Our Jeep Cherokee is now 10 years old and one thing which has worn out is the gas struts that assist in raising and lowering the the rear lift gate.

It tuned out the only tool I used was the pick in the foreground. It made it very easy to remove the retaining clips on the struts. That’s one of the clips by the handle of the pick.

Overview of the liftgate with the new struts installed. IMPORTANT: when replacing these struts you must have a brace in place to hold up the lift gate (I used a wooden 2×4 that was the right length) whenever you remove one the old struts.

The old struts. You can tell they are the original ones as the Chrysler emblem can be seen on the one to the left.

Closeup of a new one installed. There are many YouTube videos on how to remove and install these struts if you’ve never replaced any of these before. One of the key things is to purchase replacement struts that are the exact same size and pressure as the original ones. $35, a half hour of my time and the lift gate receiving the seal of approval from my wife means I must have done good.