The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop TF Hood Alignment help needed

I need help aligning my hood. I bought a new to me used hood for my truck and I'm having trouble getting the rear drivers side to pull down. I have the left to right and front to back alignment good, plus the cowl studs adjusted to the correct height. The hinges seem to be in good shape, my fire truck only has 15K miles on it and they cleaned up real nice with no signs of having worn or bad teeth in the gears. I have the drivers hinge adjusted all the way down and the hood still won't close the last 1"...I have to push it down by hand. I tried another spring but there wasn't any change. Do I need to drill the slots longer on the hinge or what?

Thanks for any help!

Mike B

number of miles has no relation to how many times the hood has been opened!!

everytime I've had a TF hood act that way it was new hinges that fixed it - you need a new hinge on that side at least, best to do both - the pivot pins get a bit egged out even if all seems good - a check is to take off the springs and see if it closes properly - if it does, then what's happening is the springs are pushing the hinge pin in it's egged out hole when all the way closed

Bill

Hey Bill,

I tried your sugestion and found that the hood doesn't lay flat (with springs off), it's like the hood is racked. If I pick up on the right front (about 1/2") the left rear goes down where it belongs. Do I need to shim the core support up to meet the hood? Maybe I need to remove the hood, then take the springs off the fire wall and just lay the hood in place to see if it's racked...what do you think?

Any other sugestions?

Thanks,

Mike B

yeah that does sound like the hood's been tweaked - what happens if you close the hood w/ no springs and latch out, and then push the back corner down? does the front come up? if so it's definitely tensioned wrong - if it still has the X brace rods under it, they're what is used to fix that, tho it ain't easy - if those rods have been taken out, that's the problem, or if the weld where they cross has been broken free

how about all the rubber bumpers along the front and at the back? if they're missing that could influence it too - can't think of anything else, and messin w/ the core support position will throw the fenders outta whack

Bill

Bill,

My son said he would help me lift the hood back off tomorrow. We will remove the hinges and see if the hood will lay flat without any hardware. The X brace has been loosened to see if it was the cause.

I will report back when we get it fixed.

Mike B

OK Guys It's fixed!

After lots of playing with the hood a friend asked me to check the front end with a tape measure. I found the right front side of the truck was sitting 3/4" low while sitting on a level floor. Whats weird about this is the entire right side of the cab is 3/8" low measured from the back of the cab to the cowl and then another 3/8" low from the cowl to the front of the fender (total drop of 3/4"). I loosened all of the mounting bolts on the right side and placed a jack under the right side of the core support and raised it up 3/8". This fixed the rack in the hood so I installed shim washers under the right side of the core support and now everything works fine! The really strange thing is the leaf spring shackle bolts are within 1/16" of each other measuring from the floor up, so there must be 3/8" difference in the height of the sheet metal (right vs left). I can't figure out where the difference is, but I'm happy everything is lined up and working.

Thanks for the sugestions and help!

Mike B

nice to finally make it all happen eh?

not strange tho - difference is why the mounts are shimmed, as you've done - factory did the same thing as part of the original assembly procedure - might be a bit of deforming in the floor structure that started it all, putting the cab outta whack from where it should be

Bill

I was just going to ask the same question. My hood is all out of wack. My buddy and I were trying some adjustments yesterday but it's brass monkey weather up here.I'll try some of the suggestions when it gets a little bit warmer.
Jeff

Your right the last few days have been a little nasty for outdoor truck recreation. As an ex-bodyman the problem usually lies in the hinge or the aligmnet of the core support. Find a nice level area and do as Mike did. I have even seen these things have a sagged rail on one side not a bad fix but you need the facilities. Measure each side from the lower edge of the rail to the ground. Then from the bottom of the support to the ground. Keep moving up, if this is were your problem lies it will be found quickly. If it's in the hinge try taking off the hinge and reseting the pins at the pivot points by placing them on an anvil or other steel surface and using a large hammer peen the end of the pins to tighten them. This is not a permanent fix but will work until a replacment can be foound.Enjoy the Beautiful B.C. weather it soon will be Spring and our Eastern neighbours will still be shivering.