I may be helping someone swap a hatch in the upcoming weeks. I'm just trying to get a heads-up on how difficult it is. I looked at my car yesterday and I can see that there is 4 bolts across the top and wiring that runs through a rubber boot on the left and right side. Are there connectors for those wires under the interior trim pieces or do the wires have to cut and spliced back together? Other than that it looks like just remove bolts, struts and lift off? Anything else I should know? TIA :thumbsup

Don't get in a hurry. 3 people would make it the easiest: two to hold and align and one to tighten. Gently lower it down the first time you attempt to close it because you might not have it exactly where it needs to be. Goodluck!

Ok, that's a good tip, I can find three people. What I want to really know is if there's I'm missing as far as removal goes. Does anyone know anything the wiring that runs through the hatch, are there connectors or not?

i *think* you hafta cut and splice IIRC. it's only the wires for the 3rd brake light and the wiper (if you have one). i ran some wires through there before and i'm pretty sure it's just a boot with wires runing through it (much like the ones for the doors).

Ok, cool. Thanks, that's what I wanted to know.

You could buy the Hanes repair manuel for you ride, it explains some about it. Just my .02 MY dsm :bowdown to yours lol. sweet ride.

Ok, so I finally did the hatch swap last night ... and since there is next nothing on this board about how to do it I'm going to host a little write-up :thumbsup

1. Open hatch :)
2. Remove 3 of the interior panels. There are 4. The larger back piece, closest to your head and the 2 side pieces. The one way in the front can stay on. They are mostly clipped in so you have to pull gently and they will all eventually pop as you move along.
3. Up at the top by the roof of the car you will see a rubber boot on the left and right side. Remove the rubber boot and you will see wires passing through each one. Next, get a small little flat head screwdriver and carefully pop the white plastic clip out on each side that the wires pass through .... you'll see why in a moment. You want to pop out the clip that's on the hatch, not the one on the car.
4. Grab a wrachet and a 10mm and remove all the bolts, clips and screws that are holding any wiring in place on the drives side. On the passenger side you should only have to unscrew a single defroster line.
5. Disconnect the 3rd brake light (it just a plug). Disconnect the defrosters.
6. At this point you should have a long strand of sevearl wires hanging from the drivers side and a single defroster line hanging from the passenger side.
7. Carefully feed the wires through the holes in the hatch where we removed the white clip earlier. There should be no wiring in the hatch at this poing you should NOT HAVE CUT a thing.
8. Now, stick a broom pole in your trunk to hold up your hatch.
9. Remove the 2 screws holding the struts in place on each side (4 screws total)
10. Remove the 4 bolts at the top on the hinges (12mm i think) and your hatch is free. Get a friend and lift it off.

See ... it's a 10 step program. Shorter than AA.

Reverse process for install. 1.5 - 2 hours tops.

BTW - I have a Chiltons and Volumes 1 and 2 of the actual Mitsubishi tech manual. There's nothing in there about removing hatches, just motors :thumbsup

4 bolts, i believe 12 or 14 mm. 2 in each hinge on the hatch.