The "liftback door strut" is what I call the two little pneumatic sliding things that hold the hatchback door up while it's open. They don't any more (the door keeps falling on my head when I put groceries in the back of the car) so I want to change them. I see how to get the old ones off the top (the door) - there are two bolts, easily removed - but how do I get them off the bottom? There is a ball-and-socket arrangement - ball on the car, socket on the strut. How do I separate them? Use Force???

 

There are two designs that I have seen,
the first uses a steel clip to retain it.

The second design,you must use a 12mm wrench and
unscrew the stud from the body.

 

That second design just pops off, no problem if you put a flathead screwdriver under the end of it and twist to pop it off.

SUPER simple. No need to remove a stud.

 

I've tried both methods - I've tried prying (or banging) the socket off the ball, and when that didn't work I unscrewed the post-with-the-ball-on-it from the car. But I am no closer to separating the ball from the socket. I need to do this, because the new struts have just the socket on the end (that is, I need to pop that socket onto the same ball that's on the car already).

What is the secret of getting this socket to "pop" off the ball? Looks to me like Honda must use a special tool for this. m.

 

I know the thread's a little old, but I wanted to add some info that might be helpful (& save someone a bunch of time!)

My 90 Civic Wagon All Wheel Drive has a 3rd type of attachment for the rear hatch 'struts'. The struts on mine do NOT come apart from the 'ball joint' - no clip, and no amount of pressing with a screw driver, pry bar, or anything else will 'pop' them off; they are PERMANENTLY attached. The 'ball head' is part of a large screw/bolt that bolts into the car - this entire 'bolt' needs to be removed to get the strut off. There are new (after market) struts available that INCLUDE this large bolt. And thankfully, the replacements I purchased came with the 'clip on' attachment to connect the strut to the large 'bolt' with the ball end, so in the future, I can simply get the clip on style replacements - leaving the new bolts in place. (side note - the OEM Showa part lasted 27 years... doubt these replacements will make it that long; but they'll be easier to replace!)

When removing the 'fixed' type of strut, I would strongly recommend you simply cut (hacksaw) the ball off of the large 'screw' to remove the old strut. Once the ball is cut off, and the old strut is removed/out of the way, you can use a socket to remove the OEM 'bolt'. On the first side, I removed all of the plastic & rubber bits & pieces, and it's a HUGE endeavor! On the other side, I simply cut off the ball (w/attached strut) and it made things MUCH easier/faster. Once the ball is cut off, you can use a socket to easily remove the bolt. Install the new bolt w/ball head, attach the strut with the clip on end, attach the top side with the 2 bolts you removed earlier, and you're done! (Sawing off the ball saved me about 30 minutes of removing and re-installing all the plastic & rubber pieces) Hope this helps someone!

 

It unbolts with the ball joint on my car. the new one had the ball joint on already