Door Strut Guide Options

[AndrewC]

Found whilst tidying up my PC:




From: "Simon Guerrero" <simon_guerrero@hotmail.com>

Hi

I replaced my door struts yesterday, so now that I'm finally able to move my body enough to type, I thought I'd talk you through it in case anyone else wanted to do it!

Andrew helpfully sourced some struts from Japan, so I thought I'd have a go.

Here's what you need:

struts (obviously)
2 ball-joint thingies which come with the struts. DON'T FIT THESE YET!
a Philips screwdriver (largeish)
a size 17 metric spanner (whatever that means)
a smaller spanner (I found 2 Toyota spanners under the driver's seat when I got my Sera and the larger one fits)

Sorry I can't be more helpful re: the spanner sizes - they live in my garden shed and it's raining!

Lastly, but most importantly: SOMETHING TO PROP THE DOORS WITH!

I made the mistake of trying to replace the struts a) on my own and B ) with no visible means of support. Once I removed the base of the strut the whole weight of the door became apparent (it was resting on my back). THESE THINGS ARE HEAVY.

I eventually used one of those folding wooden chairs. A fairly sturdy one. Whatever you use, test it VERY CAREFULLY. If it gives way while you're under the door, you may lose something important and irreplaceable, such as your head. They really are that heavy!

Once the door is resting on your support, you can remove the cover flap
which goes over the base of the strut. There is just one screw holding the flap on, and tugging gently at the flap after removing the screw should 'pop' it out. Put to one side.

You can now see two bolts holding the base of the strut on. Loosen these a bit. If, like me, the thing you have supporting the door is not quite high enough, you will have to lift the full weight of the door onto your gap (or if you have friends, get one to help you). Otherwise a) the bolts will be difficult to undo and B ) when they come out the strut will drive down into the car and try and take the base of the bodywork off! Luckily I figured this out in advance.

When you have undone the bolts - by now feeling like the hunchback of Notre Dame - lift the now-heavy door a tad to be able to move the strut out of its socket. Carefully lower the door with the strut hanging down. Be careful not to drop the door or to allow the dangling strut to scratch the paintwork.

Once the door is safely supported on your supporting thing, get a shuftie underneath at the top connection.

Basically, there is a ball-and-socket contraption at the top of the strut, which screws into a sticky-out bit on the door (excuse technical language). This will be covered by a rubber sheath (phooar). Carefully roll the sheath back (crikey, this is getting dirty) to expose the larger of the two nuts (stop it now!). Use your big spanner to undo the nut, holding on to the strut, until it comes off in your hand (I didn't mean it to sound like this).

Once you have the strut, take a look at the top end. You'll find a handy nut-end-thingy on the small end of the ball joint - remove this. Now get one of the little ball-joint devices which came with your new struts. Screw the nut-end-thingy onto the ball joint.

It's much easier to attach the new strut than it was to remove the old one, since the ball joint and the strut are separate. Once you have put the ball joint into the strut, it's very difficult to remove it, as it has a sort of split-ring contraption holding it in place. Trust me - I tried, and spent half an hour with watchmaker's screwdrivers removing it!

Once the ball joint is screwed firmly into the door, connect the ball joint into the socket on the strut. You can only do this in one direction, or it just comes back out. Which is just as well, otherwise you might end up with the bottom bit facing the wrong way.

Once the strut is hanging off the door (and the joint is well covered by the rubber sheath, you can attach the bottom end. Again, you will probably have to lift the door up while you locate the base of the strut in the right place. Attach the strut using the bolts you took out earlier.

Once it's all screwed in tightly, replace the flap and screw down. Now
remove your door support and hey presto! Working doors.

In my case, the driver's side is great, and the passenger side sags ever so slightly. I think the internal balance mechanism for that side may have been knocked off by the 'bump' I had with a kerb a few months ago, so I will get my garage to try and sort that.

All in all, if you have saggy doors, this is well worth doing, and takes a couple of hours.

One last thing, the rubber sheaths on the old struts on mine were t-shaped, and covered the exposed end of the ball joint nicely. Unfortunately I had already attached the new one before I noticed, otherwise I might have had a go at re-using the old sheaths (which involves said dodgy manoevre of removing the ball joint from the socket). Instead, I just made sure I greased my exposed ball joint end well! (wahey!)

