About six months ago I followed the directions in this thread and replaced the struts in our wagon. About a month ago one of them failed, of course the hatch would no longer stay up, etc. So I got a new set from the vendor and put them in today. Having installed one set I didn't look forward to any trouble with the second set, same directions, same vendor and parts, etc. We did learn a couple new things enroute to completing the job and I'll pass them along to add to this thread. I don't know if I did these extras on the first go-round or not but they were necessary today.

No trouble getting into the job or getting the old struts out. The first thing I did was check the "jaws" on the new struts and filed out burr left from drilling the hole. I also "miked" the jaw width and made certain it was the same as the original, you have no room to play around when working in there. I also Afused a light weight cord and tied the rubber wire harness that is next to the hinge as far out of the way as possible and then used a small clamp to hold the rubber "flap" up and out of the way. Doing this gives you a little more room and view to install the rear pin. Of course, don't forget to line up the holes at each end of the strut before you try installing it. It's easy to get the pins out but not so easy to get them in due to small working space. I used a pair of hemostats for the rear pin insertion, I could use the ratchet clamp to hold the pin and the "stats" were small enough to allow me to wriggle the pin around once I had it started in the strut jaw and trying to fish it into the hinge hole.

After the struts were in I used a small screwdriver to work the plastic shield back under the rubber window trim strip, you can pop up the trim and work your way along.

Thanx to all the contributors on this and other threads, the site is a great help to MB owners doing some of their own work.