This hood is killing me!

[Jag Red 54]

Jim, Mid-fifties sells the basic system. You'll have to make your own small side rods if you need them. I have been thinking about your problem. The general concensus is that when putting the dog house back on the front of the cab, you start with the rad support, then you align the hood. After the hood is right, you put on the inner fenders, out fenders and the gravel guard. Did you remove the whole doghouse or just the hood? Jag

[Randy Jack]

Jim -

Have you played with lengthening the strut rods between firewall and fender corners? When I initially adjusted my front sheet metal, I found that they were essential in establishing the rear gaps and setting the two sides symmetrically. I was amazed how much the corners could move. I had to slot some of the fender attach holes at the cowl.

Mind you, with my front tilt, I was wracking the whole mess. But it seems to me that on a stock setup, where the hood is set first, these rods should be able to push the fender corners into alignment and hold them there. Of course, you'd have to loosen the fender attach bolts at the rear of the front fenders and the inner fender attach bolts at the firewall to let it all slide.

That would address the gap between hood and fenders at the front. As to the hood "hokey-pokey" at the rear corners, or the hood rear gap, I have no clue.

[AXracer]

My suggestion: Most try to align the rest, then do the hood. As stated above the hood is aligned first then the rest of the front clip is aligned to it. First I will assume the frame to cab mounts are in good condition with good rubber and cab mounted straight. You'll never get the front right if the cab is crooked. Start with the radiator support horseshoe with all the front sheetmetal off the truck. Make sure the rubber isolator under it is in good shape, not hard/cracked/missing, the bolts are free. Put the truck front end on jackstands under front of frame, level front to back on frame and side to side on cowl seam. CAREFULLY adjust the horseshoe until the top is level, the distance from the front support rod mounts on the firewall to the top corner of the horseshoe is equal side to side. Add the wind deflectors to the sides of the radiator support, only snugging the bolts. remove the hood latch plate from the latchplate strip and mount the strip to horseshoe and deflectors. Adjust the deflectors as needed until the strip is also level and square to cowl, tightening the bolts in several steps like tightening a head on an engine. Set the hood in place without hinges, verify that you can get the hood to match up to the cowl with an even gap (hood gap will be larger than the 1/4" we usually try for when aligning sheetmetal, just the nature of the beast, you did replace the cowl windlacing didn't you?) Try placing temporary 1/4" spacers between the hood edges and the front hood latch strip to simulate the front rubber hood bumpers. If the hood won't align, you need to find out why before proceeding, likely the cab mounts need adjusting. If the front of the hood is decidedly off center the cab isn't square to the frame.
Once you have the hood sitting properly and evenly gapped around the cowl, remove it and add the rest of the front sheet metal, tightening all the bolts just finger tight. add the front end support rods with the adjusters just touching the front brackets. Make sure you have all the hood to fender bumpers in place and they are not hard or damaged.
Now set the hood back in place as before. This will likely take two people, but align the rear of each fender with the edge of the hood and the front even with the front of the hood. Don't worry if they droop a bit in the front. Snug all the bolts between the fender and cowl, inner fender, and lower valance pan, leaving the fender to wind deflectors and lower brace just finger tight. Repeat on other side. Now adjust the support rods to bring the front of the fenders up to align with hood. Additional tightening will bring the center of the fender to hood alignment up and the front edge of the fender back, tighten until you are satisfied with the fender to hood fit, then tighten the deflector to fender bolts and the fender support strut. Hopefully all of this has put the frame horns centered in the cutouts in the lower pan. If not you can adjust some by bending the support struts to move the bottom of the fenders side to side.
Finally you are ready to hinge the hood! First look in my "misc gallery" for the hinge pictures, remove the springs and be sure the hidden hinge pivot shown is not frozen and working freely. Even new hinges can have this pivot tight or paint frozen, and if tight the hood will never close properly! Bolt the hinges to the cowl just snug enough to support the hood, and bolt the hinges to the hood with the proper shoulder bolts and wavy washers, tighten the shoulder bolts just slightly more than finger tight, NO TIGHTER! Now carefully close the hood. Adjust the hood hinge to cowl location until the hood closes without excessive drag on windlace or contact with cowl or fenders. The hood should set down in the same alignment as before hinges were attached. Once the hood is opening and closing smoothly tight hinge mount bolts, and add a safety wire thru the heads of the shoulder bolts so they cannot loosen. Finally add the lower latch mechanism to the latch plate panel. Adjust the latch plate until the hood latches smoothly and sits properly. If the rear of the hood doesn't pull down by itself (and that pesky pivot is free), adjust the latch plate further forwards to pull the hood forwards as it latches, that should get the rear of the hood to come down.
Take your time to get each step exactly right before going on and everything should align and work better than when it came out of the factory!

[raerjim]

Now THAT'S what I'm talkin about! I must say I was hoping for a simpler fix. Body work intimidates the soup outta me. Thanks AX. I'm gonna print this and keep it till I have a weekend to do this job.. As I said, I wrung off one hinge plate bolt, and one was stripped when I began monkying with it. Are they "knockoutable" and replaceable?

