Help!
 

i've got a bit of a situation on my hands. i was working on the '86 today, and figured out why it wouldnt fire. but the battery that was in it was toast. so i put the battery from my '93 in it so i could take it for a test drive. something isnt quite right with the trans, so i figured just park it, and then mess with it later. i went to take the battery out, and when i pulled on the hood release, nothign happened. either my cable broke or someone decided to be funny and disconnect it. this leave me with 2 undrivable trucks. does anyone know how to open the hood without using a release cable?

did the handle bust inside the truck?
on the drivers side remove the inner fender(remove tire of course)
the cable from the cab runs right there ,,,may be able to pull there?
or else youwill have to remove the front grill to release:D

I've had this happen as well. :mad: I pushed directly on the hood above the latch with both hands firmly. Did that a few times and it released. I greased the latch assembly and haven't had a problem since. :)

If that doesn't work, you may be able to open it by reaching up in front of the radiator. :bowtie:

im currently trying to get a piece of thick wire hooked around it to release it. i think my cable may have come off, as i can hear it moving around when i push and pull the inside of the handle. but, im not positive thats the case. i cannot confirm this as i am home alone right now. anybody wanna swing by and give me a had, i'd greatly appreciate it. :D

removing the grille isnt an option, as some of the screws that hold it in are covered by the hood. i hate the way these things are put together, but boy dont they look good?

You can sometimes reach up through the grille with a long screwdriver and trip the latch. I've done on trucks before.

what swervin said but you can also fabricate some kind of tool outta a piece of rod if you have to i did that once to get the hood open on my old F250

i got it, finally. i got tired of playing with it and decided to limp it to a bodyshop where i have a couple of friends. we took a piece of 1/4" thick steel and tweaked the front of the hood just enough to get to the bolts that hold the latch to the core support. once we got the bolts out the hood opened right up. it was then that we determined that the cable had come off the latch. i attached teh cable, bolted the latch back to the core support, and closed the hood. opened back up just fine. then took a big ford tool (read:hammer) and pounded the inner part of the hood back in place. looks good as new, works just as well.