Door strut stuck on without clip

[Shep]

I was in the process of replacing the passenger door strut on my D, and I know how it's supposed to go, but nothing went according to plan. The old strut has no clips on it at all. The base of the ball is unoccupied, and the holes in each end are empty as well. I figured it'd be an easy removal, so I tried whacking the thick part (attached to the door) from the front with a rubber mallet, but it just wouldn't come off. I stopped and tried whacking the bottom part off from the back, but that didn't work either. I stopped after realizing it would only break the studs if I did it much harder. I tried opening and closing the door repeatedly to loosen it, but still nothing.

I'm only replacing the passenger side strut as the driver's side is perfectly fine by the way, so I can't try it on the other door and see if I have more success with that. They were replaced at different times anyways, so that wouldn't tell me anything (one has yellow printing, the other blue, but they're the same brand).

So now what? There's no clips, so logically it should come off easy, but for some reason it refuses to budge no matter how hard I hit it. I looked and there's a bit of grease on the studs, but not much. What's holding it on here? :hmm:

[Ashyukun]

Try varying how far you have the door open- I've found when I've had a hard time getting a door strut off that it's usually because there's pressure (tension or compression) on the strut that it holding the cup on the ball, and when I get it unloaded that it comes off with a good whack from a mallet.

[DMCMW Dave]

There are snap-rings inside the ball. If the inside of the ball got dry (no grease) and the springs rusted, they don't spring back any more. Soak the ball joint with penetrating oil (Kroil, PB Blaster, etc.) for a few days and it will eventually free up. It is also sometimes better to pry the joint apart rather than hitting it.

I think we've seen one car where we had to split the ball socket with a dremel grinder to get it off. If you go this route be careful not to cut into the stud.

[David T]

If you can get one end loose you can pry the other loose by over-bending the strut. Do what Dave S says. I have encountered a few stubborn ones myself but you can usually get one end loose. Take a hard, fast whack at it with either a good, heavy rubber mallet or a 2 X 4 about 3 feet long. You can even hit it with a regular ball peen hammer since you are going to through it away anyhow. When you install the new ones I use a small dab of grease on each ball.
David Teitelbaum






There are snap-rings inside the ball. If the inside of the ball got dry (no grease) and the springs rusted, they don't spring back any more. Soak the ball joint with penetrating oil (Kroil, PB Blaster, etc.) for a few days and it will eventually free up. It is also sometimes better to pry the joint apart rather than hitting it.

I think we've seen one car where we had to split the ball socket with a dremel grinder to get it off. If you go this route be careful not to cut into the stud.

[Shep]

There are snap-rings inside the ball. If the inside of the ball got dry (no grease) and the springs rusted, they don't spring back any more. Soak the ball joint with penetrating oil (Kroil, PB Blaster, etc.) for a few days and it will eventually free up. It is also sometimes better to pry the joint apart rather than hitting it.

I think we've seen one car where we had to split the ball socket with a dremel grinder to get it off. If you go this route be careful not to cut into the stud.I didn't even realize there was any steel in the strut ends at all. Figured it was all stainless or aluminum or something. Thanks a bunch! I have some PB Blaster handy, so I'll spray it today and see if that does anything three days from now. Hopefully it'll come off when I try it on Saturday. I'll also try prying it off rather than hitting it. Not sure what tool I'll use, but I'm sure I've got something that'll work.

I bought the DMCH strut as a replacement, so hopefully it doesn't have this same issue later on. And I'm definitely not going to try the Dremel method. I have a tendency to dremel everything around what I'm trying to remove in addition to removing it, and that's not something I'm willing to do here. Worst case scenario I'll have someone else do it.


Try varying how far you have the door open- I've found when I've had a hard time getting a door strut off that it's usually because there's pressure (tension or compression) on the strut that it holding the cup on the ball, and when I get it unloaded that it comes off with a good whack from a mallet.I had the door open 100%, putting pressure on the door to open even more, so that should provide the minimum amount of tension I would think. Still, I'll keep that in mind when I try it on Saturday.


If you can get one end loose you can pry the other loose by over-bending the strut. Do what Dave S says. I have encountered a few stubborn ones myself but you can usually get one end loose. Take a hard, fast whack at it with either a good, heavy rubber mallet or a 2 X 4 about 3 feet long. You can even hit it with a regular ball peen hammer since you are going to through it away anyhow. When you install the new ones I use a small dab of grease on each ball.
David TeitelbaumI'll keep that in mind! In what way would the strut over-bend once one end's off? I'm not sure what direction that refers to.

[DMCMW Dave]

I bought the DMCH strut as a replacement, so hopefully it doesn't have this same issue later on. .

Put a dab of grease in the ball ends before you snap on to the studs. They don't come pre-greased any more.

[Shep]

Put a dab of grease in the ball ends before you snap on to the studs. They don't come pre-greased any more.I put some wheel bearing grease on them as per DMC5180's recommendation when I went to replace it the first time around, but since that didn't work, I put it back in the bag with the grease still on there. Does wheel bearing grease work well?

