Nice price on touring tailgate supports

[xcastaway]

I finally decided to bite the bullet and replace my useless tailgate supports. When they first failed, I nearly lost all the fingers on my left hand when the tailgate slammed down on them. The last time I searched for some, I was finding them for around $100 a pair, so was pleasantly surprised to find these, with a lifetime warranty, for $27.99 plus $ 8.50 shipping. I ordered a set this morning, and will update once I have them installed.

https://www.amazon.com/Pieces-Tuff-S...70_&dpSrc=srch

[dannyzabolotny]

Let me know how well those work out! My tailgate still stays open but it requires a pretty ridiculous amount of force to lift it up because of how dead the shocks are.

[skunka]

+1

I hope your install goes well! Maybe take some pictures of the progress!

I hope to install tailgate and glass struts soon.

[xcastaway]

If the install goes well, it should be done in less time than it would take to take pictures. With these,all you do is pop off the bottom from the ball, unscrew the strut body from the top mount(I didn't know they did that. They do, I checked before ordering), and reverse the process. It will be nice not to have to put vice grips on every time I open the tailgate. I'm hoping it makes opening it easier, too, then I can stop putting groceries in the back seat.

[moroza]

Monroe 900303 and Magneti Marelli GS0522 claim to be compatible. Suspa 16-4-365-275-A14-B14-360 should work but is "non-standard", and not confirmed to fit. Then there's Stabilus, apparently the OEM, but I don't have their number offhand. Their stuff can be rather expensive. However, they have the correct force curve, unlike aftermarket struts (mostly no-name) that I've seen. They're easier to open and a little easier to close, IIRC.

[xcastaway]

The hatch struts showed up today, and I'm quite pleased with them. I made a hash of installing them, it took a while to find the right leverage to pop the bottom sockets on. They seem to be of comparable quality to the oem, are just shy of strong enough to hold the hatch with one attached, and hold it up solidly. For well under half the price of the Stabilus ones, I think I did rather well.The hatch stays in whatever position you put it in down to a certain point, and I can put it up one handed, instead of the 2 handed clean and jerk, then scramble for the vice grips approach of the last several years. The hatch is now useful again. Now that the glass opens, too, I have a set of shocks on their way for that. Not looking forward to putting those in. Seems like a 2 six pack job, and I don't even drink!

[moroza]

Where were they made?

[xcastaway]

Made in Turkey. Will have to see how they hold up in the long run, but they work great at the moment. I did find a much better price than I had been able to on Stabilus after I had these installed, for less than double what these cost. I did get Stabilus glass struts, stepping out to put them in once I get off of here. I have my high quality custom BMW tool ready,a Dollar Tree broom handle. Looking forward to having the tailgate fully functional.

[xcastaway]

"I have my high quality custom BMW tool ready,a Dollar Tree broom handle." That worked about as well as I expected, I did get one off with it, but it bent and tore. Fortunately, one of the tools in the kit is nearly ideal for getting them off, but it's not long enough to install them. Taped a 3/8 breaker bar to it. Now if I could only hit that little ball with the black socket up there in the dark with bright sun shining in my eyes. Glued a small piece of white paper to it hoping that's gonna help. Off to try, try again.

[BlackSpeed66]

EMT conduit tubing also works really well for installing the struts for the glass. Cut it to whatever length you want. And it’s cheap! BMW Special Tool LOL

I used a bit of painters tape on the end to hold the strut in place so it didn’t slide inside the tube.

[xcastaway]

Holy crap that was not fun installing those glass struts! The first one was on and in 3 minutes after I started. I fought with the second one all the rest of the afternoon and evening. And lost! That little post and ball taunted me and haunted my dreams. I was out fighting it at dawn this morning. I finally had to zip tie the hinge tightly to one side, tape the strut to a long screwdriver, and floundered for another hour before it finally popped on. No idea why it proved so difficult, or how it was even possible to miss that little ball as many times as I wiffed it. Thankfully it's over, or will be once I get another retainer to replace the one that launched when I took it off. Glass and hatch now function properly for the first time in the 7 years I've owned the car. Yay!

[uscharalph]

Holy crap that was not fun installing those glass struts! The first one was on and in 3 minutes after I started. I fought with the second one all the rest of the afternoon and evening. And lost! That little post and ball taunted me and haunted my dreams. I was out fighting it at dawn this morning. I finally had to zip tie the hinge tightly to one side, tape the strut to a long screwdriver, and floundered for another hour before it finally popped on. No idea why it proved so difficult, or how it was even possible to miss that little ball as many times as I wiffed it. Thankfully it's over, or will be once I get another retainer to replace the one that launched when I took it off. Glass and hatch now function properly for the first time in the 7 years I've owned the car. Yay!

I tore apart my touring trunk lid yesterday, so I could install a set of smoked tails, which I just received. The glass hatch was inoperable and I was finally able to open it up (The micro switch 61318355127 was out of the housing). Looks like the glass struts are completely missing. I'll take another look tonight.

[xcastaway]

The glass struts aren't really visible. You can barely see the outside end of them tucked in there. Do get a piece of pvc pipe or conduit to remove and to attempt to install these, and have a long screwdriver and other assorted long thin items when that doesn't work. Be prepared to be frustrated, a lot. It is nice to have it fully functional, though.

It's been a year since I installed the tuff shock tailgate struts, they work very well and I and my wallet are quite pleased with them.