garage rafters. I thought it was a pretty easy job.

[BimmrMeUpSnotty]

Yeah, why the big importance to replicate how some other guy did it? Prybar, screw driver, a SnapOn panel popper worked for me.