The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop 1947 hood hinge anti rattle spring

Curiosity is killing me! I need help in tracking down the GM part # for the anti rattle spring that is pictured. It was used with the hood hinge support arms on the AD truck in 1947, and perhaps in the early 1948 AD trucks. My 1948 Chevy 1/2 ton truck (April 1948 build) has this pair of hood hinge support arms on the driver's side only. There currently is no such spring in place on my truck: I just recently learned that it was thing. I would like to try and source an original spring. Perhaps I could find something close to a match in a local hardware store.

The photo is from the 1947 Shop Manual.

Thank you for any help with this obscure bit of information.

LUKE

Interesting. I just looked at my truck to see if the support arms might still have had the holes punched in them but they don't. The diagram in the 1948-52 FSM shows a similar photo as your 1947 manual but no spring or holes are present.

Obviously GM felt the springs were superfluous.

Luke, part number is 3676239. I have a couple of broken off ends, but that is all. I did see a post from somebody a year or two ago that bought a truck and the springs were intact. I will look for his info and maybe he might allow for some inspection to get length and strength on those springs. I will message it to you when I find it. I will also keep an eye on this thread as I am interested as well.

From my research, the PN may be 368244. It shows up in the 29-54 Master parts Catalog as part of the hood hinge (pic 1)
Also shows up in the 52 parts catalog as a clutch pullback spring for 32-46 commercial vehicles, with some dimensions shown. (pic 2)
And in the July 46 parts catalog as a Brake pullback spring for 36-46 vehicles with additional dimensions.(pic 3)

Kevin, Your picture #1 would certainly lead me to believe the part number 368244 is correct with one exception, the quantity listed as 1. It should show 2. I do not have a real extensive library to search. I have a rather large GMC Master Parts Book (MPB) with an effective date of March 1, 1949 and a fantastic little gem, GMC Preliminary Parts Book starting with chassis serial #001 printed July 11, 1947. Both books have a numerical index in the back of the book. My MPB shows 368244 to be a clutch pull back spring for the 39-46 years and 3653114 starting in 47. The little gem has 3653114 listed for the clutch pull back spring. The MPB does not have the 3676239 part number listed at all but my little gem does. This similar situation has come up with other parts which got me wondering. Is it possible that this part was introduced in 1947 with the new model trucks but so quickly discarded, changed or modified that only the newer part number were carried forward in the Master Parts Books? As I have found out, there were a number of parts that were 1947 only. The little book lists them but no big book shows them. I am thinking parts that were determined to be unnecessary were just dropped from the catalog since they were no longer available and obsolete.

Maybe the hood spring and clutch spring were the same part. Carmakers don't "re-use" part numbers for different parts - especially for parts a year or two apart.

Rich, that's a good point. But what single spring would apply to the hood hinges?
Your source is probably correct.
I did see a listing for 368244 In a later 1958 Dealer Price book. The 8.013 is the hood hinge group.

Just shows you how hard it is to track down obscure old parts.

Otto may be correct as well. But an anti-rattle spring shouldn't have to be as strong as a clutch return spring.

Those dimensions in the listings may actually get some results at a hardware store.

Here is a picture of a survivor spring...what I am trying to source. This picture was originally posted by Ricks 47 summer of 2024.

This spring is currently for sale on eBay, and is identified as GM part #368244. Note that my naked eye believes that it does NOT match the profile of the survivor spring that I previously posted. There appears to be too many coils and not enough overall length.

It doesn't look anything like the hood spring in the photograph or the diagrams from the manual.

Here's a bit of added info from some original resource books I have. The first pic below is from an original 1947 Chevy Truck Shop Manual, same as fonz8261's first picture above. Second pic is the hood hinge removal/installation instructions that describe the "anti-rattle springs" on the support arms (also shown on right side of fonz's picture). Clearly shows about 16 coils with the two longish hook ends.

