Boot Lid Slamming Shut!

[finest1]

oh i forgot to add.

what if i removed the far end of the strut from the retainer clip ( the end at the back of the rear passenger seat) and then used that as leverage to pull off the ball end.

what do you think?

No idea mate. I can take a look at mine over the weekend when I am back where the "dead" car currently resides.

great thanks rick

i'll enjoy the rest of my annual leave and i'll leave it for another time

hope you get the car up and running soon

:winky:

[Anuj]

Hi- Anuj's brother, Maneesh here

Unscrew the bolt from the OUTER side...the inner side is a dummy nut and is bonded to the actual chassis. so the nut closest to the outside of the car is the 1 u have to remove.

I couldnt do it in the end so got it grinded off.......Ill try find the link now for the 1s I bought from USA. They are amazing!! I have a GS300 sport as well by the way

EDIT-heres the link http://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/forum/ind...c=52680&hl=

2nd link does not work, ill take a look on eBay now...I wouldnt get them regassed, just get new 1s!

[finest1]

Hi- Anuj's brother, Maneesh here

Unscrew the bolt from the OUTER side...the inner side is a dummy nut and is bonded to the actual chassis. so the nut closest to the outside of the car is the 1 u have to remove.

I couldnt do it in the end so got it grinded off.......Ill try find the link now for the 1s I bought from USA. They are amazing!! I have a GS300 sport as well by the way

EDIT-heres the link http://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/forum/ind...c=52680&hl=

2nd link does not work, ill take a look on ebay now...I wouldnt get them regassed, just get new 1s!

thanks for your reply. just to clarify, are you saying i should be dealing with this nut? you can't see it in the pic, but there is one... see pic

obviously you too had problems removing it.

please find an updated link of the boot strut, and let us know if you remember paying extra import charges. it would be good for future reference

many thanks

:)

[Anuj]

Hi mate give me a call and ill guide u through it!

[Anuj]

also-bought mine from http://feedback.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...E:X:RTQ:GB:1183 but hes no longer on eBay!

try http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/LEXUS-GS300...sQ5fAccessories

and dont deal with nut u mentioned!

[finest1]

hi all,

sorry to bump this thread, not sure if there's any rules bumping older threads, hopefully not.

UPDATE!

the gas struts arrived from the states, for some reason i didn't incur any customs charges, :winky: took about 10 days.

right i tried to have a go again, no joy. i really don't know how this thing is supposed to come off. anyway i have no choice but to grind it off, so here are the pics, and if someone could advise me where to attack! i was getting some help off anuj and maneesh, so hopefully they could help too!

left side

right side

feel free to mark the pictures above

finest1

[Anuj]

Chisel the head of on that pivot point (above the strut)

this will enable u to remove the whole unit from the car and angle grind it off from outside the car

[finest1]

hi all,

good news! i finally removed and installed the new gas struts! so i thought i'd do a write up and close this thread.

i spoke to maneesh and he gave me some ideas as the only option left for me was to cut the struts off. after speaking to maneesh i got thinking and thought i would do it a slightly different way than he did.

i borrowed a friends rotory machine which is similar to the dremel tools, as i was inexperienced with an angle grinder

BEFORE CUTTING, SAFETY FIRST!

prop up the boot with something sturdy

you will need safety glasses and dust mask

there maybe shrapnal, sparks and dust flying your way so you need them.

also make sure you have a junior hacksaw and cutting discs for the rotary machine.

sometimes the cutting disc may not be large enough to reach deeper as you cut through, hence the hacksaw, as you are getting nearer to

get someone to hold on to the boot lid although it's already propped up.

the picture below shows where i was going to cut through

after i sliced through it looked like this:

next thing to do is release the strut from the other end. some cars may have a plastic clip or something similar where you need to release it with a screwdriver. on my car a had a stud mounted on the chassis. the plastic clips does nothing. it could be there to stop it rubbing against the metal its housed in.

photo below is taken from a right angle, drivers side just to show you the stud is round, and needs no attention.

push the strut to the extreme right whilst wiggling and it should release. you do not need any tools or any force to do this. on the passenger side you push to the left

i then got a racket wrench with 12mm bit and attacked the bolt. now, this is very important:

the nut on the other side is welded on to the chassis! don't ask why. reason i know this is that i tried to cut it out with the rotary machine! and it wouldn't budge. so don't waste time with that.

when you are going to release the exposed bolt, you have to turn in the following manner:

on the drivers side you pull up. on the passenger side you pull down. you will need some force. be aware that as you

try to release it, it may bend the brackets it is bolted on. so use your judgement, don't worry if it bends a little. i squirted some WD-40 on the other side where the welded bolt is, eventually it did give!

here's a pic of those pesky buggers!!

as you can see, there is some rust on the thread,

i cleaned the mounting bracket hole with some WD-40 on a cotton bud. i also coated the new bolt with WD-40 too, and screwed in. ideally i would have liked the nut at the back taken off, but i can't as its welded. but im glad the nut still accepted the new bolt. there is no need to overtighten, i didn't as i may need to remove them one dayl

when you work on the passenger side, the strut will be a bit tricky to release because you have the fuel apparatus there, where on the driver side you didn't. this will restrict your movement. in the end i took a screwdriver, reached in to where the plastic clip is, and prised it out, while wiggling to the left. it will pop right out!

installation is the opposite, install at the far end, (fuel tank end first), then attach to the ball. i also lightly coated the ball with WD-40 too

to end with, a few thoughts.

if someone was to attempt this, using the info above, i would:

spray the welded nut with WD-40 as this is where the thread of the bolt is

attach the spanner, maybe attach a longer handle to replicate a breaker bar, and whack it in the direction advised above.

i was also thinking that because its attached at the fuel tank end, maybe that was causing force on the bolt which is why it didn't turn. anyway if that fails, do the above.

in my particular case, my boot does not glide open automatically once its released. i think its because the spoiler is too heavy. im not sure how the gs300 sport boot opened originally. (maybe someone can answer that) it would have been nice, but after you manually assist it up, it does glide up. the important thing is.....it no longer slams shut!!!!

many thanks to all that have helped, guided and advised !!! :)

[TigerFish]

Nice write up mate

[Keith Bowler]

I wish I had the opportunity to follow your write up a year ago when I did mine.

Had exactly same problems.

As far as the opening of the boot is concerned the struts will not make it open filly they just allow it to pop open when you pull the lever inside the car but as you note it will not fall on your head when you are putting stuff in or taking stuff out of the boot.

[Anuj]

good to see you got it sorted mate!

I saw a gs300 in a scrappie the other day and it had its struts removed perfectly!