Rear Glass Lift Support Ball Stud -- Size & thread?

[Stainless]

Howdy, I just replaced my lift supports for the tailgate glass, and the left side ball stud that attaches to the glass was so badly rusted that it broke. :favorites68: It's a weird little setup, all encased in rubber, but no clear way to get at it or swap it out.

The service manual shows a pic of the part I need, but doesn't describe it or give a part number. Everything I can find online is for XJ's.

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I'm not even sure I can get the remainder of it out -- I'll wait till daylight and dig in. Any suggestions? If I have to, the junkyard has a few with good glass, but it's an hour and a half away. Heh, this thing is costing me a fortune in gas, and I'm not even driving it yet.

Thanks!
-Al.

 

[Stainless]

One step forward....

Since there's no replacement ball available, and mine was so rusted that I'm not even sure if the part *can* screw out to be replaced, I went off to my crappy small town Canadian Tire to see what they had. The short answer is nothing... Not a single ball joint stud of any kind.

BUT, they did have these:

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1/4" grease fittings, $4 for eight of them, some of which have what I imagine to be the pre-rusted size of the ball, and threads that I had a tap for. I ground the little grease fitting off the ball, and it fit the lift support perfectly.

On the tailgate glass, I ground the stump of the old ball flat, dremeled in a little crosshairs for the drill bit to bite into, carefully went through a few bit sizes to get up to 15/64", and then gently tapped the hole. It's thin steel, so I only got about 3 threads before the tap touched the glass behind it, but it feels rock solid. I was sure I was going to have to build it up with JB Weld or something, but it seems to be nice and secure.

I'll throw up a pic later on... I'm not talking to her right now. I just took her for a 10-minute spin after sitting for a week and a half, and she got hot and puked all her coolant up everywhere. No idea what's going on yet.

 

[HoosierJeeper]

Thanks for the update and hope you get the coolant thing figured out.

 

[Gyro]

Found this site in Saskatoon,in my search for the body side ball studs.
Link - Steel Ball Studs (Metric) – LST Gas Springs / Lift Supports
Check out the home page too,lots of awesome stuff.
They ship CP or courier.

here is a link with ball stud dimensions https://www.liftsupportsdepot.com/l...rear-glass-window-lift-support-strut-pm2029w/

Gyro

 

[Stainless]

I never did finish this thread off -- The overheating was from a broken plastic impeller on the water pump. I found an almost brand new one at the junkyard, and 6 or 7 bolts later, she was back on the road.

-Al.