Project: 850 Wagon Tailgate Struts Replacement Tutorial

MVS Forum member, Bullshark shares this tutorial for a Volvo 850 wagon.

bullshark » The first real symptom I noted was last winter. On really cold days (50 F here in Fort Lauderdale 8) ), the tailgate would not stay up on it’s own.

The good news: Replacing the tailgate struts is a piece of cake. Th whole job took less than 15 minutes.

The only tools you need are:

• a large flat blade screwdriver
• a small flat blade screwdriver,
• a T-25 Torx

If you don’t have Torx bits, here is the best deal I know of for all the Torx bits you need: Lisle 12 pc. set from Sears

I hate and fear dealing with interior trim. There’s always some snafu or hidden clasp that’s invisible until you break it. Not so with job, its so easy that it seems almost like the Volvo engineers made it easy on purpose (seriously tongue in cheek).

Once again I followed the helpful advice of Rich Kelley found here at volvospeed.com.

First is removing the screw by the coat hanger tab.

Next is removing the speaker grills. You can see two slots where you slide in a tool and gently pry them open. They have fixed tabs on the window edge that actlike hinges. They open like doors. Here is a picture of the cover (I’m holding it upside dowm to show the tabs) Here’s how it fits:

Here is how it snaps shut. Note the two friction snaps; they are right in line with the visible slots for prying open.

Getting the headliner side panels off is the only tricky bit and it’s not really very hard. The part that you want to pry loose first is closest to the window. Once again there are user friendly friction buttons that will come loose for you with just a little pressure. Put your hands in the speaker hole and gently pull them free. Be careful to just get them loose. There are unfriendly breakable guide pins on the edge near the tailgate opening. There are three of them anchored here, like this (the black tabs along the window):

Now you have to get the panel loose at the opening. With the above already loose, gently work the panel inward to free the three black anchors you can see here. Take care not to break the guide pin.

Now you can take the panel down just the way Rich says in Bay 13. It is held up by three sets of three friction tabs. Just be patient and gentle and everything should come down easily.

When you disconnect the tailgate strut, the tailgate will fall, so be ready.

The struts just pry off with a screwdriver and snap back on. They are held in place by captive spring clips and look like this:

Putting the new strut back on requires no more than finger pressure to snap it on.

Now that I’ve done it, I’m sorry I waited so long. I forgot the fingertip ease that lifted the tailgate when the car was new and it’s probably five years overdue.

98V70T5 » Here are my thoughts on doing this on a 1998 V70 T5….

I bought the Scan Tech ones. There was some debate about them being longer, than stock, and they are. I could make the case that by being slightly longer, they are better because it raises the hatch just that much higher  , but the main reason to buy them is that they are a lot cheaper. Another person said they only lasted three weeks, so I’ll have to check back here and update. You won’t be able to compress the strut to make it fit, and you must loosen or remove those two 12mm bolts on the slotted hinge, like previous people have said.

To overcome the “installing the clips” part, after you have removed the old shocks, this is how I did it:

1. Install the car side of the shock first, then…
2. Take off the two 12mm bolts holding the slotted hinge point on the roof of the car. This makes installing the little wire retainers 1000% easier because its in your hand and not tucked up by the roof 
3. Re-install the two bolts, with the slotted hinge point and shock still attached, and secure to the roof
4. Pop the rear part of the shock on the tailgate’s ball
5. Install the wire clip on the tailgate’s side. There is enough room to do this on the car, unlike the front part of the shock.

By doing it this way, you can get the wire retainer on without struggling. It would be almost impossible to install the wire retainer clip with the headliner and roof in the way. On a side note, I am very impressed with the quality of the trim pieces, and their clips. Panels pop in and out securely, and if you work carefully, you won’t break anything. For a car that is almost 13 years old, I’m definitely impressed. The panels are nice and tight as if nothing was ever touched.

I am sort of SHOCKED at how fast the hatch raises now, and it’s almost a safety hazard! Has anyone else noticed this after doing their shocks? If you get it past a certain point, it will rise on its own, very fast and could whack you in the face and/or damage the car. You must give this some respect now when opening, and pay attention! I’m surprised Volvo would allow it to rise that fast. Do the original Volvo ones do this too? I wish it had some type of delay valve to SLOWLY raise it, not to zoom it up at warp 10!

So as far as do the Scan Tech ones install without problems? YES. Would I recommend buying them? YES. Will they last? Who knows, lets wait and see.

Thanks to the OP who made my job doing this that much easier. Without this thread I wouldn’t have tried to install them.

Tailgate Strut replacement notes ’97 850 GLT