Got a little problem with my boot. Was closing the boot the other day and heard a ping. The pin/ball joint that holds the gas strut to the column had come out. I tried to screw it back on to the column but something on the inside of the column fell down. I have attached a pic of how the hole in the column looks and something similar to the ball joint/pin that I have. Any idea how to get the bit from inside out and how to get it to the right position to screw back in? Thanks for your help.

If theres enough meat left where the stud was mounted you could tap an over-sized thread into it, assuming you could get a ball stud to fit it.

Only other way i can think of is to get a riv-nut fitted.