Hi Bill and RRS1,
I did not find out how to dissassemble them, but I guess after close inspection that the end, where the rod comes out of can be unscrewed with some kind of special tool. But I did not try to do it. Instead, seeing that the struts were still pressurised, but couldn't quite hold the deck lid open, and therefore the seals inside were probably O.K. I searched around for somewhere to re-gas them. Here in Denmark/Sweden, I couldn't find anywhere to do it by googling, in Australia there seems to be a place in every city, but a bit closer to home I found a place in England that seemed to be professional and would be able to re-gas them even though they are much larger in diameter than contemprary struts - it is SGS engineering, see here: https://www.sgs-engineering.co...s/re-gassing-service
If you are respraying them, then maybe wait until you get them back from them, as mine had a few scratches and nicks, after the proceedure and so I gave mine a final respray after getting them back.
Cheers, Tim.