Darn Hatchback Strut Balls

[Darin Dux]

The early G20's used a threaded ball joint that could be replaced.
Later, the balls were swaged into the hinge brackets and have to be
drilled out to replace.  (This is typical of a cost-cutting measure from
the factory.)  I think the cylinders got smaller as well.

I don't know of any G20 strut cylinders that you can remove the balls
from.  This is strange as most have a small clip that lock the cylinder
on the ball, which makes the strut easy to replace.

I had to drill out the swaged ball ends on my '95 G20 and replace them
with the threaded units from an earlier G20.  I got used parts so I
don't know what the replacement strut assemblies consist of.  I did have
to add an M6 nut to secure the ball end, as the originals were threaded
into the brackets alone and I didn't feel like threading my brackets.  I
think the nuts will hold better anyway.

-Darin

"Stewart, Joe (COX-Atlanta)" wrote:
> When I bought the trunk struts for my G20, the kit came with new balls, good
> thing since they were differently sized than the factory ones. I forgot the
> brand of the kit, but it came from car-parts.com at the time and was about $90
> from what I remember. Shouldn't be too hard to locate from an online retailer
> somewhere.