Hood fun on the Highway

[MadMax78]

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Hope you all had a great day. Just wanted to drop a line and give you all a laugh and a word of advice. I didn't really know where this should go but since it is now modified I thought this was a good place. I was working on the Cherokee this afternoon and noticed that the hood was popped. I told myself that I should close it and promptly forgot about it. Fast forward a few hours and it is time to take a guest home. I'm taking my time to get out to the highway enjoying driving the Jeep. Turn left and get up to speed having fun and wham!! The hood flies up and I get a new streak in my drawers. As well as my wife and our guest as well probably. That's one way to keep a guest from coming back. Try to kill them. 15 minutes on the side of the road trying to get the hood to close and we are on our way again. Yay!! get to the turn to said guests road and dog puke all over back seat and guests bag. Get pulled over before everyone else starts to puke and we all bail. Get cleaned up and guest dropped off. Head home and look at hood and the night is done. What a day.

Question: How do I fix the hood so it will open and close again with no issues? I see that the supports have pulled away from the hood and now it catches on the back of the cowl now. The hinges look ok. Is it fixable or do I need another hood now?

[bigun]

New hood time! Don't ask me how I know, I'll just say hood pins are your friend

[Dusty]

ditto!

Been there done it a time or....................

[MadMax78]

Figured as much but wanted to verify it first. Will the hinges be ok? They look ok. I don't see any issues with them. Anyone have a good used hood for a 78 Cherokee for sale in the Central Arkansas area?

[Stuka]

It could be an issue with either or both. That's a lot of force being applied to them.


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[MadMax78]

Is there anyway to tell what exactly needs replacing? I have a line on a hood for $100 (no hinges) but that seems steep to me. It is in a little better shape seeing how mine has hail damage bur ar least mine is the same color as the jeep. I love my jeep.

[MadMax78]

Are all hoods interchangeable? I have a line on a replacement and want to make sure I get the correct hood.

[Tatsadasayago]

All the standard FSJ hoods are the same in shape. The differences are in the latch/lock assemblies, trim/chrome holes and some obviously have the pot metal bar in the center. Hoods that came without the bar are often not drilled. If you have the razor grille as shown in your avatar and the bar is intact, just about any hood will work as you have all the pieces.
Nowdays, 75-100 for a decent hood is a good price. J&W wants 250.00 - 350.00 for them as an example.
Pick-n-pulls get 60.00 ea for them in comparison.

[Stuka]

All the standard FSJ hoods are the same in shape. The differences are in the latch/lock assemblies, trim/chrome holes and some obviously have the pot metal bar in the center. Hoods that came without the bar are often not drilled. If you have the razor grille as shown in your avatar and the bar is intact, just about any hood will work as you have all the pieces.
Nowdays, 75-100 for a decent hood is a good price. J&W wants 250.00 - 350.00 for them as an example.
Pick-n-pulls get 60.00 ea for them in comparison.

Rhino grill hoods are different. They made the stamping simpler when they went to full width grills. But otherwise they are all the same.


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[MadMax78]

Thanks guys. Looks like I have a trip ahead of me as I need the hood asap. My Hamilton fuel injection arrived yesterday.

[ProTouring442]

New hood time! Don't ask me how I know, I'll just say hood pins are your friend

Yup, been there, done that. In my case, the hood latches were miss-adjusted by the P.O., and I didn't realize it. I was able to bend the hood back into good enough shape to allow it to work properly, but the only real cure is to replace it.

Instead of hood pins, I used aftermarket side latches made for a late model Wrangler.

[MadMax78]

I was able to loosen the hinges at the firewall and raise them enough for the hood to work again. Wife does not like the idea of a red hood on a yellow jeep. Is adamant that I fix the one on it. Even after I said it couldn't be. What am I a magician? the red one does not have the holes for the hood bar that I can tell. Still need to get it. How hard is it to drill the holes correctly?

[Tatsadasayago]

Not hard at all MM.
The last one I did I laid down some painters tape on the hood then aligned the center brace rod with the hole in the underhood bracing then pushed the two mounting studs into the tape making an impression. You can refer to your other hood for the proper sized hole to drill.
Hopefully you have the brace rod, spacers and fasteners on hand still or get everything needed.

[Atla]

I just put a set of hood pins on my Jeep TJ, it was a pretty simple process. There is a lot of sketchy foot traffic by my house so I've always worried someone would walk over and pop my hood latches for giggles. Now when I get in the driver seat I can see the pins so no worries.

For an FSJ, you could just drill and swap out the Hood Bumpers for Pins.