need help - limp hood springs

[full foot notch]

so just bought a 72 c10 and the hood only seems to stay about 25-50% of the way up on its own and if you try to raise it to full height it just comes back down to the 25-50% mark, got to do the ole wedge a broomstick in the engine bay if you want to work on it. I did a basic search here and it said to make sure the hinges were not greased as it uses some of the friction to help hold up and I looked and they do not look to have any topical grease on them. one thing is that they look powder coated silver or maybe an aftermarket silver hinge set ( I can get pics later today ). is it the hinge, is it the springs, if its the springs where would a good set of springs be to order and how hard to change. I had looked at the billet hinges with the gas strut but im not comfortable right now spending $500-600 on a pair at the current moment. all help would be appreciated.

[geezer#99]

I had a hood like that.
I pulled the hinges off and squeezed the pivot points in a big vise.