I purchased the struts off ebay for around $42 incl shipping, not as beefy as Volvo struts, but they do work. Also, I failed to provide support for the tailgate when I punched out one side's ball/socket with a hammer/chisel, and wasn't able to react fast enough to pull my leg out as the tailgate came crashing down on my leg - I'm lucky my leg was sideways and I have thick calf muscles, I really thought it should have broke, but I emerged unscathed. After that I used a six foot ladder underneath to hold it up - this works well cause you can add "shim" with samll pieces of wood to get it at just the right height to line up the ball/socket on both ends of the new struts. Scary thing is I'm a mechanical engineer and didn't have the wherewithal to foresee the inevitable guillotine I was creating. I guess I should order a Haynes manual. I would recommend adding a little grease to the ball & socket of the new struts when you replace them.