According to hondapartsforless.com the left strut is different than the right strut. Left is 74870 T5R A01, Right is 74820 T5R A01. They call them "Stay Assembly, L Tailgate Open" and "Stay Assembly, R Tailgate Open." Weird weird name. The car has a hatch, not a tailgate. A tailgate is a door with hinges at the bottom, that swings down to open. A hatch swings up. Now, the top brackets with the ball joint that the strut snaps onto may differ from side to side (if I recall correctly, the lower brackets are the same on both sides), but in the diagram at hondapartsforless.com the brackets are identified separately from the strut. Here is the page with the diagram for the left strut. Anyway – when looking at the struts on my car, the left one is marked L and the right one is marked R, and the part number for each, which matches the part number at hondapartsforless.com, is printed on each strut. Nevertheless I don't see any difference between the left strut and the right strut.

Anyone have any idea what is going on here?

For aftermarket struts, which are much cheaper, there seems to be only one model for the 3rd generation Fit, that fits both sides. Between ebay and amazon I've found only one brand, "Tuff Support." Partsgeek.com lists the Tuff Support strut as SKU: 130058-05839247. They call it a "hatch lift support."

Now, for my engine air filter element I thought it was best to get an OEM part, even though there were aftermarket filters for half the price. Engine wear due to inhalation of sand and dust can shorten engine life, and an engine is expensive. But for the struts – assuming I don't have to return them because one or both do not fit – most likely the worst problem they would cause is that they might not last as long. They wouldn't shorten the life of the hatch. So I think it's crazy to spend about $85 (including tax and shipping) for a pair of OEM struts, when I can buy a pair of aftermarket struts for about $45 (including tax and shipping). I would just like to clear up this business about the left one and the right one being different.

What the EFF is going on with the Right and Left designation?

I have access to a "Auto Repair Source" on-line service manual though my public library and it also lists a different strut for each side. It provides the same part numbers as hondapartsforless.com.

 

If anyone is interested there is a video about replacing the struts. It is in a Honda Element but the Fit has a similar method of removing and replacing the strut.

I think this video, on a Honda Pilot, show more detail on removing the clips at the ends of the struts.
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I actually looked at TUFF for my honda insight. This is one of those things where, going non oem wont hurt (imo). As for why 2 PN's ... who knows. I'm sure both sides are the same.

Spending a little extra money on the engine air filter is a good way to go. These hatch supports though... meh!

I ended up going the $0.00 route, and simply used tools I had laying around

 

Evilchargerfan, I've been using a hose clamp on one strut, similarly to how you are using the vise grip. I leave the clamp on the rod, and I keep a nutdriver in the cargo compartment to tighten and loosen it – one of those stainless steel hose clamps with the worm gear kind of thing that engages with rectangular holes in the clamp.

But tightening it every time I open the hatch, and remembering to loosen it before letting the hatch close – it is getting tedious and time-consuming. Sometimes I feel that I need to open the hatch, quickly grab something out of the cargo compartment and run with it. Closing the hatch before running with it is time-consuming enough. I don't have the extra time to fiddle with my hose clamp!

The vise-grip method might be faster than the hose clamp clamp method. but then I would worry about bumping into it and knocking it loose when taking something big out of the cargo compartment.

An improvement to the hose clamp method might be to weld some kind of handle onto the part of the hose clamp that I normally turn with a nut-driver, so that I don't have to search for my nut driver and don't have to spend time trying to get it onto the hose clamp screw. That usually takes two hands, one hand to rotate the hose clamp so that the screw head is accessible to the nut driver, and hold it there, and the other hand to put the nut driver onto the screw, and turn the screw. With both hands busy on the hose clamps, if the weather is cold I may have to hold the hatch up with my head. With something welded to the screw, I could rotate the clamp into place and turn the screw, with one hand, while the other hand is holding up the hatch.

But nahhhh.... I think I want to spring for new Tuff Support struts.

Of course another alternative is to keep some kind of prop, cut the the right size, in the cargo compartment.But without it affixed to the car at one end, and a hole for the other end to go into – like the prop used to hold up the engine hood – there is the risk of bumping into the prop and knocking it loose.

 

I replaced the supports on the Pilot with some aftermarket ones and they work great. I think they came from Amazon or eBay, don't remember the brand though. After whacking my head on the hatch a few times it was time for new ones.

Instructions said to put them on"upside down" so that the piston would get lubricated properly.

You can go aftermarket air filter I would just get a more premium level if they offer it. If you have a lot of dirt or back roads the extra filtering will help.

 

OK I ordered 2 Tuff Support struts from carpartsdiscount.com. They were 12.55 each plus 8.75 for shipping, bringing the total to $33.85. I'll let you all know how they work out after I install them. Tuff Support's web site specifically said their part number 613315 "replaces" both 74870 TR5 A01 and 74820 TR5 A01. Those last numbers are Honda's numbers and the numbers printed on the original struts.

 

OK the new struts took only 2 days to arrive. On their web site carpartsdiscount.com lists a California address but the parts were sent from Indiana or Illinois, I forget which. I always get those 2 states mixed up. The struts actually look like better quality than the originals in at least one respect: the sockets for the ball joints on the OEM struts had threads cut right into the plastic; in the Tuff Support sockets, there were metal inserts to accept the screws at the end of the rod and the screw on the end of the thing that the rod gets pushed into. With the new struts installed, as soon as I unlatch the the hatch, it jumps up forcefully, maybe just a bit too forcefully. If I don't move out of the way it may smack into me painfully. Put there is no problem moving out of the way. The hatch jumps up all the way to the end of its travel without needing any help from me to push it up. When I close the hatch, it is easy to push it down, it takes little or no effort. Snaps shut by itself without any need for me to push it shut. So I think it is a bit stronger than the orignals were, even when the originals were new. At least, I don't remember the originals ever being so strong. Maybe because the originals got weaker gradually, I didn't remember how strong they were originally? Anyway I'm pretty happy, because they work quite well enough, and I spent about $35 instead of about $85.

After I put only one new strut in I tried moving the hatch up and down, and it didn't jump up like it did with 2 struts, yet it was very easy to move up and every easy to move down. It also seemed to stay up. So you may be able to get away with buying only one strut even though the instructions say that if you originally had 2, to replace both.

 

Nice thanks for the legwork on this. I'm sure mine will go eventually, but so far so good on my 2015.