hood strut install???
 

O.K. it shouldn't be this complicated!

have 2 NEW OE hood supports to install, unbolting the bottoms is easy enough, but how do you get the old strut off the "pivot ball stud" where it attaces to the hood???

It seems like its pressed in or something. Anyone?? how do you get them apart........AND the new supports attached to the pivot ball??

Scott
Omaha

I have done it twice: two different procedures.

The first time I unscrewed the ball (with strut attached) from the hood. I then threaded a nut onto the ball stud, tightened the nut in a vise and hit the strut sharply with a hammer, just below the ball and the ball popped out.

The second time I just hit the strut, near the ball, with a hammer while it was still attached to the SVX at both ends and once again it popped off.

It is always harder to get it off, maybe as a safety precaution. It is always much easier to pop the ball back into the new strut socket. Just hold the socket of the new strut over the ball and hit it with the palm of your hand, or a rubber mallet.

It takes a sharp impact to remove it; twisting, pulling and prying don't work.

the pivot ball has a post that is threaded you have to loosen the nut that is tightened to the hood. Take a look at the new struts, assuming you have the right ones.

Do new struts come without the pivot ball? I never bought new ones, I can't believe they would cut a corner like that.

I just looked at subaruparts.com and the picture shows the stud being a seperate part! you would think it would all be one.

Cheaper for you this way. The struts normally fail with age, while the pivot ball stays intact. Why throw away a perfectly good pivot ball with a bad strut?

On a somewhat related note, there is an extra hole (below the pivot ball hole) on the side of the hood that you can thread the pivot into to raise your hood higher for maintenance.

Can you leave it there and try to close the hood without interference?

No