So that, ladies and gentlemen, is a rough guide to replacing your door
struts. The innuendo is free. Feel free to mail me if you have more
questions (although you have already seen how technically inept I am from my use of the words 'thingy', 'big' and 'small'.

Cheers

Simon

[nemo]

Ahhh, this guide was awesome.

I've just followed it over the weekend and swapped struts. I didn't write up much to my site about it, but have a few pictures which may be useful to anyone else embarking on this

http://thorx.net/wiki/Toyota_Sera_Doors

[robin]

nice guide i did mine a few weeks back used a stall to rest door on. one of the bolts wouldnt come out on door so got grinder on it and cut it off so i could get a socket on it with breaker bar to crack it off. saved a lot of time.

[Rich]

When I did mine, a few years ago now, I used next doors wheelie bin to hold the doors open.
It's still got a dent in it !

[Wincelow]

I just attempted this (and for future reference, never start anything late at night that needs to be finished by the morning unless you're a] a student b] unemployed). The passenger door was fine, made a start on the driver's door (the one that really needed replacing) and the bloody nut at the top (nearest the window) is completely fused on. I've tried loads of WD40, banging the wrench with a mallet to try to work it free and sobbing gently. None of these worked. What other options do I have? I've had to leave the door wedged open all night with the battery disconnected as really can't face screwing the old strut back on again.

Good guide by the way. The passenger door is awesome, phase III is the future. If only I could get the driver door working as well

[blaster]

Hi

If you have tried shock buy banging it it may need a little heat but be careful

[Wincelow]

What level of heat are we talking here? Hair dryer or heat gun?

[Rich]

Blowtorch heat !

Alternatively, get some PlusGas and spray that on the offending item. Leave it for a couple of hours, spray it again and try to remove. If you've ever owned a Mini then you'll appreciate the benefits of Dismantling Lubricants !

[DebbieE]

Having the same problem with mine,the bottom screws come away lovely,but the top ones are being really difficult.I've been on it allweek,going back and trying again,tons of wd40 then try again to no avail so tomorrow I'm calling in the big guns,I'm taking it to the garage and playing helpless female.
Hopefully they'll losen the nuts for me.Watch this space!!!

[Wincelow]

Ah ok, we do have a blowtorch but I'm worried that the nut is right next to the rubber sheath and so the rubber will melt. It's a complete pain as I couldn't drive it to work today and will have the same problem tomorrow unless the nut comes off tonight.

[Elizabeth's Dad]

A quick point, although WD40 is used by people (me included) as a releasing oil, actually it isn't designed for this and is basically a moisture dispersant. as mentioned get some Plus Gas or similar and it might work better.

[markweatherill]

On my Sera both of these fixings were seriously hard to undo. They had loctite type stuff on them from factory. That was what was making them impossible to turn, plus the limited access with the strut in the way.
But leverage helps with seized nuts or bolts.
A long pole over the ring spanner or socket bar usually works. Something has to give, anyway

[Wincelow]

Cool, I'm away until Sunday afternoon but will try to pick up some Plus Gas on Saturday and give it a go. I'll let you know how I get on. Failing that, I'm absolutely stumped and can only think of taking it to a garage to be cut off. I push and push it until the spanner starts to flex (and it's a pretty heavy duty spanner) but it literally never even budges. A real pain in the proberbial, as I wanted to get these sorted before the weekend as I want to wire in my new door speakers

[Wincelow]

nice guide i did mine a few weeks back used a stall to rest door on. one of the bolts wouldnt come out on door so got grinder on it and cut it off so i could get a socket on it with breaker bar to crack it off. saved a lot of time.

Hi, how did you cut it off? I bought an angle grinder today but can't get to the bolt because the strut's in the way. Can't move the strut because I can't get the nut off. Can't get the nut off so need to cut the bolt. Etc.

It's driving me insane, I haven't been able to drive the car since March 5th as it's currently sitting in the garage with the driver door propped open.

[robin]

is it the top (door) bolt or the bottom bolt? the one i had problems with was one under door which you can get to easily with a grinder undo the bottom part of strut on car body then move the strut so you can get grinder in place i managed to do it in one cut then put socket on it and off it came.
hope you get it sorted