Hood wont shut right???

[shane72_383]

When i go to shut the hood on my 72 chevy, the front shuts but the pack picks up, and the sides almost rub the fenders in the front and the back there is a mile wide gap. Also when i pull the latch it does nothing, i have to hold the hatch and stick my fingers in there and pry and its really irritating. Any help on this would be appreciated. Thanks

[Jim_PA]

It sounds like your hinges are shot, along with a horrible hood alignment.

You can adjust the hood at the top of the hinge where it bolts to the hood, and at the bottom of the hinge where it bolts to the fender.

I would grease the hinges thoroughly (I drenched mine with WD40, and my hood opens and closes easily again..), and then start making small adjustments, to see if you can't improve what you have. If you can see marks on the hinges where the washers made marks from the original alignment, I'd start by trying to line up the bolts with those marks.

[crazy longhorn]

Hood hinges/alignment....AAACK! Here is how I fixed mine... http://community.webshots.com/user/hotrodhorn L

[jamon8]

these trucks have bad hinges

I cant really picture what you are talking about in your description, pictures would help

[Huck]

To get the back down with existing hinges---open hood----loosen the three bolts that attach hinge to fender (both sides). Now push the hood up till the hinges stop moving, ---now push it open a bit more to preload the hinges. Tighten hinges. (two people make it a lot easier--hehehe) now carefully lower the hood--this may take a few adjustments to get it to sit just right (height wise). You may need to adjust the hood front to rear to allow for proper clearance with the cowl.
As far as pop up---these hinges have like 6-8 pivot points that should be clean and lubed for best action. Sometimes you can get them to pop up a bit but not necessarly. Flush out the hinge pivot points and lube with oil or lithum grease. Should be fine~~.

[Orange]

Mine does exactly what you are describing.
I have a hood sensor on my alarm and it won't go down far enough sometimes to even keep it tripped. I can walk around the truck and manually push the hood down on the sides toward the rear about 1" or more.

With the hood up, I can see slop in the hinges. If I make the motion like raising/lowering the hood then there is free play at the pivot points, not just pivoting like they should be.

I guess my question should be - who's the best source for good quality hood hinges? Mine are currently painted the same color as my truck, but I would like something that would look nice. Not chrome necessarily, but something nice, and a quality hinge.

[69rut]

Could be you need to oil the hinges. Sounds like the hinge may be holding the hood up because it is not compressing all the way down.

[dan04103]

Check your hinge bolts/rivets for slop. Mine had same symptoms and one day went to open hood and the bracket broke on the bad pivot. I simply took off the hinge assembly and drilled the hole out to 1/2 inch (bigger hole of the two) and then took grade8 bolt and self-locking nut and fender washers and now the hinge is much stronger than stock. Works great! Just my experience.

[matthufham]

shot hood hinges, mine and many others have this problem

[Orange]

Originally Posted by matthufham

shot hood hinges, mine and many others have this problem

So is what dan04103 posted the fix, or buying new hinges all together the ticket?
Or, just whatever you want to do?

[bossrod]

I would say "new hinges" and, they are still available (brand new) through a good Chevy dealership.

Originally Posted by Orange

So is what dan04103 posted the fix, or buying new hinges all together the ticket?
Or, just whatever you want to do?