My wife has a 1996 850 wagon and the rear tailgate door won't stay open, mainly when it is cold. I have seen a couple of previous posts about this in the forums, but would like to get more information on how to replace the struts or springs or whatever it is that is (not) holding up the door.
What parts will I need to buy? How to access and remove the old ones? Will I need any special tools? I am hoping to do this myself, as I can imagine it will be a few hundred bucks at the Volvo dealership.

http://www.volvospeed.com/volvo_performance.php

Navigate to repairs/maint/bay13/trim/tailgate struts

I recently did this job on our 1996 using the Volvospeed instructions. It's a fairly straightforward procedure, but I can't stress enough that you will need another set of hands to hold up the tailgate once the struts are removed. You won't realize how much work the worn struts are still performing until you remove them.

meb

I would agree....I replaced the set on my wife's 1995 855T with the help of my dad in about 1 hour total. Most of the time I spent CAREFULLY removing and replacing the interior trim pieces to get access to the struts. Definitely a DIY job though. Good luck! Also, I purchased my struts on ebay for $30 total (Sachs - OEM). Not quite as good of a deal, but they are here for $50:

http://replacement.autopartswarehouse.com/parts/autopartswarehouse/wizard.jsp?year=1995&make=VO&model=850-T-001&category=O2&part=Tailgate+Strut

I just ordered some on ebay (item# 7955345047) for US $44.90 a PAIR with free shipping. They are non-OEM though, and I have not installed them yet, so I can't give you an opinion on quality, but I am pretty sure they're ok.
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'97 850 n/a Wagon, 120K mi

Ok so I installed them last night, with the car sitting in my driveway in a snow storm... I did have to loosen the 12 mm bolts that hold the front ball to be able to install the new struts. Everything went smoothly and they're doing their job. Btw, to hold the gate up, I used an adjustable step ladder.
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'97 850 n/a Wagon, 120K mi