Just bought a new pair of Stabilis trunk shocks on ebay and realized it is not as easy as I thought. Can anyone help me on this? How long of a job is it?
Thanks.

 

You want that in hours? or beers? I believe this area is common between your x308 and our x300. If not similar down to part-number of strut, at least near-as-makes-no-difference as to procedure. See Post #9:
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...ay-open-72476/


PS: skip down to #11 before heading out to start, though!

 

I'm really disappointed that I cannot find any verbiage on how to Remove & Replace the trunk/boot shock struts. Looking at them looks quite innocuous, but I've had many jags... nothing is as simple as it looks...

I have an '04 XJ8 and have already bought the struts, but not sure how to do the R & R....

Anybody? How did you do it to yours?

Kyd

 

Guys, ... there is no problem ... the actual replacement is 5 minutes max.

Just be sure to remove everything out of the trunk (besides perhaps the spare wheel), including all padding on the left, right and the tank.

Then prepare a small bit screwdriver which is long enough to reach the steel spring-cap on the end of the struts.
If you bought new struts you will see what I mean.

You can try the procedure several times on the new struts to get used to it.
By partially lifting this spring-cap (by prying the screwdriver in between), the hole is opened and a strut can be removed from it ball-bearer. It is NOT needed to remove that spring.

Now, at your car, first do this on the old strut on the booth-lid side.
This will take any pressure from the strut away, as it will only be connected on the tank side.
Then climb in the trunk, and try to slide the screwdriver parallel to the strut towards the cap.
If you know what you are doing, you should catch the spring within a couple of attempts.
Remember, no need to remove the spring, just pry it, the strut will come off the ball.

Installing does not require any tool, just push it with some pressure (I added a bit of grease) and it will perfectly click-in.
Do the tank side first, then attach it on the lid.

The left side is a bit roomier then the right side, but again, very do-able, and much easier then described in some horror-threads.

Eric

PS. My hands are perhaps not gigantic, but certainly not small

 

Thanks Eric: Yes... It is/was really easy, as I found out after spending about an hour on JagForums for a "How To" R & R the trunk strut... I just looked at my replacement struts and saw the slot for a small screwdriver to fit into, thus releasing the spring claws grip from the fixed ball. It took less than 5 minutes to R & R both shocks... I know it will be the same for the hood's shocks... The truck/boot gets opened many, many times more than the hood... Thanks again

 

2000 XJ8.
Pep Boys:
Stabilus Gas Charged Lift Support
SG366008
SKU : 9714227
$29.99 ea
(Need 2)
{Note: SG366007 starts are not for trunk, rather for hood}

My trunk lid would not rise & had to be forcefully lifted up & then pushed up HARD or would come crashing down onto me.
My tips:
Remove everything from trunk; both floor pieces, right, left & back carpet (pull 2 fasteners with trim tool or screwdriver). Also had to remove plastic protective pieces behind taillights.
I recommend labeling Up direction with tape on L & R carpet. It is possible to attempt to put it back, inside out later. (Don't ask me how I know)
I left spare tire in place & spread a tarp over bottom of trunk. I propped trunk open with my long barbell rod which just fit. Bottom end on trunk floor just L of spare tire & top just under edge of metal lip of trunk. I wedged a piece of foam between barbell & trunk lip. Tight squeeze, very secure. Had to push trunk up hard to fit end of barbell.
I did the left/driver side first.
First I quickly and easily released the close, thick end of the strut from the ball attachment right at the hinge. (note: all 4 of the steel ***** seemed in good condition)
I had examined the slot to release the spring clip on the new strut & had watched a video for a different car:
(This video is a different car hood strut & is MUCH easier than Jag trunk struts but, the strut itself is ~ same)
I could easily reach with the long (12") screwdriver my R hand but, I had the wrong angle to release the Spring clip. Angle was too acute. must be a wider, obtuse angle... unless you have a bent screwdriver, as someone had posted. For a long time I could only get an acute angle so, tip just slid past the slot. Very frustrating. Finally I realized I could move the padding on top of the gas tank and coming with a screwdriver from the top of the gas tank giving me a large enough angle to easily get into that slot and release the spring clip. It was really tight to jam my large hand in there! I had to rotate one end of the replacement strut 180° since the new struts came with the openings at either end up facing the same direction. We require the 2 ends of the strut to have openings in opposite directions. Thin, rod end is the far, deep side that is hard to reach & thick end is the closer end that is easy to reach & attaches to trunk hinge.
It was very easy to pop on the new strut! Even at the far, deep end with fingertips.

Next I did the right/passenger side which had seemed like it will be more difficult access when I first looked at it. However, I had to cut two plastic ties holding wiring harnesses to the body of the Strut itself. Once I moved the wiring harness out-of-the-way, I actually had a little more room on this right side then I had had on the left side! As before, it was easy to pop off the closer end of the old strut. I was having quite a bit of difficulty with the deep end, perhaps because I was using my left hand and I was having a lot of trouble with the angle again. It was very difficult to get more than a 45° angle to dig the blade into the slot. Since I had more room I tried very carefully to use a small screwdriver and that was successful!
I didn't have to have my hand opened and flat to squeeze into the space so, I was able to more easily grasp the screwdriver without dropping it.

Now I was virtually finished! Just pop on the new strut... easy as the other side... and replace new plastic ties and put the trunk carpet all back in.

HA! Murphy's law would allow no such thing.

I could not get the close end of the strut to pop onto the ball!

No matter what I did I could not push the female onto the male ball.
I tried releasing the clip… no help.
I tried tapping the end of the strut with a ball-peen hammer… No help.
I went and got the old strut and it popped right on! So nothing was wrong with the ball. Maybe I had a defective strut? I examine the hole and it looked fine.
I was wondering if new strut was slightly too short or slightly too long to line up perfectly with the ball. I tried without success to make it shorter or longer.
Finally, I used my large, adjustable, tongue and groove pliers and squeezed – With some force – & Voila! Finally, the strut snapped into place!

I tested and the new struts work wonderfully well!

I put new plastic ties in place for that wiring harness, replaced all the trunk lining pieces.
Done!

I wonder what a Jaguar dealer would have charged me? Genuine Jaguar struts $? Labor? 1 hour?

HTH

 

Dealer price for OEM struts is $167.00 each! And they would charge minimum 1 hr labor. So you probably wouldn't get out of there for less than $500 bucks!

 

You can get the OE brand online for under $30 each .... think I got mine at Autohaus .. or could have been e-bay. Does require a long screwdriver ....

It should be part of any new fuel pump R&R as it's extremely easy when the tank is out.

 

RockAuto has URO brand for $9 bucks each, which is what I used and they seem fine.

https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/...t+support,1404

 

Quite possibly ... It's not a brand I use. I can see the logic on a non critical part that easy to replace. They have long made MB parts ... not very good. The rubber parts from India and rest China.

 

Take off the rear most connector first. You can then rotate the strut maybe 15 degrees. Much easier to find purchase on clip by tank.

 

Here are a couple of shots of a quick-and-dirty tool that was helpful in removing the trunk struts. A random bracket from the junk pile was trimmed to fit into the screwdriver slot on the strut, then bent a bit. I used that bracket standalone to take off the right strut, then zip-tied it to a screwdriver when working on the left strut. Crude but effective. :-)

P.S. - The struts were Stabilus units from Rock Auto. Fronts (hood) were 4B999261, $14.99 each. Rears (trunk) were 5B6387CC , $14.05 each. Seemed like a bargain for exact OEM replacements.