I've seen a couple of posts where people are struggling with removing the rear hatch strut as the ball end doesn't seem to be held in with a wire (like new parts are)
and the ball itself doesn't want to come out of the body as the Loctite is too strong on the threads. (rounding off the hex with an open ended wrench)

Is there a definitive way to remove the strut and or ball?
...or am I looking at putting a Dremel cut into the ball housing on the strut???

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Rich,

Looking at the Service Manual it looks like the strut and ball are definitely different parts but in the removal section is doesn't say anything about pulling the strut off the ball and they say to just remove the ball/bolt.

Tried any heat on it yet as it should only be torqued to 16 lb.-ft., give or take.

 

Have not tried any heat on it - except for the arizona heat, which is has been exposed to for the last 14 years - perhaps that doesn't count.
It will take a lot more than 16 ft lbs to remove the "ball bolt".

Just had a thought, as we have had the back inside panel off to replace the hatch latch. I wonder if the bolt is accessible from the inside. Could start with a WD40 soak, which might do the trick and we have a big bag of plastic rivets already to replace the ones we snap off when removing the panel... Then I checked the Hatch handle replacement video and at 2:50 in, it shows the other end of the bolt is well hidden

Thanks for the PDF page

 

Finally got around to replacing the struts only a year and a bit later...
I did put a Dremel to it, using a cut off wheel to cut out a large chunk of the head end. I was a bit worried that
I would not be able to remove the ball and put in the new ball that came with the new struts, so I did not cut the ball off.



Cut a couple of deep grooves in the head end then used an old screwdriver to pry the gaps open. Once I got the chunk out, the retaining C ring started to come out of the groove. Once I got the ring out, the end came off easy.
The bolts at the other end came out fairly easy, even though I think they had been Loctited in.
I was able to remove the ball bolts with a deep well socket and they were in super tight, I would guess something like wheel nut torque. They had used red locktite on the threads. An open end wrench was not going to get these out.
Here's that groove where the C-ring was. Limited access means that ring wasn't coming out without a fight.
The new struts have an externally removable wire, so next time, replacing them will be easy.



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