The other day I was up North where it is colder and noticed the struts were not doing a good job of holding up the rear hatch.
Easy solution, ordered new struts off Amazon.
This is where the mistake happened. Didn't occur to me how heavy our back hatch is. Popped off the left side strut and the hatch cam crashing down shattering the rear glass.
Dumb mistake. Should have used a prop rod.
Next week I get new glass installed for $380.
Expensive mistake, but I am an old man and make stupid mistakes.

 

Suggest you replace those cheaper struts to avoid same problem. Order new/replacement struts from NeedsWings, they are VERY supportive. ( I ordered a pair in June )
https://www.needswings.com/chrysler

 

Or buy them from Rockauto at a fraction of that price and less expensive shipping.

 

Ronman, they do have a catchy Jingle !
-CFK

 

I bought these hatch struts for my 2007 Coupe: Hatch support Struts (BOXI, P/N 5140762AA). Cost me $21.19 for the pair back in 2020. Good quality & support the hatch well. Bought them from Amazon.

 

Ditto, easy if you take your time and do only one at a time with a prop (just in case).


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Damn You! I'm an old man too, and I am supposed to read about this before I do the EXACT SAME THING! And I do mean exactly. Popped off the left side strut top, while propped on my shoulder, and stupidly tried to catch the falling strut, and the hatch was much heavier than I expected with just one weak strut, it slipped off my shoulder, and then the crash of shattering glass. I was also stupid enough to close the strut in the door. I haven't checked for THAT damage yet.

Kids at home, don't take short cuts. Brace your work. As an old man, I should be able to afford some hatch glass, except that I just paid for a Crossfire with cash LAST WEEK. Yes, that is how long it took me to do something catastrophically stupid. A week.

I'm actually happy to hear that you are getting new glass installed for only $380. I was afraid it would be much worse.

Did you look for used glass at all? Curious whether that is worth trying, though at this point I'm happy enough to let somebody competent install it.

 

I think there is a high chance the glass would be damaged if removed from a used car. If it is a good deal then might be worth a shot.

 

If I can also get new and good quality glass installed for $380, then the incentive for used won't be too great. I was afraid it would be many 100's more than that. I'll find out tomorrow.

Of course this is killing my budget for the stupid top windshield trim piece, that somebody here made the comment about that you can find them up on the same shelf with the unicorn horns!

 

Sometimes the windshield trim is on Ebay but can be e3xpensive.

 

Yeah, I have been looking there for the last few days and there is a decent selection, but the center piece alone costs about the same as the whole set (because apparently they blow off and get ruined at a much higher rate), and they start near $300 for sets with minor cosmetic issues that would have to be repainted at a minimum. New quality is much more around $400+. Now I have to figure how much it is worth it and when. The budget for trim is unexpectedly being redirected towards rear hatch glass! 😪

 

Sorry to hear about the damaged hatch glass encountered by a couple of Crossfire Owners while attempting to change the hatch struts. Surprising how heavy the rear hatch is - guess it justifies why there are 2 support struts holding it up. Anyway, I encourage any Crossfire Owner that is attempting a DIY repair that he/she has never executed before, to download a copy of one of the Service Manuals listed on this Forum and review the Service Procedure for that repair and/or see if a fellow Crossfire Owner has already documented that DIY repair somewhere in this Forum. A major disaster could most likely be avoided .I've attached a copy of the page from the 2007 Service Manual that clearly states to support the hatch in the open position with a suitable prop device before attempting to remove a strut. I was fortunate that by the time I needed to replace the hatch struts on my coupe, the existing struts would not support the hatch in the open position. So I knew I had to support the hatch with a prop device (2x4) before attempting to remove & replace the struts one at a time. I held the hatch open while my wife snapped the new struts (one at a time) in place for me. Team Work!!

Not trying to poke fun at anyone as I've pulled some 'bone-head' steps over the years while executing DIY repairs on my 2007 Coupe. Been There; Done That!

 

Don't worry, poke away! I made it a point to post on this thread and share my stupidity to hopefully prevent someone else from making the same mistake.

I've changed plenty of struts over the years and I would never change struts on a hood without bracing, but SUV windows that are vertical and small I will sometimes just hold up with my shoulder. I feel I broke 3 cardinal rules today. All were easily preventable and if any one didn't happen, I may have come out OK, but all three was too much and did me in.

1) Cardinal sin #1, rushing. The struts were delivered just when I was ready to leave. Instead of waiting when I had proper time, I thought they will be so quick, I'll just pop them in before I go.

2) Cardinal sin #2, taking a short cut. Instead of taking the time to go to the garage and find an appropriate board to brace it, I talked myself into believing it was more like an SUV hatch and dramatically underestimated the weight from it containing the spoiler and it being nearly horizontal instead of vertical.

3) Cardinal sin #3, using the wrong tool. Yes, even though the required tool is just a regular screwdriver, what I had immediately on hand was a ratcheting screwdriver. I love that thing for being a screwdriver, but it actually fails as a pry bar, because it can only lift on one edge, not both. I needed just the simplest twist left and right to pop off the old strut, but the ratchet would only let it pry one direction. The answer was to get get a proper, simple screwdriver. what I did, was to use my other hand to switch the ratchet the other direction. Because of that, my shoulder shifted just enough that when it popped and I flinched, the hatch slipped off my shoulder.

Every bit just a little wrong. Serves me right. I hope it can be an example for others. Take your time, don't take shortcuts and use the right tool for the job. It's gonna cost me $325, but surely could have been a lot worse.

 

I can relate: