Tailgate Strut replacement notes '97 850 GLT

[cn90]

....For some reason, when I ordered (by the part number), the struts arrived with the two ends facing the same direction, whereas the originals face opposite directions....Mike

I thought you can rotate the spindle to fit.

[Jerbob]

August 19, 2010
Great information. The photos and instructions were much appreciated. Here's an addendum from my experience installing the strut last weekend: The strut does not just snap off/on with finger pressure, at least mine didn't. And it was hard to pry loose.
After wrestling with it and finally popping it off with a large pry bar, the new strut was extended further than the old one. Had to raise the gate very high (used my foot, believe it or not) and then it hit me: I should have removed the clips BEFORE I removed the old strut, and removed the clips from the new strut BEFORE I tried to install it. The clips are hard to get back on but will snap in if you rotate the clips slightly as you push them into the holes. Trying to remove or install the strut with the clips in place means you're working against the purpose of the clip, which is meant to keep the strut on. Oh how wonderful to have that gate pop back up with almost no lifting! One more thing: be careful not to get grease on the edge of your headliner. Blotting with rubbing alcohol helped get it off of mine. Okay, that's it.

[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.

[cn90]

I don't know if this has been mentioned before but here you go:

1. A 2x4 piece of lumber long enough to support the Tailgate is a BIG PLUS. It makes life much easier.
Use a piece of clean cloth at the end of the lumber to protect the Tailgate fabric.

2. I'd say no to Scan Tech, overall it has poor reputation.
Stick to "Stabilus" the OEM mfg!

[Haroldcarlsson]

Just replaced both sides. Thanks for the useful information. Much easier than I imagined it to be. The plastic trim comes off without a problem.

[jh_on_the_cape]

I just did this with struts from FCPgroton. I removed the little spring clips. The original ones did not have the little wire clips at all so I just did not install them on the new ones. They were hard enough to install that I cannot see them ever coming off.

This is actually pretty easy. I used a torx t20 rather than t25 on the little screws by the coat hooks.

[wheelsup]

I wanted to add my notes and pics of tools used. I used more than the OP. I needed a prybar, a ball pein hammer, several screwdrivers, trim removal tool (lisle) which made the trim much easier and safer to pop out, and a ratchet to remove the bolts holding the front end of the struts to the car as the new ones were just a bit longer.

Volvo 850 lift gate tools

liftgate.JPG (177.14 KiB) Viewed 3083 times

[larrya444]

Unbelievably quick and easy to do this job. I was very surprised. Good instructions for sure! And yes, be careful when opening the tailgate after opening it, the thing launches like a rocket and even shakes the entire car.

Larry

[rspi]

Huh? "be careful when opening the tailgate after opening it"???

Anyway, I think this thread is way more complicated than it needs to be. Besides that, I found a good set of struts in the jy for $4 each. They seem to be newish and OEM. Mine would not hold the hatch up if the temp was under 45 degrees.

[Banditryder]

Outstanding pictures and directions and great follow up from those who posted. Thank you, all! From finishing my read of the original post and all replies to tools back in place took 45 minutes with the FCP Groton parts. A combination of "loosen the 12 mm bolts" and "push or pull the door open or closed a few milimenters more" and the new ones snapped right into place. The only modification to the original tool list was a ball peen hammer to "coax" the first rear side connection off. I left the circlips inside the "cups" on the strut ends in place, as the originals were. I used a short leaf rake for a prop for the gate. Amazing how friendly the trim panel clips can been when you've already been introduced and so can treat them with respect. Thank you! Should have done this two years ago!