Jksymz75

This is a small but annoying problem. I've replaced the struts on my lift gate of my '93 XJ and for some reason one of them won't stay on. Looking at the vehicle from the back it's the right one and it's the one on the body of the truck, not on the gate itself. This is the second strut I've tried so my thinking is that there's something wrong with the nub it clamps onto, but that is welded to the body.

Has anyone dealt with this and what did you have to do? Is the nub worn and I'm going to need to get a new nub welded on?

Thanks for your help.

Bustedback

That nub should screw on. Is there a hole for a Torx driver on the ball end? You have to be really careful when removing those nubs, they will twist off at the ball end when putting any kind of torque to them.

1991Jeep_Man

Yep, I've had the same issue. Not only did the ball end break off when trying to remove, the welded nut inside broke as well. My solution? This:





And if I ever decide to want all hydraulic struts again, I can make it work. Just buy the strut and drill a hole through the part where the ball would normally snap into place, and viola!

94nIT

I like it, I'm useing my creeper lol Home Brew mod here we go!

Mike1114

I took zip ties and went around the ball, the x'ed around the shock itself. Kinda like a figure eight, around the ball then around the shock.

I did it to all four and they have NEVER came off again.

I'll try to snap a pic and load it up but you should get my drift.

Bustedback

My son-in-law's 91 XJ had the same problem. I took a dremmel and cut out around the captured nut was and then took two fender washers that were about the size of a half dollar and welded a nut to one side. Then I trimmed the washers down a little to fit the area and then welded them to the pillar where the old busted up nub and captured nut were. I just screwed in a new ball end and it is as good as new. I stocked up on those ball ends at the boneyard in case I need them in the future.

Jksymz75

Thanks for all the great tips. I'm going to try the zip tie solution. Will let you know how it works out.

ApexWrangler

Are the struts falling off, even with the small cotter pin inserted onto the end of the strut when it's installed?

1991Jeep_Man

Ok.. Im curious. Everytime I bought struts, they never included a cotter pin... was there supposed to be one? The only thing on the struts when I bought them was this little retaining clip thing on the ball end.

Mike1114

Here are the shots of my zip tie solution.

All of the shocks I have ever bought only came with the BS retaining clips.

ApexWrangler

I guess it's not truly a cotter pin, but yeah, I was referring to the small retaining pin that you slide through the socket on the strut and then rotate to clip in place once the strut is installed onto the post. I'll snap a picture tonight.

Jksymz75

This is really helpful, thanks for the pic!

Jksymz75

Ok, so the zip tie solution didn't work out for me. I think the ball stud that the shock holds onto is too worn down, so I've ordered a replacement. Hopefully the best $5.08 I've ever spent.

My new question, and I feel pretty dumb for asking this, is how do you remove the ball stud? I've wrenched it free (using a torx head) and once it came loose, it just kept spinning around without ever fully disengaging. Do I need to take the interior panels off and hold it from behind?

I have the manual but it doesn't cover this unfortunately.

Thanks again to the community for the help.

fat1997stick

Hey mate,

Looking at doing the same manual hatch strut conversion similar to you.

How exactly did you install them? Did you remove the old ball joints and what did you bolt them down with.

Cheers

robsjeep

two issues can cause this problem

1 ball socket gets bent, now at wrong angle relative to the body, now the cup on the strut can fall off, it pops off as it interfers with the stem of the ball and that tends to pry off the cup of the strut. it may seem fine in open position but when closed, the angle of strut changes and then thats when the prying happens
the fix is to replace bent stem *****, or bend back the d piller metal around the ball if it is bent.

2. other problem is ball socket design of strut. some sockets are physically to large on the outside and then interferes with interior plastic trim such that socket prys off.