Citroen C5 X7 tailgate strut replacement

[somethingSome]

Hi everyone,

I'm facing a problem trying to replace the struts of the tailgate on my Citroen C5. I removed the trim, removed the left side strut from the ball stud by pulling the tab and then unscrewed the strut from the ball stud connector


Here are a couple of pictures:








I could use some suggestions on how to remove this:



I think I could use a pry bar and some leverage to remove it, but I don't want to damage anything, so I figure I ask here what is the proper way to remove it.

Also, the old strut does not seem to fit anymore, I figure it's because I need to remove the connector above and then use the boot as leverage against the ball stud to lock into place.

[GiveMeABreak]

I think you've taken the wrong part off! You've removed part of the strut from it's own fixing instead of removing it from the vehicle side. Now you're left with half of it still attached to the vehicle side ball joint:

First make sure you have the boot supported!

Unclip the gas strut (1) from the ball joint (2) of the boot hinge using trim removal tools.
Loosen the ball joint (3) with the washer (4) of the gas strut (1) holding the nut (5).

[somethingSome]

Hello there,

I didn't meant to take the strut off the connector, but it just screws/unscrews pretty much without resistance.
Here's a pic of the end of it:



Following the diagram, I screwed back the struct and loosened the nut like so,




It's not really noticeable in the image above, but the ball joint is loose but I still can't take the connector off. Not sure if I should take the ball joint off or not or if i'm missing something.

[GiveMeABreak]

If you look at my diagram you will see that the nut (5) is actually behind the blue metal panel. so you need to hold the nut at the rear (careful not to lose it) whilst unlocking the nut on the other side (3) as far as I can see.

[somethingSome]

I followed what you posted and managed to loosen (3), but I still can't remove the strut (1) from the ball joint nut (3).

I could remove 3 and 5 and take out the strut with the connector and joint(3) attached. But i'm not sure if that is the correct thing to do. Per the diagram, I should just loosen 3, not remove it. Is this correct?

Are there any next steps or is the strut(1) just supposed to come off after with a bit of a wiggle after loosening the ball joint(3)?

[GiveMeABreak]

That's all there seems to be - I 've never had to do this on mine, so can't help you with the job other than what it shows.

[somethingSome]

In the end I managed to do it by unscrewing the connector on the new one and screwing the stud into the old connector that was attached to the ball stud.

Removing the old connector from the ball stud is simply not possible, I actually dented the panel. Here's a picture of the new strut already installed and the dent in panel.



Also, I had to remove a small rubber stopper, that the boot support rest against. Here is a picture of it



Removing this allowed the boot arms to raise just a tad more which enabled me to fit the upper joint of the strut with the ball stud on the arm.

Just leaving this here in case someone comes along and needs this info. Thanks for all your help.

[GiveMeABreak]

Thanks for the update.