I tried putting on the hood yesterday. the hinges I got are original and don't want to pull the back down all the way. Soaking them now to see if that will help. I know others have had trouble as well. Wondering if going to a forward tilt system would be better. Not really what I wanted to do but would like the hood to close as well. Could use your thoughts on getting new hinges, working the old ones, forward tilt systems please. Truck will be a bit of a show piece so how things look is important to me as well.
Marten

 

Abe had some issues with hood hinges some time back, Maybe he will pipe in or you can search his posts. The hood on my 55 has always been wonky, I think the springs are on wrong or something. Good luck on getting yours to work to your satisfaction, I'll keep my fingers crossed, keep us updated.

 

Post #5 in this thread is what worked for me. It worked so well, in fact, it pulled the hood down too far and it chipped the paint on the cowl.

Hood alignment - cowl side doesn't want to sit down - Ford Truck Enthusiasts Forums (ford-trucks.com)

Nothing worked until I read about "step two", somewhere on FTE. That turned out to be the key to everything else.

 

anybody still have a copy of the 'hood hokie-pokie' song... old timers only..

computer crash got mine years ago

 

Another question, looking on ebay there is the US Stock version for $178 and the CPP version for $426. Both seem to have the same parts and description. That is a huge difference. Is there a difference? Looks like one may be made in China but wondering if all the parts would still work. Feedback for both seem to be the same. I'm so confused by the price difference. Don't want to get screwed.

 

I'm pretty sure the $178 version is the same ones that CPP sells and likely the same guys that are making them. I built my own copying the first kit I bought for my panel and posted the plans in my pickup build thread..

 

I bought the cheaper ebay kit and it worked fine.

 

I'm glad to hear that the US Stock kit works well. I had planned to build my own but for the price I think I'll just order the US Stock kit!

 

So my struggles continue. Hoping people read this and can help. I have taken the hinges back off. Now the hood is just lying on the fenders. On the drivers side I can get the hood to line up nicely. Hard to see in picutes but the gap is fairly even all the way along. I'm happy with it.


I have pushed and pulled the cab as much as I could. Moved the fenders as much as I can and still have these gaps and the front of the hood will not line up with the fenders. It was worst when I started but am out of adjustments.



And to add to my grief the hood was bowed up a little to much at the cowl so I thought I could give it a little bit of CPR and push it down. A big pop was heard and when I turned it over found this. I can cut out a small piece and replace it but I think someone had played with this once before. That hole had the nut to hold the rods to the cowl end of the hood.

Fixing the hole I can do. Not sure where to turn for panel alignment. Would going to a forward tilt hood help this. I am looking to build my running boards so the hood can wait but I want to make sure that any changes I make now will not affect the boards. When I measure the whole front end from various points including checking for square, everything lines up great with the fire wall. The truck is sitting level as well. The frame is square as well. I know the trucks are not perfect but thought it should be closer then this. Seems like I would have to move the whole grill, rad, rad support assembly to the passenger side by at least 1/4-3/8" but there is no adjustment in the horseshoe shaped rad support to do that. My other solution would be to move forward with everything, get a forward tilt system and then cut and rework the hood to suit the opening.
Any help would be great.

 

Are you sure your cab is sitting on the frame square..?

 

An old trick I was taught long ago from an old-timer was to set the hood on the garage floor and make sure all 4 corners are touching, If not fix it, otherwise the hood will never fit correctly on the truck.

 

Any which way I measure everything comes out square and equal from side to side. This is why I'm so confused. Wondering if I should move on. When I get either a forward tilt kit or figure out the hinges, I should just cut and reweld the hood to suit the rest of the truck.

 

No offence intended but all the edges are still so wavy I don't see how you can tell how the gaps are going to end up.

 

If you can't get the fit right without hinges then the type of hinge won't matter . But it does look as though your hood has some issues and the lower cowl on the drivers side may be a little off . If it were me I think I would start by sanding all of the edges down to metal to eliminate any body fill interference . That being said from what I can see you may want to find another hood .

 

First time I've quoted myself but- thanks EBEAR, you said what I was thinking and said it better than I did.