Stabilus hood and trunk struts

XJ40
1

Hi everyone.

I replaced all four struts. None of them held the hood and the trunk up. Previously I had Strongarm trunk struts. They failed slowly. After that I bought URO hood struts. They failed faster. We’ll see how long the Stabilus last.
A pair of hood struts cost $39.76 incl. tax and shipping, trunk struts cost $49.05 (Rockauto, no affil.)

hood strut1
hood strut11920×1113 181 KB

hood strut2
hood strut21920×1440 284 KB

trunk strut1
trunk strut11901×890 312 KB

trunk strut2
trunk strut21613×1210 231 KB

2

Good luck with your new struts. I had to do a double-take, clean my eyeglasses, and enlarge the pictures you provided - and then I did it all again! Seriously, made in USA, and made in Mexico? Not China? How refreshing! Maybe there is hope for US manufacturing after all!

3

Thanks Mike. The country of manufacturing was a surprise for me too. I was disappointed in the URO hood struts. They failed very fast, like in a few weeks. I’ll report back how these new ones perform.

4

A year ago I got a pair of Tuff Support number 612899 struts for my trunk from Rock Auto. Fitted one and the trunk stayed up and continues to stay up, so kept the second for a spare.

5

My daily driver Saabs use Stabilus as OEM. Very robust and long lasting, also seem to take recharging ok when they do get weak after 15-20 years or so…

6

I can’t remember who made the replacement struts I sourced about 10 years ago, but they came from a company in the USA that made a whole range of hydraulic struts for many applications. The pair I used for the boot were listed among many things as being suitable for a jukebox door. Compared to the UK they were very cheap at the time but I ended up paying more import tax duty than the actual cost of the two pairs I bought. They are all still working perfect, the pair on the boot are so strong that they will actually raise the lid once it is opened past a few inches, I still have to raise the bonnet by hand but they hold it up perfectly.

7

93 XJ40 RockAuto, Jun 2021, Tuff Support TF613462, front, TF612899, rear. $10 each, $40 for all. Still working like new.

8

Thanks all for the reply. I’ll keep in mind the Tuff Support. Before the URO and Strongarm, I had OEMs but after 20+ years they got tired.