cheungsta

I had a question about the air shock spring question...what and where exactly are they? Is that what holds the trunk up when it's opened? How would I know if I have a problem? The reason I'm asking is that whenever I have my trunk opened and I'm looking for something, it ALWAYS comes down and hits my head...and that hurts like the dickens ....just wondering how to fix that...thanks!

P.S. sorry if this seems like obvious questions...but I did search, and didn't find anything regarding "trunk air shock spring"...are they also called something else?

mikeloc24

Norm!! 99% of what you want to know is at your fingertips, you just have to "look" for it

I put "trunk struts" in that little magical search field at the upper left of the screen and voila!

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...ht=trunk+strut

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...ht-trunk+strut

or do a search for my screen name and "nvo concepts" and see whatcha come up with

damon

Take out the mystery & provide some freaking Toyota/Lexus part #'s for gods sake!

mikeloc24

What good would a "Toyota/Lexus part #" do for you when we already said a million times we're not using Lexus/Toyota struts because they're overpriced?

If you really want the part number and you really want to get reamed by the dealer go ahead..call them up and they'll be more than happy to give you those part numbers

damon

OEM or not, most parts are found by cross referrencing from the original.

Part #'s are never a hindrance. Best price I saw for an actual Lexus part , w or wo spoiler was $87.00

Good chance that Toyota uses that same piece elsewhere & it may be cheaper as a Toyota part.
This happens quite often.

Some people despite the savings like to stay oem.

That my friend is what good a part # does.

I don't even have an SC, just trying to help.

damon

Renaldo

My local Lexus stealer wanted $480 to replace both trunk struts.

So, I ordered two tunk struts for my '92 SC400 from Rock Auto. Total cost with shipping to NorCal was $43.46.

It took less than an hour to install both. Now that I know how to do it, it would probably take 15 minutes to do both.

Rock Auto part number was DD5 510-129.

Good luck!

mikeloc24

Excellent! And I bet you didn't need the Lexus part number to get them either

Renaldo

Here's a post from PerryinLA that I found very useful in guiding me through the trunk strut installation. Lots of pics!

Thanks to everyone on ClubLexus for providing useful info - Renaldo

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Here's a thread with photos showing the procedure:

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...highlight=trunk

And here's the narrative portion:
====================================
Here are the instructions - some of it won't make sense until you actually start the process:

Try to enlist a friend to help - to hold up the trunk lid, but you can do it yourself using a sturdy pole to prop it up.

1. Inside the trunk, peel off, from the top, the interior cloth-like panel that separates the trunk cavity from the back seat/gas tank area. It's held down with little plastic clips. These clips will release if you give them a tug. You should then be able to see the gas tank and the lifts attached to the trunk hinges.

2. You can't just pop the old lifts off because they are not yet fully extended. There are a pair of little black plastic bumpers that clip onto the tubular metal connecting the trunk to the struts. Pull them out so you can lift the trunk to its full height.

3. Using a 12mm open end wrench unscrew the ball portion of the ball and socket joint that is on the top part of the lift supports. It may be hard to start because it has Locktite on it.

4. Using a screwdriver, unclip the metal retainer that secures the bottom part of the lifter cylinder to a stud on the car body. If you won't be re-using your old struts, you can just jam a screwdriver and bend the clips so that they release. (I had to be more careful, since I knew I would be re-using them.)

5. Now you reverse step 3 for the replacement struts.

6. Clip the bottom part of your new cylinders onto their round studs.

7. Put those rubber bumpers back into place, paying attention to the little key piece that fits into a hole on the tubular trunk arm.

8. Put the interior piece back into place with the clips.

These pneumatic cylinders are under a lot of pressure, even when they're too weak to hold up the lid. Don't cut them or get your finger in the way when they are compressed. Also, take care not to nick or scratch the polished metal rods on the struts.

If you REALLY want to extend the service life of your lift supports, keep in mind there is a slight chance that your trunk currently has only one strut shot, but the other is in good shape. So replace the struts one at a time. If replacing one strut results in a trunk lid that will stay up, you may wish to hold onto the extra strut until the time your other strut gives out.

mikeloc24

Yes, Perry and I installed my trunk struts not too long ago