I have never liked the slides hinges on my liftgate and have been wanting to convert it to gas struts since I bought my 69 Burb a year and a half ago. I kept putting it off because I thought it was going to be complicated and time consuming. I figured I would have to modify the attachment points and wasn't sure how that was going to work. Well, yesterday, I removed the ball studs that hold the gas pedal on because I am running an elctric pedal with my 5.3/4L60E conversion. After I took them off, I decided to see if they would work for mounting points for the gas struts. They just so happen to be the same size threads that screw into the liftgate and tailgate attachment points! Now all I had to do was figure out the compressed and extended length of the strut. With a little bit of measuring, I came up with a maxium compressed length is 13 1/2". The extended length need to be around 21" in order to get the correct height on the liftgate. Armed with some measurements I went to Advanced Auto Parts and started going through their Strong Arm gas strut catalog. I finally found one that I thought was close in length and lifting force and bought it (#4248). This first strut worked well as far as clearance and lifting force, but it didn't quite raise the gate up high as I wanted. So I started looking on the internet and found this site:
http://www.autopartsbylou.com/auto-parts-search.php
After some searching I found another strut (#4220) that was a little bit longer and about the same lifting force. Another trip to Advance and I had 2 of the longer struts. They work great! Plenty of height and plenty of lifting force. Probably one of the easiest conversion I've ever done. I love it when everything falls into place, I guess I should've done this sooner!!
This project can be completed in about 30 minutes and it works great.
Here's all the stuff you need to make the conversion:
1. (2) StrongArm gas strut (part #4220), or equivalent (these are made for a 1985 Volvo 740 hatchback). I got mine at Advanced Auto Parts @ $25 apiece and have about 76 lbs of lifting force.
Ones from a 1997 HONDA CR-V are the same length but only have 44 lbs which might work on the Blazers.
2. (4) of the ball studs that are used to mount your gas pedal to the floor
3. Phillips screw driver
4. 1/2" wrench
First, use the phillips screwdriver to remove one of the slide hinges. Next, thread one of the gas pedal ball studs into the top hole that holds the slide hinge on the liftgate (use the 1/2" wrench to tighten it). Then thread one of the ball studs in the bottom hole that holds the slide hinge on the Burb body (use 1/2" wrench to tighten it). Next, pop the gas strut in place at the top and the bottom. I'm not sure if it makes a difference which way these are attached, but I looked at my 2003 Suburburan and it has the cylinder at the top and the extension arm pointing down. Repeat for other side and you are done!!! Probably one of the easiest mods you'll ever do.
P.S. In the last photo, I also added cable straps to my tailgate in about the same amount of time. Cables came from EBAY:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/CHEVY...QrdZ1QQsspagen