The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop 55 2nd series hood

Should the hood pop up when latch is released? I have to pick up the hood with one hand and release latch with the other, not real easy to do.

i was just looking through my owners manual for my 55 and it has a picture (and section) of the hood release mechanism and it shows it should have a spring that pushes it up.......i understand your problem as my 55 2nd 4400 series big bolt has no hood springs on the hinges (and weighs probably close to 200 pounds) and is really hard to open.

Thanks, I found a operators manual on line and I see the spring now if I can just find one.

Thanks again
Larry

please let me know if you find one and where to look,i'm still looking for one.

I have looked all over the internet with no luck, we may have to fabricate one.

Larry

what if you got one off of another vehicle at a junkyard, might be worth a try.

that spring is 55.2 only and may not even have been added the full year, GM dropped it for 56, likely to save a few cents, because it doesn't really help anything, and if you don't get the hood latched tight or if things are worn, the hood might pop up enough to be caught by the wind - they may have had warranty calls over that .... all it does is pop the hood up a finger width if it's working, and you'll still have to hold the latch with one hand until you lift with the other enough to clear the safety catch .... as a 1 year only item you'll have a hard time finding one, learn to do without, it's not hard

Bill

I might have to live with it but the hood is hard to grip with arthritis in my hands and just a little lift would make it easier to grip. But like I was told when I was a lot younger life is not supposed to be easy.

Thanks for the info

Larry

if I can explain clearly, try this - when you pull the latch turn your hand/wrist so that the heel of your hand is pushing up just below the ridged front part of the hood as the catch releases the first notch, that pushes the hood up enough to get your other hand under it .... works for my tired old bod

Bill

I agree I need to improve my technique, I will try your suggestion.

Thanks

Larry

Mine didn't have the spring. The method Bill (not me) describes to open it works great.

For your arthritis: You can possibly use a "popper". You may be able to unlatch with a popper and open with gas struts. Also , if you search on Ebay under "hood popper" you will see many hood poppers and hood springs (mostly from Mopars) that may work on the Chevy. If you are good at searching ebay and very patient, you will find an original spring. You may have to buy the whole hood to get the spring. Also someone here will have one. Put a notice in "parts wanted". New hood springs would not hurt either. Hammer your hood hinge rivets tighter (if sloppy) and oil.

I tried red58's method of opening it today and it works well so I guess I will live with it. I plan to pull the motor and change transmissions so when I have the hood off I will replace springs and make sure all the hardware is good.

Thanks to everyone for helping.

Larry