I bought a kit off ebay:
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/REAR-TAILGAT ... 1799870034It is a strut for one side only, seems to be oil filled rather than gas since I can hear the oil making noise as it lowers. It comes with a replacement cable (instead of the solid 2-piece arm).
The top screw was difficult to get off - I pulled off the taillight and hit the back with the heatgun for 20 or 30s, and the screw came out easily. Was held in with a lot of blue threadlock.
The bottom Torx (star shaped) screw was much more difficult. My drill wouldn't move on it, but I don't have an impact driver to try.. I hit it from the outside with the heatgun on high setting for a good 2 or 3 minutes! Had to shield the bead of sealer below it and took off the rubber/plastic plug nearby so they didn't melt.. Then used the torx head in a shifting spanner to get some torque and after all that heat (which didn't burn the paint by the way, super heat resistant!) I got it to move. No threadlock on it at all - it was just super tight.
Anyway once I got the strut on - I quickly realised it was cr@p. The cable they supplied didn't want to fold in the right place, and the strut itself was too fat to really fit the cable beside it. You would have to have manually held the cable to push it in the right place every time you closed the tailgate. Also the top bolt (supplied) that held the strut hit the metal bracket on the end of the cable and pushed it every time the tailgate was closed, giving extra resistance and forcing the cable to bend quite a bit every time.
And finally the metal wall, that the strut was screwed into, flexes quite a bit each time you lower the tailgate - there is a decent weight on that one point. Having the taillight screwed back in place might have helped strengthen it, but the light is just plastic so long term that is really not good.
So I took the strut off again, trying to send it back at the moment.
I am interested in the Ezydown units since 2 struts will reduce the stress by half on the top attachment points - but I am worried that the cable system doesn't have room to fold properly and that the same issue will happen. There is no point making it easier to lower the tailgate, if you have to hold the cables every time you put it back up again. I also notice that the ezydown has a sticker that says the load limit of the tailgate is 200KG - I guess this is due to the replacement cables? Doesn't seem like a lot if you're loading gear in and out. Eg 2 guys standing on the tailgate hauling something heavy, like a motorbike, or gas cylinder, would be well over 200kg. Or 3 blokes sitting on it having a couple beers would overload it!! Although my old ute (2006 SR5) had cables too, and I never had an issue with them..
Anyway I'd avoid the cheap ebay struts, and would like to be reassured about the ezydown kits before I bought one of them too..