[mt54]

One other adjustment you can try : Warning its alot of work:
If you loosen your fender at the cowl as well as the inner fenders, and the running board attachment at the lower fender. You can use you supports from the cowl to the rad suport to push the whole assy.forward to match the fenders.

[Holmsey]

Thanks AX I have done mine as close as I could on my own, and have started the rest of the build now. But will follow your instructions sometime in the future, maybe next winters rebuild ;o) Thanks again.

[AXracer]

Originally Posted by raerjim

Now THAT'S what I'm talkin about! I must say I was hoping for a simpler fix. Body work intimidates the soup outta me. Thanks AX. I'm gonna print this and keep it till I have a weekend to do this job.. As I said, I wrung off one hinge plate bolt, and one was stripped when I began monkying with it. Are they "knockoutable" and replaceable?

Since the nut plates are accessable there are a few different fixes possible:drill and tap for the next sized bolt, drill thru and use a loose nut on top the one that's there with a longer bolt, grind off the one that's there and replace it with a loose nut, grind it off and tack weld a new nut in place. Adjusting the sheetmetal isn't body work it's just bolting on parts and moving them around until the all fit together properly.PS, there is no real reason to tighten any of the bolts so tight that you strip or break them. If they are rusty replace with new ones and use lock washers or lock nuts to keep from loosening. It's so much easier to work with new hardware it's well worth the money to replace. I've been replacing all mine with SS button head cap screws and nylock nuts.

[raerjim]

AX, your 56 must be different than my 55. There are no nuts welded to the hinge plate on mine. It has what appear to be 5/16th" carriage bolts pressed into the housing from the back side. only difference I can see with the bolts is that the heads are round and flat instead of round and domed like a conventional carriage bolt. Looking at the hinges in your gallery, it appeared that you had the same setup. perhaps not. I did not strip the one, but I did somehow manage to wring the one off. 52 years old, I'd be weakened too.

[raerjim]

Based on what AX and RJ said, I went out to the garage and measured the distance, at running board level, from the rear of the front fender and the front of the rear fender. There is approx. 3/8" to 1/2" difference, with the drivers side being about 3/8" longer. For example, the left front fender is 3/8" further forward than the opposite. I had hoped it would be just the opposite, because the leading edge of the hood sticks out about that same 3/8" past the edge of the fender. I had hoped to just slide the LF fender forward, as the right side is not that bad. AX, I may not be using bondo or hammer and dolly, but if I'm working on the body, it's bodywork..

[AXracer]

You're right Jim, I was thinking about the fender to cowl bolts not the hinges. I don't plan to use the stock hinges, so I had not looked at or thought about them for some time, sorry. Still could be drilled out and replaced with button head allen cap screws tack welded to the hinge or left loose. I would not recommend using hardware store carriage bolts, they are the cheapest softest bolts made. I would do all my measuring off reference points on the chassis rather than from body part to body part wherever possible or at least from more fixed references like the door pillars or hinges, fenders were made to be able to be moved around. I really wonder if your cab and/or hood is centered on the chassis, a slight angle can put one corner of the hood well ahead of the other even if the fenders are equally forwards and back.

[CIAF]

All this makes me want to stay hoodless. But RJ says it needs a hood and I agree.
Chuck, hope u r feeln btr.
Jon

[mt54]

Originally Posted by mt54

One other adjustment you can try : Warning its alot of work:
If you loosen your fender at the cowl as well as the inner fenders, and the running board attachment at the lower fender. You can use you supports from the cowl to the rad suport to push the whole assy.forward to match the fenders.

Sorry RJ,
Apparently when I posted this, I never saw page two of the posts, Didn't mean to post the same info.

[55FordLover]

WOW....i never knew it would take that much to get my hood to align and close properly....seems like an endless weekend of work and much deserved BEER afterwards...that's why this is the BEST Forum on the planet....share and care for a operating and driveable mechanical eased BEAST that was only produced for 4yrs!!!!!!

[Randy Jack]

James -

Yes, there is a lot of adjusting ahead of you. The beauty of Henry's design is that all is possible with enough patience.

Perhaps when you are done and successful, you will add to the body of knowledge that makes this site so wonderful.

You go, Dude!

[raerjim]

UPDATE: I ordered a new hinge assembly for the drivers side from NPD, and a new spring for the right side. The spring only was a mistake. I should have got 2 new hinges. I installed the drivers side hinge today, and after MUCH adjusting, the cowl/hood rear edge seam is about 25% better than it was when I started. The gap is reduced from 1/2" on the drivers side, to about 3/8" or slightly less.. It was not a total waste tho, as the hood stays up much better, and also closes better, with the rear no longer needing to be pushed down.I am going to return the spring and get another hinge for the pass. side. I am convinced that to get everything to line up correctly, the front end will have to be removed and reassembled per AX's directions.