My 3rd picture is from a 1929-48 Chevy MPC showing Group 8.013 and the spring as GM# 3676239 that fits 1947-48 Commercial and Utility trucks. Part number matches the one Twin Jimmys posted. Oddly enough the quantity required in this reference shows only 1, instead of 2 that you would expect to see when required for both sides. Did Chevy every mess up in these catalogs - Yup, a time or two I'm sure - lol.

The fourth picture is from a 1929-49 Chevy MPC showing Group 8.013 and the spring now as GM# 368244, with Parts Group 0.844 in parenthesis afterwards. Fifth picture is again from the 1929-49 MPC, with the Parts Group 0.844, GM# 368244 - Spring, clutch pedal pull back. More details in the description indicate spring dimensions are 3-5/16 length x 26 coils.

Sixth picture is from the 1929-49 Chevy MPC Parts History Index, showing that GM# 3676239 is listed as to be "Mix w/368244". Just my supposition here, but this looks like the Chevy change over point where they started using GM# 368244 to replace the original GM# 3676239.

Seventh picture is an NOS GM# 368244 spring found on Ebay that clearly matches up with the description of the clutch pedal return spring and looks nothing like the original anti-rattle spring.

fonz8261 - Just my $.02 worth here but I think you could validly acquire and use a couple of the GM# 368244 springs as your anti-rattle springs as that's what would have been available as replacements for broken/missing springs after your truck was built. If you really want a spring to match with the picture in the 1947 Shop Manual, I'd measure the hook holes between the upper and lower support arms and take that measurement with the other details here (long hook ends and approximately 16 coils) and search through your local hardware stores to see what you can find to closely match up. In my minds eye, the spring should be just taught when hooked through both arm holes with the hood in the raised position so you can just see a little daylight between the coils (as shown in Ricks 47 picture) to act as the "anti-rattle" springs as they were meant to be.

Edit Note: I see fonz has already found the spring I mentioned on Ebay.

A survivor spring. What are the odds of sourcing an original, or a modern replacement that mimics this OEM spring?

I think it will be pretty easy to find a spring pretty close to that. I have a giant coffee can with every size and type of spring you can imagine.

Just start searching the internet for assorted springs, return springs, etc. You'll find millions.

I just did a search and found one nearly identical to that one. Same length with a slightly longer coil stack. It was $19 at Loading Dock Pro. P

What you really need to know is the spring rate and their initial tension.
Dorman Help sells various multi packs of assorted springs , many of which look like yours. You can find them at O Reilly, Advance, Auto Zone, etc. Look at Dorman's site or the part store sites.

How well does the hood close without the anti-rattle springs? There is a reason why GM discontinued using those on the later model ADs, such as deeming not necessary.
Other than having anti-rattle springs, are there any difference between your hinges and those on the later model hinges?

The driver's side hood hinge support arms on my 1948 Chevy 1/2 ton (April 1948 build) have the holes only--no spring. The passenger side hood hinge support arms lack the holes/spring. The arms on both side appear to be similar, other than the cited holes.

The hood open and closes with no issues.

I am not able to comment on what difference the spring makes.

My guess, and I can't stress 'guess' strongly enough, is that these springs may have been there to take up the slack in the hinge rivets during the hood adjustment phase.
The later instructions for the hinges made later without the springs involves putting a 4" wood block at the nose of the truck, them push down on the rear of the hood until it contacts the hood seal, then tighten up the hinge bolts. This procedure was specifically described to take up the slack in the hinge rivets.

Here are a few more images showing partial springs and the reference to the part GM part #3676239

My local hardware has a board with springs on it for comparison. There must be 50 or so there, with bins around the corner for each type. Haven't seen that type of display at the big box hardware places. With the dimensions you posted above, I could probably find one that's pretty close. The other option might be to buy some spring wire and build one yourself. It would take winding the wire around a correctly sized dowel to allow for springback, then forming the end hooks. If I were to try that, the first attempt would look pretty ugly. LOL!