The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Hood Adjustment

Hi Bolters, would sure appreciate some ideas on how to adjust the hood on my 38 pickup. There is no clearance on the passenger side between the cowl and radiator shroud, and too much clearance on the driver side. The V rod is adjusted all the way out on the passenger side in trying to move that side forward, but there is plenty of adjustment left on the driver side. Fenders are on but not tightened down, rear hood hold down bracket is loose and front hood ornament/hold down is not attached because the holes don't line up. There must be a method for adjusting the hood, but darned if I can figure it out. If any of you guys have been through this or have any ideas, I'd like to hear from you. Thanks, Don

Just reading your post, and it is hard to figger out not seeing the whole thing. Guess what I would do is pull the v rod and losen the bottom support for the raditor and front raditor cowl. Its a slotted two bolt on frame crossmember under raditor. measure distance from fire wall to raditor both side and make even. reinstall v rod and adjust to fit, somewhere the two sides don't match, Is the v rod upside down. Hope your cab is straingh on the frame and eazy to tell measure front of frame to fire wall both sides. Don't know if it helps but can't hurt to try,

Jbennett
40 burb

basic what I am trying ta say is get the bottom squrare with the bottom of firewall, the top v rod lines up top of hood and bottom lines up bottom of hood. Measure hood top and bottom. set raditor and raditor metal to a little larger and it should work out.

jbennett
40 burb

I don't know that year very well, but the later trucks not only have nut to "shorten" the rod, they have another nut at the back side of the braket to "push" the rad forward.

If you were to "push" the rad forward on the right and "pull" it back on the left, you may have it. Notice I said to "pull" it back on the left don't just rely on "pushing" on the right.

Also, are you sure the rad is in the center of the frame? have you cross measured it?

Thanks jbennett and MARTINSR for your replys. I will take measurements, loosen bottom supports, and keep trying. I don't think I can move the passenger side forward any further since I am out of adjustment on that side. There's gotta be a way to do it. Thanks again, Don

38,

I don't know if it is like my 46, but can you take one of the rubber spacers out from under the radiator support down by the engine mount? I thought there were two and you could adjust the height by removing one. If you lower the radiator support, you would give yourself that smidge of room you need...

My 46 had one spacer when I took it apart and the replacement part came with two rubber spacer/vibration pieces (sorry..too lazy to look em up to see what they are called..)

38Chev, has the cab been off the frame ?

I don't remember to much trouble getting the '37 hood to line up. Maybe I just got lucky the first time :confused: . I would go back and check the cab. It has to be square to the frame or nothing will line up. The front radiator support only has a slight side to side adjustment room but plenty of front the rear. The V-rod is used to align the top of the radiator support to the bottom so the gaps line up on the hood sides top to bottom. If the cab is off center the hood will be pointed to far to one side and there just won't be enough wiggle room to correct it. Also the hood ornament should be inline with the hood hinge. If its not in a straight line the hinge could bind and you will all ways see the error when driving :mad: .

If I remember right there are eight cab hold down bolts. The four in the front (2 per side) are solid to the frame with a little rubber insulator. The next set by the front of the seat riser is bolted with the springs under the truck in the frame rails. The last set behind the seat and fuel tank have the springs inside the cab. The four rear bolts allow the cab to flex with the frame thus the heavy duty springs under the locking bolts. There are also four wood blocks on the rear cab mounts, the front two are shorter then the rear two.

Something else, my hood won't lay flat or line up very well till I lock the shut. Joe

Thanks guys for the responses to my question. Yes, the cab has been off the frame and I think that is where the problem is. When I bought the truck unassembled except for the cab, I had no idea it would be such a hassle getting everything installed and lined up. Another of life's lessons, and I'm getting too darn old to have to keep learning! Oh well, off to the shop for more measurements.