Caravan Hatch strut issue

[Lee'sdaytona]

Greetings all,
This evening I was closing the hatch on my 89 turbo caravan, when I hear a loud pop I go to open it back up, only to find the driver's side strut for the hatch broke away from the sheet metal on the van side, and the strut was pushing its way up under my headliner. Apparently the mounting stud on the van side broke off the sheet metal. Has anyone ever had a similar issue? How can this be fixed? Can the stud be moved an inch or two up or down and still function correctly?
Thanks,
Lee

[5sp. mini]

remove and use big stick, or just keep the one thats working on.

[contraption22]

remove and use big stick, or just keep the one thats working on.

Id use vicegrips on the other strut.

[Lee'sdaytona]

Well, the big stick will have to do in the mean time, but this is my daily driver, and everything works on it, and I'd like to keep it that way. I do a lot of loading and unloading of stuff, so this is a needed repair.
thanks,
Lee

[22mopar]

yes it can be repaired. I've done a couple over the years... that's the kind of things I do in my body shop, and how I feed my family.