hi there, nice site you have here. I bought a 1995 f150 yesterday in excellent shape. The only problem is, someone slammed the hood on the hood-prop stick, and bent the hood.

You can see in the pic (below) where the hood is bent. Does anyone have any tips? I tried the obvious...push down on it, no go.

I would rather not mess up the paint fixing it because the paint is still nice.

http://img509.imageshack.us/img509/4...k0010042zq.jpg

 

These trucks don't have a rod that props the hood up. They have springs. That seems a little odd. As for the hood, I would just leave it alone until I could put a new one on it. You could look at salvage yards and maybe find one the correct color with nice paint. If you do change it replace the sticker under it to match your truck. If you start messing with the hood it will probably end up looking worse. You might be able to get it looking a little better but probably not. Someone else might have an idea. A new or salvage hood doesn't cost all that much. Having one painted would be more though. There is a company on ebay that sell paint to match tailgates. Maybe the sell hoods too. I think they are called virtual body shop or something like that. I haven't used them though.

 

Thanks for the quick reply.

I looked at it again and you know what you're right. It has springs. I assumed the hood got closed on the hood-prop because of the way it's bent but there's not one.

I guess it got closed on something else? I'm going to try to make it look better for now. im 16 and this is my first truck so i dont really have much money to blow.

It's not way too bad, it's just bent in the middle on that side only. Just enough to slip your fingers under it. If I can get that gap a little smaller i'll be happy with it.

 

You will probably never get it flat because everytime you open/close the hood it will stress the point that's bent and it will undo any progress you made in getting the hood flat.

Check out the aftermarket --- there's multiple locations that sell aftermarket hoods for these trucks under $100 and painting should be in the $100 to $150 range. Probably not an exact match if your truck is original paint but my guess is that's it's been repainted at least once so it should be pretty close.

 

If the paint isnt damaged-- and the hood metal isnt creased at the bend--I bet that it would be possible to get the hood straight--or straighter than it is now.

I would suggest going to a good body shop and see what they think about it. Or go to a shop that restores antique vehicles. There shouldnt be much labor involved-- you just need someone that knows how to straighten sheet metal.

You may be able to do it youself if you remove the hood from the truck and then place the hood on two wood blocks with the top of the bend between the wood blocks and then carefully with your hand--press down on the crest of the bend slowly--on the edge of the hood--not the middle of the hood panel--that would cause a depression from your hand. Rap your hand in a bathtowel to minmize causing a depression from your hand.Usually the bend is caused by the reinforcement panel on the underside of the hood being bent--not the upper sheet metal panel of the hood.When this reinforcement panel is straightened--the upper panel--if not creased--will straighten.

I have done this to hoods that are still on the car--and was able to gently remove the bend when pressing on the side edge of the hood.But the bend that I removed wasnt as severe as the bend on your hood. Only use your hand--anything else will cause a depression on the surface of the hood.

 

Update-

I jumped on it a couple times it's good now. What do you guys think of the truck over all



I noticed some oil leaking from the hose on the LEFT side of my back axle, it's like a vent hose it runs to the frame and oil is leaking from there every once and a while

now i need to look into that problem, any ideas

 

Is it your brake line?

 

The hood looks good--from what I can see of it.

The leak could be coming from the rear axle vent.It could leaking gear oil--because the axle is over filled.

 

Actually considering you jumped on it to fix it, ya did pretty good lol

 

The rear differential could be overfilled or possibly gotten water in it displacing the gear oil.

 

I put a towel on it and stood where the bend is and bounced up and down and it bent back. It's not perfect but you can't tell anymore. You have to look for it to know it's there.

Truck is at the tire shop right now getting 4 new tires (BFG's). The old ones (the ones in the pic) are about slick..all 4 of em.

Does anyone know what the orange lights are called you see on the roof of dually's and other big trucks and how hard they would be to put on the F150

The line that was leaking oil was the vent hose that comes off the axle and It has since stopped leaking.

 

man thats a pretty truck! I dented my hood also. I have little dents up the center. I just havent seen a red hood at a junk yard yet.

 

thanks man its nice not perfect but when i get done with it i hope its perfect.

here is the other side and thats my pitbull pup standing next to it

 

Check level and condition of the rearend lube just to make sure it doesn't have water in it somehow.

Wish my truck looked that good.

 

There is a vent tube for the rear axle that goes up to the frame. Also could be a brake line.