Best way to adjust hood? 53???

[b00sted]

I was wondering what th etrick was to get a hood to sit flat .. My drivers side never lays down correctly and the entire hood push's towards the passenger side.. As you can see in this picture...

[mr48chev]

I'm no expert by a long shot but I have fought with these hoods for over 35 years.

First, is the cab mounted square on the frame and are all of the cab mounts in good shape? If the cab isn't sitting like it is supposed to the hood will never fit right.

Second, are the firewall to fender rods in place to keep the fenders squared up and is the front clip square on the truck?

These things are somewhat a progression in that the cab has to sit right on the frame before you can make anything else fit and the front clip has to be squared away before the hood will sit down right.

From the looks of things you need to loosen the bolts on the left hood hinge and slip it down a bit and back a bit. You have to reach up under the dash to reach at least one of the bolt heads.

Also if you don't have the stepped bolts in the hinges the thing will never fit right. That is the special bolts that have the step/shoulder that fit the holes in the hinges correctly. This also applies to the hood spring hinges.

It is all trial and error until you seem to error in the right direction and get the best fit you can.

I've found out the hard way that if you don't have the firewall to fender rods in place the fenders won't stay lined up the way you want and you tend to get way more squeaks than you want to deal with.

[b00sted]

Originally Posted by mr48chev

I'm no expert by a long shot but I have fought with these hoods for over 35 years.

First, is the cab mounted square on the frame and are all of the cab mounts in good shape? If the cab isn't sitting like it is supposed to the hood will never fit right.

Second, are the firewall to fender rods in place to keep the fenders squared up and is the front clip square on the truck?

These things are somewhat a progression in that the cab has to sit right on the frame before you can make anything else fit and the front clip has to be squared away before the hood will sit down right.

From the looks of things you need to loosen the bolts on the left hood hinge and slip it down a bit and back a bit. You have to reach up under the dash to reach at least one of the bolt heads.

Also if you don't have the stepped bolts in the hinges the thing will never fit right. That is the special bolts that have the step/shoulder that fit the holes in the hinges correctly. This also applies to the hood spring hinges.

It is all trial and error until you seem to error in the right direction and get the best fit you can.

I've found out the hard way that if you don't have the firewall to fender rods in place the fenders won't stay lined up the way you want and you tend to get way more squeaks than you want to deal with.

Thanks allot.. I am about to go ahead and take this old truck apart and just rebuild it... I think this is the only way I am going to get it back right...

[mylow53]

now there's a problem. i had to replace my right side hinge because of the slop. while it was out i wollered out the mounting holes. even then it was still off on the drivers side. my next step is to bend the hinge arms down. i think that would fix it.. good luck
GT

[pgf545]

Before you blow it apart for a rebuild you might want to spend a little time trying to get it squared up. That way you know it will fit once you get it taken apart and trying to get it back together. I wouldn't go to crazy but spend a day just looking over it and trying to make sure things are square. It will take a lot of questions out of your head later on. I am running into that now cause the truck I am working on now was already taken apart when 'i got on it and now things just don't seem right. So I am spending a lot of time checking and double checking thing trying to get everything squared up. If that had been done before hand I would have know how everything fit. Hope that makes sense?????

Also take lots of pictures for reference later on...especially things that are a little tricky to remember how they come apart and go back together.

Bernie