How to Replace Rear Hatch Support Struts 00-07 Toyota Highlander

Hi, I’m Mike from 1A Auto. We’ve been selling auto parts for over 30 years!

Before I remove the hatch struts I'm going to support the rear hatch. You can have a friend help you or use whatever you have around that will hold the hatch up so it doesn't fall. You don't have to lift up too hard on it, just enough to support it—perfect. Going to use a 10 millimeter socket extension and ratchet. There's two 10 millimeter bolts here. You actually don't pop the strut off of the ball joint here, it comes with the whole bracket and the same thing over here. They are marked right and left, so you install them. You want to install the correct side. Remove these bolts. Lift up on the hatch just a bit, lower it down, can swing this out, and I can get to the two bolts under here.

These were working just fine so we're going to reuse them. We just want to show you how to remove them. This arrow here points towards the inside of the car, so I'll get the bracket lined up, install one of the bolts to hold it in place. Snug those up—don't have to overtighten them. Swing this one up and put it back on the body. May need to lift up on the hatch a little bit to get it to line up. Get the bolt started. Just tighten these up. Just repeat this for the other side. It’s the same exact procedure. You can remove your device for holding up the hatch.

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