The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot '60-'66 Trucks 1965 hood hinge spring

I had to remove the hinge assembly form the hood to make a repair. Spring was already off because of the broken hinge. after reinstalling the hinge, the spring is stronger than I am. Any tricks to reconnect the spring? Thanks Stan

I put one hook end in a vise. Bend the spring over & insert flat washers in between the coils. Bend it the other way & put some in the coils on the other side. Put the hinge on the truck & close the hood. All the washers will fall out. There has been discussion on this before. You might find a better way by doing a search.

George

Can be a treacherous process. Be careful. I used a floor jack to expand spring and put all sorts of things (spacers) inbetween the coils (washers as suggested would work well) to expand the spring. Then carefully hooked spring to the brackets. Worked for me on numerous occasions.

I use a hook with a T-handle. I’ll post a picture. Works every time.

I would think an old fashioned hay hook would do the job. Available at any farm store.

Here is the hook I use. Bolt the hinge down tight. Run a loop of rope or cable through the center of the spring as a safety tether. The hook can pull the spring right to the bracket hole where you can gently get it seated.

I think I will be using a ratchet strap to pull the spring far enough to get into the hole. I noticed one of my hinges is broken and will need a little welding repair as well. That is a ways off though.

I used paint sticks cut about 2" long and as he other gentleman suggested, the thing about the sticks over the washers is
the spring compressed the wood a little and won't fall as easy until the spring is extended

The hood on my 64 C10 does not land onto the cowl correctly, the right side is worse than the left. When the hood is closed the right side is over a half inch above the cowl, the hood can be pushed down, however, when the hood is opened, when it is closed it returns above the cowl.
The hinges appear to be in good shape, not broken/bent and the pivot pins appear to be good. I have noted that the rear mounting bolt has a slotted hole in the hinge in an upward direction. Loosing the bolt to rotate the hinge only appears to move the hood away from the cowl.
I have been told by a couple of people that the springs are weak, needing replacement.
Any thoughts. Wm.

Hello Wm L, do hinges move freely on bench no spring? If so replace with springs, align hood with hood latch removed, if hood works properly now align latch to to fit properly aligned hood. Pat66

I am in the habit of; after closing the hood, quietly walking around to the passenger side and leaning on the hood to get it flush. all is well until the next time i open the hood. Likely could use new spring, but I have learned to live with it for now. Other pressing items on the chore list.

Thank you Pat. The hinges on my truck appear to be good. I had to harvest a hood off of a donor truck I had because the original hood was a mess, had been hammered on many times, was full of Bondo.
NPD is just a few blocks away from me so getting new springs is not a problem.
I did note that one of the bolt holes on the right side hinge was stripped, therefore the hinge did not properly tighten, I'm going to try a 'Helicol' or an oversize bolt in lieu of the 3/8. wm

Thought that was just something I did!