Hood Won't Close!

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Cdubya27

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Greetings - First time post!!

I recently purchased a 78 C10 in pretty bad shape. You had to really slam the hood to get it closed and the spring on the latch was broken so you had to kind of position the latch in a forward position prior to trying to shut it. Now the hood won't shut and latch at all.

If I lift the lever, I can get the hood to shut all the way, but when I release the lever, it doesn't actually catch the ball and the hood pops right back up. It's as if I just can't get that ball all the way into the receiver.

Anyone with experience in this?

PS...I can tell I'll be an active member on this forum, 'cause this truck needs a LOT of work and I have very little experience. Thanks for your help!
 

1987 GMC Jimmy

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I don't know about the other guys, but I think some pictures would help to illustrate the situation better. GM used that design of hood hinges forever. The trucks finally got something better in 1981. The cars, at least the bigger ones (B/G/F Body), used those kinds of hinges until the traditional car designs died after 1990, and they're something else. I had some in very bad shape where the hood wouldn't close right, it would barely open, it was completely askew open or closed, and you had to hold it open with a baseball bat where there was so much bind there that it would seriously hurt you if it closed back down on you. Anyways, I bought a pair from partshotlines.com sight unseen for $35, and I've never looked back. The difference was night and day. It very well could be an alignment issue, as well, but if those hinges are bent, fatigued, have a broken spring, or are otherwise damaged, I'd replace them first if it were me.
 

HotRodPC

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I think I'm going to go with the broken spring is why it won't latch. I do believe the latch might depend on the spring to keep tension on what you're calling the ball up against the latch mechanism itself to hold it taut and closed. The Spring also doubles as to pop the ball up and out of the hole when the latch is released.
 

bucket

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There's a spring return for the release handle and there's a spring that pops the hood up when the latch releases the striker. If the return spring is broken, that could very well be the problem.

How rusty is the underside of the hood? If the area where the spring and striker mount up is rusted, that can cause the hood not to latch also. What happens is, the spring makes contact with the radiator support and rather than compressing, it pushes the striker and plate upward, causing the striker not to engage the latch completely. You can remove the spring, but it makes it a bitch to get the hood popped open without a big screwdriver.
 

Cdubya27

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Man what a great forum! Thank you guys for your responses.

The Hood has a slight alignment issue on one side...its not too bad but could be enough to cause alignment issues with the latch.
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Here's a pic with my artistic rendering of the missing spring:
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And Here's the latch itself - coated with Lithium Grease:
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I'll see if I can't get a spring today. I think the issue really is the alignment so I'll have to figure out how to move that corner forward...We'll see I guess...
 

Cdubya27

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@bucket - Is this the spring you're referring to?
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I appears to be intact. It just doesn't feel like that Conical Ball (shown in post above) is getting caught by the spring loaded mechanism.
 

bucket

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I don't know what the rest of your gaps look like, but that one is about normal for these old trucks. That striker peg and mounting plate is fully adjustable.

First thing to do is color the striker with a grease pencil, preferably a bright color. Then try to close the hood. This whay you can see where the striker is making contact and then adjust it fore/aft accordingly. You can also adjust the depth that the striker goes into the latch. Simply loosen that big jam nut, then screw the striker in or out. Then tighten up the jam nut again when you have the adjustment correct.
 

bucket

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Also, if you want to try setting your hood/fender gaps, do it without the striker mounted to the hood and without the big spring on the radiator support. It will be much easier that way, then do the striker adjustment procedure.
 

Cdubya27

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Just thought I'd post my results...

I moved the hood forward slightly to even out the front corner. I also added a new spring for the release latch and I was able to extend the conical ball that goes into the receiver. All in all IT WORKED!

Thanks to everyone for your recommendations. I appreciate the advice and encouragement.
 

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There's a spring return for the release handle and there's a spring that pops the hood up when the latch releases the striker. If the return spring is broken, that could very well be the problem.

How rusty is the underside of the hood? If the area where the spring and striker mount up is rusted, that can cause the hood not to latch also. What happens is, the spring makes contact with the radiator support and rather than compressing, it pushes the striker and plate upward, causing the striker not to engage the latch completely. You can remove the spring, but it makes it a bitch to get the hood popped open without a big screwdriver.
So you're saying the spring works oppositie of what I was thinking? The spring does NOT hold tension on the striker at all? :shrug: Or course now I see were talking the older round eye hood too, so we might be talking apples and oranges or maybe even plums.
 

HotRodPC

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Just thought I'd post my results...

I moved the hood forward slightly to even out the front corner. I also added a new spring for the release latch and I was able to extend the conical ball that goes into the receiver. All in all IT WORKED!

Thanks to everyone for your recommendations. I appreciate the advice and encouragement.


Thanks for the update Chris. We always like a come back with the results and what made the repair happen with what did and did not work. :waytogo:
 

bucket

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So you're saying the spring works oppositie of what I was thinking? The spring does NOT hold tension on the striker at all? :shrug: Or course now I see were talking the older round eye hood too, so we might be talking apples and oranges or maybe even plums.

Probably apples to oranges. But at any rate, the big coil spring is only there to pop the hood up to the safety catch when the hood latch itself is released. Otherwise, it's a bitch getting your hand under there to lift the hood.
 

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