My roadster lift struts are so worn I can barely lift the trunk lid. No auto parts chain has them (AutoZone, O'Reilly, Advance Auto, etc. None.) They have no listing. Rock Auto Parts has no listing. Neither does anybody on Amazon.

My local Dodge dealer wants $86 and ten days to find them. His parts buy consulted a wholesaler warehouse listing that said there are none in any warehouse in the country.

My original equipment strut says Stabilus for the manufacturer with a part number. So yesterday I emailed Stabilus USA with the part number and the make, model, and year of my car. Here's the complete text of their response: "Thank you for your recent e-mail regarding Stabilus products. Unfortunately no Stabilus aftermarket part is currently available for your vehicle. Please contact Chrysler for the correct part replacement."

So is that it? The dealer's the only source? Mind you, I'm not looking for an aftermarket part. I'm looking for the original part they manufactured.


Thomas

 

Does it have a Mercedes part# on it? This is the part# 170 750 00 36 for the SLK320. It might be the same as the Crossfire.

 

I didn't see any Mercedes identifiers on my struts.

What year Mercedes is the SLK320 you're using? One of my misfires was ordering 2 struts from Rock Auto. The ones I received were very wrong. They must've been for the coupe or a very different SL.

Thomas

 

So on Rock Auto this morning for a 1996 SL320 lift support they have various ones listed:

1) FEBI 27742 at 272 mm long.
2) AMS 4049 at 7.21" compressed, 10.71 extended.
3) FEBI 27734 at 242 mm long.
4) SCHS SG403031 at 7" compressed, 11" extended.

#2 & #4 above are listed as trunk lid parts. The other two don't say.

For a 1996 SLK230 and 2000 SLK320, they have:

Monroe Europe ML5680 at 365.5 mm long listed for the trunk lid.

My car is in the shop right now, so I can't measure the struts. It just seems like you ought to be able to use the length and spring pressure and find a suitable alternative.

Thomas

 

Try this. I need to replace mine, just have not called yet.


Strong Arm 6189 Gas Charged Trunk Lift Support | Chrysler

 

Before you spend the money!!!! I had the same problem and I first cleaned the rods with "rust buster" basically a degreaser and then put some light oil on them and moved the lid up and down a half dozen times and it's all better now. I think WD40 would do the trick. Worth a try and it's been a couple years with no problem.

 

I'm puzzled about the response from 81's. You suggested using the Strong Arm 6189. The specs say that strut is 9.75" compressed & 15.5" extended with a 5.75" stroke. I have my car back & I measured the struts. They're 7" compressed & 9.75" extended, which gives you a 2.75" stroke.

So I can't see how the Strong Arm 6189 would work. Now, I know that the 6189 lists as follows: "2005-2008 | Base Convertible | Exc Convertible, Roadster & SRT-6 (with Spoiler)". That's conflicting and confusing. All the convertibles use the same strut, right? So what does it mean when it says "Base convertible, except convertible…". Doesn't make sense at all.

So it looks to me like this is a strut for the coupe hatchback, not the roadster trunk.

Thomas

 

Wouldn't (4) fit that you found on Rockauto? If you go here you can try looking for a custom size.
All Products

 

tleed,

You are right. That strut won't work. However Liftsupportdepot might have the right size. The way it is listed on their website is not very helpful.

 

Would it not be possible to look at the failed support, look for the maker, and take down the part number. Then look at the web site and record the specifications of the support and then go from there?
Stabilus seems to be the OEM maker.

 

Hmm. A little (really a LOT) more research shows you can find various manufacturers who supply struts with a 10" maximum extended length. Apparently standard measuring practice is from the center of the ball to the center of the ball on each end, not the tips of the strut. So on my car, that measurement is 9.25". I haven't found any struts available at less than 10" extended, unless they were way shorter, like in the 7" range.

So is that the problem here? Our lift struts are a "non-standard" size? Too short? Does anybody know if a 10" strut will work? All the 10" struts I found had a 3" stroke.

