Hi all, love the new board! My 95 Legacy wagon, one of the rear hatch struts pops off the lower mount, the socket comes off the ball, it actually busted the taillight on me! Anyone experience this or know what's causing this? THX in advance to all replies..:wave:

There should be a "C" shaped clip that wraps around the outside of the socket at the end of the strut. It will be about 1/4" wide and fairly thin metal. When the socket is popped onto the ball, this C clip is what holds the ball. The C clip is probably either shot (can happen after it has been removed one or more times) or it may just need to be torqued in a bit. Just a warning... Adjusting the C clip can ruin it. If it gets bent out of the exact position, it ends up doing what is happening to you now. It MUST lay tight to the outside curvature of the socket or it will fail.

Had a customer the other day break his rear window in his 03 Expedition. He had to remove the struts to avoid any further damage to the body. He then lost the C clip and it is not available separate. Good news, new strut was only $21.00. If you want to truly fix the problem, you may need to just get a new strut which will have the new clip on it already.