I had a really strange problem yesterday that surprised my whole family. We had just loaded up the family into the van for a local trip, and my wife was closing the rear hatch. Suddenly there was a BOOM! I jumped out of the driver's seat to run to the back to see what had happened.

The lower mounting bolt of the left Hatch Support Lift (or whatever you call that shock/lifter) had snapped off and the weight of the door plus her pushing down on the door had caused the shock to punch a hole right through the plastic interior panel. Luckily my son - who was sitting inside had grabbed the door to stop it from going down any further, or that hole would have ripped open the whole panel. I whipped out a screwdriver and removed the top mount of the shock, and pulled it out of the hole to be able to close the door. Then I went inside to get a long piece of wood to support the door when opened, and we continued our trip.

I am not sure if the mount snapped by itself, or the shock seized first, and then pushing down the door on the frozen shock caused it to break. Either way, I need to replace one broken lower mount, and possibly one shock.

a) I have no idea what that lower mounting ball is even called, nor where the heck I could get one. Unfortunately, I live in New York City, where either due to laws or just because space is too expensive, there are no good junkyards. No you-pulls, and even the regular ones just strip off certain popular parts and crush the rest. They do not stock whole cars, unless you get lucky and they happen to get one in stock while you wait. It seems like it should be just a cheap part, but I cannot bring myself to pay a dealer $$$$$ for a new one!!

b) Then I have the fun job of trying to drill out the old one without damaging the threads,

c) and then I might need a new shock too. I don't know how to test it, since they are usually too strong to be compressed by hand. I could try mounting onto the other side and using the door to test it, but I don't need another broken bolt or hole in the panel. $23.99 for a new one at Autozone seems like a lot for such an old car. (Again, a junk yard which would be great, is probably not an option.)

d) The hole in the panel will just have to stay there!

Anyone have any extra rear hatches that they want to sell part from? While we are at it, I can use some other parts too - my vacuum lines are all brittle and are cracking. So far, electrical tape has saved me twice, but they need to be changed. There are some other goodies I can use too.

Maybe I will call every local salvage yard in the phone book until I find one that has a whole car available.

 

A google search for a new support lift found me rockauto.com. Never heard of them before, but my jaw is dropping and my eyeballs are rolling at how low the prices are. I can think of so many things I would consider buying now.

I see that they have new support lifts even under $10!! (I don't know how much shipping will cost though.) But I still need that silly mounting bolt.

 

That little ball stud usually snaps off at the narrowest point, above the hex part, so you should be able to put a socket on it to loosen it. If all that's left is the stud flush with or below the hole it's screwed into, you need to get behind it. It should be loose, since the head has popped off, so you should not have to exert much effort to turn it out.

Unless the shaft of the lifter arm is heavily rusted, they usually don't stick open. If anything, when those things wear out, they lose gas pressure, and can not hold up the hatch. When you look for replacements, make sure you get one for a hatch that has a rear wiper, if your hatch has it. That makes the hatch a little heavier, and if there is a differentiation among the various brands, that would be the most significant difference.

 

Ah, thanks a ton for that advise. Mine is flush with the metal. I did not realize I could reach it from behind. I was preparing to drill it out!

I realized that the lifter is different with a wiper because rockauto's nice website gave descriptions for the various offerings, some said 'w/wiper', and others 'w/o wiper'.

 

Still haven't found the part. Does anyone even know what it is called, or a part number so I can call a dealer?

 

I think you can call it a ball stud, and if you explain that it;s for holding the end of a hatch lift, your local auto parts guys should know what it is. Better yet, bring the broken parts (or a good one) to the store, and maybe they'll have a replacement in one of those "HELP" packages.

 

Help Help Help!! I went to the Ford dealer today, who identified the part, but told me it was discontinued. Then I went to and called a few junk yards, but there aren't really any such things here in the city. They are more like used parts stores, besides for the few cars they are in the process of stripping, they don't have whole cars. They only stock specific popular parts for certain cars, and nothing as old as 1997 - the last year the Aerostar was made.

So now I am at the mercy of a) some kind forum reader who has an extra ball stud or rear hatch, b) a non-local junk yard that has one and can ship it to me.

If it waits until warmer weather, I can take a 3-hour each way trip out to Pennsylvania to the nearest you-pull junkyards. Ouch.

But I didn't think of checking the Help section in Autozone. I will do that too!

 

BTW - a thorough search on the internet did not turn up the part, but I found a whole bunch of forums and pages where people had the same problem. No one said where they got the part from though, but some said it was hard to find. There even was a recall in 1991 on this exact part breaking on the 1988 models!!

 

I would call the junkyards within half-day driving distance, perhaps along the same route, and ask them if they have an Aerostar. They need to assure you that they do. If you make a multi-hour drive there, you should strip the car of all the usable parts that you can, so you would have spares for future use.

 

Yes, I usually keep a list of all the parts that would be nice to have someday, and once a year in the summer I take an all day trip out to Harry's and two or three others in PA. But throughout the year, anything that can't wait until the summer I have to get locally or get shipped.

 

Wait! All hope is not lost! A miracle appears to have been send in response to my prayers.

I searched Autozone.com for the words 'Ball Stud' and I found a generic one made by MightyLift - the company that makes the hatch support lifters. It is a special order part, which meant that I had to go in to the store, order it and pre-pay, and they will call me when it comes in. But it was on 2.99 plus tax for a pair of them!! Whats a few more days of waiting, after all of that frustration!!!

 

Great. Hope it's the right size/thread.

 

Let us know..

 

suppose one could be fashioned if need be...

 

Great news for anyone who needs to replace a broken ball stud!! It took AutoZone 10 days to get it (or maybe to find it after it came in two days, I will never know for sure.)

The new one is a little shorter than the original, but I had to try it anyway...

First I tried removing the plastic panel on the rear hatch to get to the 'back' of the broken bolt, as xlt4wd90 had suggested. That was a waste of time - there is no 'back'. It is a sealed body member. So I pout back the panel, and tried drilling out the broken bolt. To my surprise, the vibrations of the drill were enough to make the bolt turn in the hole!! On this one xlt4wd90 was right on. With the head broken off, the bolt was loose! There was nothing sticking out to grab onto, but using a small hammer and tiny chisel, I was able to tap/turn the bolt until enough stuck out that needle-nose pliers could grab it.

Then the miracles continued!! The new bolts matched the threads exactly!!! It included two ball studs, nuts and washers. I did not need the nut, but I used the washer to leave it sticking out of the body a little extra, to compensate for it's shorter length. It had enough extra thread I believe.

Then I tried it out using the same gas lifter that came off, and it works perfectly! I guess there was nothing wrong with it, the bold just broke from stress.

So I am back in business!! And it only cost me $2.99 plus tax!!