Thomas

 

onehundred80, did you read my first post?

 

Looking again at the Rock Auto listings, the FEBI 27734 listed for the 1996 SLK320 is 242 mm long. That's 9.5". Maybe that's a winner?

Does anybody know what the lbs. pressure is for our original struts? Many manufacturers have the same struts listed with different spring pressures. What should our pressure be?

Thomas

 

Did you read my post? I was suggesting that if you found the part number you could cross reference it to get the specifications, length, stroke. Then you could look for a suitable alternative. I was going to post the Stabilus parts website but I guess you have no need of it. With the part number you can get the specs of it from the site.
I got the specs for my coupe hatch strut from it that way just a few minutes ago.
Good luck.

 

The Stabilus website has a vehicle application selector tool that misleadingly leads you to a strut, but it looks to me like it's for the coupe, not the convertible, because you have to select "tailgate" to get the listing. There are no specs with the listing.

When you search on the part number on my OEM Stabilus strut, the response is "No entries found."

When you email them, you get the useless reply I got.

Stabilus is no help. The coupe hatch strut is available all over the place. Not so the convertible trunk strut.

Thomas

 

Maybe one of these will work. Stabilus Universal Replacement Lift Supports -

 

I was incorrect on my last post I did use WD40 and it worked for me and also worked for the last person who posted that they had a problem - I have also fixed another club members although it took a bit longer to clean it up but works like butter. It was very stiff until the second day after it worked through. Give it a try - a lot cheaper and easier than buying the wrong struts that you may not need....

 

Today I picked up 2 Strong Arm brand, Part #F4057 lift supports from Advance Auto Parts. They were $19.99 each. Opticatonline.com has specs for these supports as follows: 10" extended, 6.6" compressed, 3.4" stroke, "replaces 20-29 lbs. force".

Upon installation, it appears that they fit just fine. The trunk opens and closes ok. But I don't think the pressure is enough. The trunk still opened with difficulty. So I started looking at the hinge points. I lubricated them with white lithium grease & the trunk lid loosened up some. It wasn't enough for it to open on its own, but it didn't drag as much either.

Here's a chart of other 10" Strong Arm brand lift struts listed on Opticatonline.com:

F4034, 150 lbs.
F4035, 145 lbs.
F4062, 120 lbs.
F4039, 95-104 lbs.
F4052, 90 lbs. (blade)
F4061, 85 lbs.
F4038, 75-84 lbs.
F4060, 60-69 lbs.
F4037, 55-64 lbs.
F4059, 50-59 lbs.
F4036, 35-44 lbs.
F4058, 30-39 lbs.
F4057, 20-29 lbs.

I also got another, more definitive response from Stabilus today. They made it clear that they won't release any information about the original equipment strut that would be helpful to cross the application. I specifically asked in my outgoing email for the extended & compressed lengths & spring pressure. No dice.

I also received a quote from Don Hewlett of TCH Limited. They sell Stabilus struts as well. But they won't tell you what the original spring pressure was, and they won't recommend a pressure to try. They blamed "liability". But they did provide the following price quotes for these 3 Stabilus springs (which are all 10" extended length springs of various pressures):

6449IM 2 @ $75.00/E, 2 weeks
6501IP 2 @ $75.00/E, 2 weeks
6502IK 2 @ $75.00/E, 6-9 weeks

I'll try living with the struts I have for the time being. I might get a pair at a higher pressure later, if my trunk hinges don't loosen up enough. I'd recommend jumping up to the F4036 at 35-44 lbs. if I were starting from scratch.

Thomas

 

I found a chart that shows details on those three struts - did the guy tell you which would be appropriate for our cars? (Excerpt of the chart is pasted below in case the link goes dead some day)

Stabilus Inventory for Lift o Mat and Stab o Shock at TCH - TCH

(I remember ordering replacements based on a link on the Forum several years ago - tried reordering by vehicle model/year and got something totally the wrong size - maybe for the coupe?)

 

This thread had the last entry 6 months ago.
The part on your car has a part number on it, what is it?