Just got mine in and installed, i dont even have to lift up once I unlatch the hood it goes on its own and now I even have to put in some effort to close it!

 

+1 vise grips are your friend in this case. Just use a small pair. Sometimes the large ones don't have enought bite to keep the hood open long. I would not want to be hit in the head with a hood from one of these tanks.

 

^^The Struts I just got are so strong just one hold up the hood so I wouldn't be to worried about that with both on now.

 

vice gripps mar and scratch the piston shaft, and will eventually ruin the seal causing oil to leak from the body. then you won't have much of a choice to replace.

 

I've ordered the parts ave ones. Will these be direct fit?

 

as llong as you bought the ones for your year they should be.

 

sweet..THANK YOU!

 

Why do these blow out on ALL of the cars?

 

because these are ~10-20 year old cars and they're a mechanical component?

 

Even fresh ones blow within a couple years... (3 or less)

 

Anyone besides me having the hood bow up slightly in the middle with these Park Ave hood struts? I put them in a couple of weeks ago on my 91.

 

If you search around it seems that this has happened to quite a few other people using the various aftermarket hood support struts. I read quite a bit about this recently since I needed to replace them on my 2000 LS400, and I really didn't want to risk a bent hood... so I coughed up the cash for genuine Toyota parts (2x #53440-59035, which are only for 98-00 I believe, around $180 shipped from lexuspartsnow.com). Needless to say, the installation was very easy and they work great. I know they probably won't last more than 7 or 8 years, though.

I wish I could offer some help/advice... perhaps after some use they won't be so stiff and the bow will disappear. I am pretty sure I saw someone say this happened for them but I can't recall if it was specifically for the Parts Ave struts.

 

mine are fine, but they sell a different one for each generation (also diff 95-97 and 98-00)

 

Mine are Parts AVE...and I sure hope my hood doesn't bend up!

Mine are strong and stiff like CRAZY!

 

I had seen past threads that complained about the bow but no one had complained about the Park Ave ones when I bought them, so I figured it wouldn't be an issue. Hopefully the bow will go away as they break in. It's not serious, just annoying.