sage

Can anyone give me a step by step guide on replacing the liftgate struts, or maybe scan the respective FSM pages for me?


EDIT: See below for instructions

nermalgod

Hold tailgate half open.
Manipulate struts so that keyed open allows struts to be removed from truck.
Remove screw from tailgate.

Surely you don't need instructions for this one.

sage

nermalgod, perhaps you misread the request. This is for a liftgate and the struts cannot be removed with the liftgate opened halfway, in fact that is very dangerous and if the strut slips onto the rear glass, it can shatter the glass which is most likely directly above you.

Anyway, Just to have this in the search archives, here's the install:

1. ask someone else (preferably tall and able to hold up the liftgate for 10 minutes) to push up on the liftgate so that it is in its fully open position

2. I recommend starting on the inferior part of the strut removal first. Remove the D-ring with a small flat screwdriver. Do not loose the D-ring. Make sure the door is being pushed up to its most fully open position and push out the bolt that the D-ring was attached to. Slide the bottom of the strut off (CAUTION: the door will get very heavy)

3. Remove the D-ring from the superior part of the strut and repeat as above in #2.

4. Install new struts following the instructions above in reverse.

CAUTION: If you do not remove all the weight off the strut before you try to pull it off (after removing the hardware) you can be severely injured due to the compressed pressure of the strut.

I did an extensive search on replacement struts for the liftgate and it seems there are 3 options:

1. New OEM struts at about $150 a piece ($300 total)
2. Remanufactured struts at www.strutwise.com (didn’t really look into this much)
3. Aftermarket

I opted for #3 and ordered Strongarm replacements (#4286 Gas Charged Lift Supports) from www.discountautoparts.com for $87.67 shipped. They aren’t as thick as OEM and I’ll have to see how long they last. The ones I just replaced are the original however I’ve lived in a warm climate since I bought this 4runner in 1997 and recently moved to Baltimore where the cold weather caused the supports to start to fail.

surf4runner

use support on the open gate (2X4 etc). completely replace 1 side at a time.