620 Hood Alignment and Latch Problems Unexplained

[Cardinal Grammeter]

Dealing with some issues that simply don't make any sense:

 

HOOD IS 1/8" TOO FAR TO RIGHT:

 

Hood sides are parallel to the fenders.

 

The latch assemblies do not have enough lateral adjustment to align.

 

And here is the mystery:  both hinge arms are not centered in the firewall holes - they are both offset to the right.

 

I suppose I could simply add spacers to one side of the hinge arms and call it quits - so what if the arms are not centered in the firewall holes.

 

LATCH SPRING TOO WEAK - WILL NOT SUPPORT WEIGHT OF HOOD:

 

When I pull the hood release, the spring is not strong enough to pop the hood up to the safety hook.

 

In fact, simply supporting the hood, by hand, from the collar on the spring bottom results in the spring compressed almost an inch.  The spring should be strong enough to support the hood weight when fully extended, collar on the locking barb.

 

The spring looks way too weak - pretty much the size of coat hanger wire.

 

SAFETY HOOK IS TOO LOW:

 

When the hood is popped and one the safety hook, it is now at the proper height to align with the fenders.  And at this height, the manual release tab is barely accessible due to the minimal clearance between the grille and hood.

 

There is no point in vertical adjustment of the main latch barb since this will not fix the safety hook.

 

To make this right, I'd need at least a 1/4" spacer between the top latch and the hood.

______________________________

 

 

First question is was this truck in a wreck?  I don't think so.  The front bumper has some buckling along the top edge in the center which makes no sense since you would expect tension along that edge if the bumper was hit in the center.  It appears to follow the core support properly.  I just can't see any evidence of collision.  For one thing, the cab rust has not been "disturbed" by any collision.

 

Did I end up with the wrong latch?

 

Or is this typical?

 

Or?  :confused:

 

NOTE:  This truck had the latches removed and hood pins installed.  So the OE parts/adjustment are long gone.

[DanielC]

Usually when putting body parts on a pickup cab, you put the doors on, and align them to the cab.  Then you put the hood on, and align that to the cab, or cowl.  Then the fenders are aligned to the doors, hood, and cab.   It is not uncommon to have to make some compromises to fit everything.

[GRpufnstuf]

my spring is definitely weak sauce like yours.  i've contemplated swapping it out but haven't begun the search for a replacement.  

I'll have to look at my cowl to see if hinges are off.

[distributorguy]

I made shims for my spring.  Offsets to the side are going to be misalignments.  Aftermarket replacement hood?  Those suck - made totally wrong and the latch mechanism doesn't line up!

[bilzbobaggins]

I've always found that I like to have the hinges that went with the hood. Never had luck replacing a hood or trunk using the ones that were already on the vehicle. Good luck sir

[Cardinal Grammeter]

This is no show truck, so I did the following to "get-r-done:"

 

• Moved hood forward about 1/8" at the RHS hinge arm (this eliminated no gap at the RHS front)
• Slotted the top latch to move more rearward
• Shimmed top latch 1/4" to get hood front height good relative to safety latch hook
• Installed an inner spring to supplement the weak stock spring.  (found spring that fit nicely over the M10 latch pin at hardware store - I highly recommend this)