While I have you here, do you happen to know if the DMCH struts have any regular steel in the clips? I just bought mine a week or two ago and am wondering if they might have the same problem down the road.

[DMCMW Dave]

I put some wheel bearing grease on them as per DMC5180's recommendation when I went to replace it the first time around, but since that didn't work, I put it back in the bag with the grease still on there. Does wheel bearing grease work well?

While I have you here, do you happen to know if the DMCH struts have any regular steel in the clips? I just bought mine a week or two ago and am wondering if they might have the same problem down the road.

That should be fine. Wheel bearing grease is relatively water proof. Yes, the ends are plated steel. This is not a common problem, just don't leave the car parked out in the weather for 10 years at a time. I've only seen this on cars with a bad storage history.

[TTait]

or...

The clips are there, but with a bit of baked on dirt... Double check again. Find the hole that the clip goes into and make sure. I once thought a clip was missing, but it turned out it was just very hard to see.

[Shep]

or...

The clips are there, but with a bit of baked on dirt... Double check again. Find the hole that the clip goes into and make sure. I once thought a clip was missing, but it turned out it was just very hard to see.I'm 100% positive the clips aren't there :wink:

[Shep]

Somehow manage to miss this post last night:

That should be fine. Wheel bearing grease is relatively water proof. Yes, the ends are plated steel. This is not a common problem, just don't leave the car parked out in the weather for 10 years at a time. I've only seen this on cars with a bad storage history.Good to hear. The passenger A-pillar is severely warped from heat and the RF suspension is very rusted, so it's not farfetched to say the storage environment caused it as you've said. It was always garaged or under a canopy, but it was in Las Vegas (major heat and sparse but torrential rain) for several years, so hopefully it'll fare better here.

I sprayed PB Blaster on it earlier today by the way, so we'll see how that goes. I soaked the socket as best I could while it was still attached, using folded paper towels to make sure none of it got elsewhere. Hopefully when I try it in a couple days, it comes off this time. We'll see come Saturday!

[Shep]

Well, I ran into the same exact problems today, even with the PB Blaster. No amount of hammering would move it at all, and this was with your average run-of-the-mill metal hammer (not the rubber ones I had used prior). I tried wedging it off with a wrench and later a screwdriver, but I'm fairly certain I would've damaged the fiberglass underbody had I done it any harder.

Then I saw my sledgehammer! Dear lord, I never thought I'd be talking about sledgehammering a DeLorean, but hey, it got the door strut off! After the first whack, the upper end moved more than anything else I had tried so far. Thankfully I was smart enough to put the strut within reach on the upper-most louver, because after a few more good whacks, the top end came off, and holy shit that door is heavy. I did the same thing to the lower strut, then put the new strut in place. This one might need replacing earlier than usual due to me lightly sledgehammering both ends on and leaving 5-10 nicks and dents in each end, but at least it's on!

This one doesn't have the clips on either. I tried putting it in, but it wouldn't go through the hole in the top one, and I couldn't reach the hole in the bottom one. I might try later, but the strut's in, holding the door up perfectly, and that's all that matters right now :approve: Thanks everyone for all the advice!

[Dangermouse]

Try some needle nose pliers for the bottom one, it's a bit fiddley.

But put them on. You don't want them popping off when you aren't expecting it.

Good job btw and isnt the door surprisingly heavy.

[Shep]

Try some needle nose pliers for the bottom one, it's a bit fiddley.

But put them on. You don't want them popping off when you aren't expecting it.

Good job btw and isnt the door surprisingly heavy.VERY heavy. And that's with the torsion bar taking some of the weight off. Hurt my shoulder a bit holding it open, even though it was only for about 30 seconds. Next time I'll prop it open with five gallon buckets and stacked 2x4's or something so it doesn't do that.

Thanks for the advice! Didn't even think of needle-nose pliers. I had trouble getting the top one on... is it possible I put the strut on too much and need to take it off a bit? Or do I need to get the strut on even further? I had the clip in the hole, but it was hitting the stud, so I stopped.

[DMCMW Dave]

VERY heavy. And that's with the torsion bar taking some of the weight off. Hurt my shoulder a bit holding it open, even though it was only for about 30 seconds. Next time I'll prop it open with five gallon buckets and stacked 2x4's or something so it doesn't do that.

Thanks for the advice! Didn't even think of needle-nose pliers. I had trouble getting the top one on... is it possible I put the strut on too much and need to take it off a bit? Or do I need to get the strut on even further? I had the clip in the hole, but it was hitting the stud, so I stopped.

Grab the strut and rotate it a bit (on its own axis). There will be a position where the pin will fit.

[Shep]

Grab the strut and rotate it a bit (on its own axis). There will be a position where the pin will fit.Thanks! I'll give that a try. I didn't realize it rotated at all once it was on there other than normal operation.

[DMCMW Dave]

Thanks! I'll give that a try. I didn't realize it rotated at all once it was on there other than normal operation.

There is a slight bit of rotational "slop" in the ends.