Husker1

I have read a lot of concern with the "Mighty Lift!" used on the 90-92 LS400. Having just installed a set on my 90 LS400 here is what I encountered:

1) the ends dont pop off the originals, they must be unscrewed from the body & hood. (12mm)
2) simply screw in the supplied replacement ball ends wiht the new lifts and tighten. Simply attach the new unit, bottom end first worked great here.
3) the length of the new units vs factory is spot on.
4) the initial lowering of the hood feels firm for the first inch or two then very smooth. at the last 5-10 inches of downward travel the hood will finish the downward travel by itself. above th3 5-10 inch point the hood opens by itself til full open travel met.

No other problems encountered. Purchased thru Oreilly's auto parts #C95153, about $20 each. 30 minute job or less.

Now I wont have to care the broom handle in the trunk anymore!!

ummkay3

Nice! I was looking at these but i heard that bow/bend the hood cause they are really strong. Is that true?

Husker1

I can't say if a bent hood occured or not for someone else. It could have been a multitude of things from incorrectly packaged units, to a defective arm, to somehow improperly installed.

With that said, I was concerned and worried about any damage too so I took it easy on her the whole way through. I did try to push down on the arm before it was installed and it wouldn't budge. So yes, I was even more worried & cautious about closing the hood after I had installed the new hood struts (even though the back of the packaging states something to the effect that they need to be on the hood to be compressed).

So, from my experience on my vehicle it was not a problem. Just use a little care and go easy on your lexus, especially after installing the new hood struts. Like many things mechanical there may be a bit of a break-in period.

A good thing to note is that on the back of the packaging there is an 800# for a tech line, so you can call if you wanted to just talk to them and double check everything. Hope that helps you out!

trukn1

I had the Mighty lifts on my 92 awhile back and you WILL notice that your hod WILL eventually start to bow. I caught mine in time, so that there was no perm damage. What you will notice with these lift struts is that while it delivers a silky smooth operation while raising the hood, your front end will not close as tightly as it should and you will notice a small gap on either side of the hood. The Mighty lift struts are UBER strong. Pretty much only takes one to support the entire hood,,i know,,I tried. Reason for the bowing is b/c they are made to support lift gates on SUV's and when you close the hood, the struts are still pushing against the hood to lift it. You should have also noticed, by now, that it takes a CONSIDERABLE effort to even shut the hood. I am 6'1,,265,, and even I had to put a considerable effort into shutting the hood with them on. Short term, you will be ok with them,,long term I would just grab a set from off of EBAY from like $50 and be done with it. Alot of people here, dont like EBAY however for SOME things(this is one of them), you can't go wrong. I bought a set there about 3 years ago, and no problems till this day. .

Thermactor

iTrader: (1)

whaaaaa?!!!!

worker

do you mind taking some pics for us to see?

Thanks bud.

coctailer

Are you getting the OEM struts from Ebay?

Husker1

Trukn1, Sorry to hear you had such a bad experience with your hood struts, I would be quite upset too if I had your experiences. This is why I wanted to provide "my recent experiences" for those who are evaluating this fix on their LS's, since mine were quite different. Like I stated before, there could be a multitude of things which may have caused issues like you experienced, but perhaps they have been resolved. No offense is intended in any of this discussion, I'm just trying to help other LS owners from my recent experience.

Since I was concerned about the issues trukn1 had experienced with his LS in the past, I went back out to my LS a few minutes ago to re-evaluate the hood, strut force and so on. I also threw a tape measurement at the top of the bumper going vertical, so I could give everyone an idea of how these struts were working on my LS.

Here is what I discovered:
Opening the hood: (measuring vertically from the top of the bumper)
1) when I pop the hood release in the cabin, the hood popped up approximately 1".
2) from approx 1" to 8", the hood would close by itself in this area if let go. (Of course this is after the hood latch was released, by hand under the hood lip.)
3) from approx 8" to 12", the hood would hold stationary without dropping or rising by itself, if let go of.
4) from approx 12" and above the hood would open by itself, if let go of. maximum height was between 44"-45".

Closing of the hood: it was, what I would assess to be correct in closing pressure needed. It took only one hand to push it down in the area where the grill meets the hood. I was able to close the hood with only two fingers, but none less.

( trkn1 please note: I couldnt use my best arm since I just had it injected an hour before at the Dr.'s office. So who knows, perhaps it could have been done with one finger. But then again I'm only 6'0" and 190lbs! Ok trkn1, NOW I AM bust'in your chops!!! )

Anyway, if someone was still extreemely concerned, I would suggest they either buy from a dealer to make sure they are truely new OEM units or contact "Mighty Lifts!" to discuss the history of these lifts on the Lexus LS400's and/or if they would pay for damage caused by their struts, etc.

Good luck to all...........

trukn1

LOl,,see you just aint right for that one. I am of a solid build. I do not look as heavy as I really am.

I hadthem(past tense) on my car about 3 years ago. I no longer have them as I switched over to an set that I bought from Ebay.

3 years running with them and not a single problem.

Husker,, this is a discussion board, so there is no need to apologize to me for anything. I was just sharing my experience with the Mighty lift struts, which I found thru research here on these forums like yourself. I had 2 sets altogether, and they were just UBER strong(maybe I got a good batch,,LOL!!). Yes, they do work wonderfully at first but in the long run I noticed, as others have who have used them as well, that my hood was at the beginning stages of bending and that i seemed as though my hood wasnt closing all the way, and it wasn't due to my hood needing adjustment. There actually was a noticable gap between the fender and the hood itself. I was not happy nor comfortable with this and so I just got rid of them and replaced them with a set of hood struts from Ebay. Installed them, and everything was as it should be,no gap, easy closing, cheap cost.

Ha,,ha,,I haven't seen that weight class since I was wrestling in High school almost 20 years ago(am 37 years old).

OEM's from a dealer are good, but you will find that they are VERY expensive (last time I checked was around $300 for the set). There are just too many sellers/dealers etc., whom you can get a good aftermarket set for a fraction of the cost and work just as well. Like I stated, I got mine from Ebay, and they were close to OEM, and I only paid like $50 for them. Not knocking you for the advice, as it is helpful to others, but don;t get taken for your money without searching for the viable alternatives as well. As far as talking to Mighty lift about getting them to assume responsibility for damage due to the struts, good luck. As far as I know, they may have changed in the past few years, Mighty lift does NOT make a hood strut for the LS400 at all. MOST, not all, of what they make are liftgate struts. The ones that most have been using, clearly say on the packing that they are "hatch supports", so I don't think that Mighty lift will assume any responsibility for you using a strut, which has caused damage, which was really not suited for that application; as the damage would be self inflicted. Yes it does work, not arguing that, but it is the risk that you run in using them. Some have experienced bent hoods, some have had no problems.

randal

Thermactor, you clown! I am still LMAO. Good one.