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Does anyone know if these hood damper body suppose to be mounted to the engine bay or the hood side? I always get this mixed up. I've seen some pictures and videos with them being either or but I thought the strut body where the fluid/gas is suppose to be mounted on the top side towards the hood and the rod to the engine bay down side. Can anyone confirm this?
Thanks. I fond it odd that ours is installed that way when most other cars have it the other way around. Even the replacements I bought (Strong Arm) even to say install it with the damper to the hood and the rod to the engine bay.
Sorry to revive but just wanted to update that i got mine in 2016 from lift support depot and they failed on me just recently... BUT... customer support for their lifetime warranty is great... quick chat via facebook messenger and they are sending me replacements... supposedly they usually require the failed ones to be sent back, but for me, they waived it for some reason... so it's just $9.80 to have them sent to you... BUT for some other odd reason after a couple of mins, they hit me back up on messenger after i got off the phone with them, they are sending me the "strong arm" versions instead which is supposed to be an upgrade from their house brand since they do cost more according to their website... and for some other odd reason, they are waiving that $9.80 charge... YMMV on how they handle your replacement claim though... all in all, just wanted to say they stand behind their warranty... have confidence in buying their supports...
Replaced the old, tired hood and trunk support struts today. Trunk now opens with slight finger pressure from the "ajar" position. So convenient when running errands. Best day evar.
Hood took 15minutes, only because I work slowly and carefully. The old struts were labeled "R" and "L", which I think is a sign that they were the factory originals. Both hood (rod) and body (strut) ends are ball & socket fittings, pre-greased, with new clips. So contrary to Chilton instructions, each old strut and its clips can be discarded. Clean old grease blobs off of ball fittings, snap into new sockets, done. Strut ends will need to be rotated 90° from each other, easier to get leverage when one end is already installed. I did hood then body ends, seemed to work well. That light Aluminum hood can be easily propped with a shoulder while replacing struts, one side at a time of course.
Trunk took a bit over an hour, again slow and careful. There was evidence that these struts were OE replacements, not the factory originals. The trunk (strut) end is a ball & socket fitting, pre-greased, with a new clip. The body (rod) end is a circumferential fitting over a cylinder with what might be called a circlip(?). There is a groove on the cylinder keyed to protruding edges of the clip. The left-side clip was bent and didn't seat in the groove no matter what I tried. The right-side clip slipped right in. (Photos at end of this post.) Rod to body first, then strut to trunk. I did need to remove the rubber stops on the trunk goose-necks in order to snap the new struts into their sockets, which were ~0.2in longer than the old ones. Stops were easy to work back in position after strut installation. Note that the trunk is balanced in the open position, so a helper or prop really is not necessary. It can rotate some 20° or so before going over-center, but please be cautious so it does not go over-center and rotate shut on a hand or finger or something else important.
Additional resources:
Helpful CL sister-thread with photos = https://www.clublexus.com/forums/is-...-shocks-5.html
How-to video for trunk and hood with helpful perspectives and steps (mute the irritating music) =
Do any of you guys get bouncing of the hood when it goes up? I hate it. Even had them sent me replacements and they did the same! I got them from eBay from a large seller. Very cheap aesthetically
Do any of you guys get bouncing of the hood when it goes up? I hate it. Even had them sent me replacements and they did the same! I got them from eBay from a large seller. Very cheap aesthetically
If you mean when it hits the end of travel, mine does it a little. Seems normal to me and caused by the brackets at the bottom, more than the struts
Do you just let it go I always keep one of my hands on the hood and guide it up
Lou
Me too. There's nothing to damp the hood link at the end of travel, other than deflection of the bottom bracket. I put a guide hand on the trunk too, even though there's a rubber stopper on the goose-neck. It is just nice to have the struts bear the weight and do the lifting.
Do you just let it go I always keep one of my hands on the hood and guide it up
Lou
Lol of course I let them go and so I have with every car and as well as many people. The struts prior didn't do the bouncing at the end and I'm sure they were OEM. So I guess it's a quality thing. Just don't want to pay 3-4x the price for OEM struts I suppose. I have bought aftermarket ones before but they didn't do this like my Lexus
We we should merge this with the other thread for great "support". "Weak Trunk Shocks"
Originally Posted by supersonic
Do any of you guys get bouncing of the hood when it goes up? I hate it. Even had them sent me replacements and they did the same! I got them from eBay from a large seller. Very cheap aesthetically
^^ Which brand did you install ??
The only ones I can suggest aftermarket for Front are the SACHS / STABILUS.
At RockAuto, I ordered 2 of these SACHS / SG329063 -> for the Font Hood.
$12.14 each plus Tax & Shipping came to $35 bucks for the pair.
The Lexus OEM ones also made by SACHS /'Stabilus, even with online discount they where still $65 each.
Mind does bounce a tiny bit at the very end of 100%, especially when they were new.. I'm not concerned.
Definitely no bouncing at all during its ascent.
Guess I will looking into the LiftSupport house brand for the rear.. Now that I have some extra
time..
06-28-19, 04:10 PM
I always keep one of my hands on the hood and guide it up
