Probably an easy question but I'm a noob. My hood doesn't latch, can someone tell me if the latch under the hood dowel is broken? And the latch on the left is that supposed to be there or did someone add it because the other one is broke?

 

The safety latch on the left is supposed to be there. If it is bent in real life as it appears in the foto, I would remove and straighten it. You didn't include a pic of the dowel, so it's hard to say if it has issues also.

 

All looks fine to me in the photo, my first guess would be the dowel need to be adjusted to make longer. It probably is not making it past the catch lever in the latch to hold the hood down. The latch to the left is factory and there as a safety, that is a lot of steel to catch wind if it is not held down.

 

Last post was right on. Even when it works right on my 55, it is hard to get both latches to release easily at the same time to raise the heavy hood. Doesn't help with my bad shoulder. Could be the bent safety latch on the left is keeping the main latch from connecting and latching the hood down properly. Possibly remove the safety latch for straightening if needed and see if the mail latch then connects.

 

Great, thanks a bunch guys!

 

Does the catch (for the hood dowel with the spring) move back and forth, or is it stuck with paint?

 

No it's not stuck it moves freely. It just doesn't move very far which made me wonder if some of it was missing...Hard to tell what's going on in there when you cant see it. I need a small child with a flashlight ;-)

 

I took mine off completely as I reversed the hood tilt. If you find you need any of the parts let me know as I will not be using them.

 

OK cool thanks. Need to try some adjusting first I guess...

 

On mine it kinda of tough. Pull safety latch in, lower hood, reslease safety latch AFTER it clears hood. Walk around and push hood hinges down on both side, hold regular latch open, push down on the nose of the hood, hold hood down and release latch....if everything is lined up it should be latched shut.