# 73-80 hood not laying flat at windshield



## colorado 54 (Jul 5, 2003)

I bet many of you have seen this, because I sure have on the 73-80 Chevy trucks. When the hood is closed, it does not lay flush with the fenders at the windshield end without pushing it down. I bought replacement hinges at the junkyard for$5 each and it made it better, but not perfect. Is there any alternative other than buying new hood hinges @ 49.99 each in order to make the hood lay flat when closing it? As for as the adjustment on the hinges, I have loosened all 3 bolts on each side, held hood up as high as it will go, and retightened all 3 bolts, each side. I really like this 74 blazer {just dropped $274.00 on weatherstripping to LMC TRUCK.com} And yes the existing hinges are properly oiled at all moving parts, no binding whatsoever. Any suggestions are highly appreciated !


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## snowjoker (Feb 6, 2003)

Sounds like the hood may be bent. My old 77 did the same thing from lack of oiling the hood springs and forcing the hood down.It bent right in front of the spring. BTW welcome to Plowsite:waving:


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## colorado 54 (Jul 5, 2003)

Not the case. I have seen the hoods that have bent from lack of lubrication and I have seen where they bend. I have also seen the hood stiffeners available from J.C.Whitney. I have even seen these brackets on a hood in the junkyard. Believe me, the hood is not bent, it is just when I close it, I have to push it down more at the back to make it lie flush with the fender line.


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## snowjoker (Feb 6, 2003)

Beats me on this one if the hood is not bent. Maybe the holes on the fender are not drilled in the right place I wish i could offer some better advise. Maybe the wyldman knows


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## colorado 54 (Jul 5, 2003)

Thanks for the response snowman. Yea, I don't know if I am missing something or what. I just know I have seen other trucks with the hood sticking up in the back. The only thing I think it might be is that that the 3/8 inch metal stock that has been used at 3 places and attached with a punch seems to have some play [wear] in them and this is the cause of the problem.


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## colorado 54 (Jul 5, 2003)

I meant snow joker


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## wyldman (Jan 18, 2001)

Worn hinges can cause it,as well as a misadjusted hood latch.If the hood latch is adjusted to tight,and the rubber hood height bumpers are missing,or incorrectly set,the hood will ride up at the back.

The other culprit could be the body mounts,especially at the rad crossmember area.When the body sags on the frame it's virtually impossible to get things lines up.

Try adjusting the hinges down in the rear,to help pull the back of the hood down more.


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## wyldman (Jan 18, 2001)

BTW - Welcome to Plowsite :waving:


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## colorado 54 (Jul 5, 2003)

:salute: Thanks for welcoming me to plowsite from wyldman, snowjoker and pelican. I am sure I will have some more questions in the future regarding this 1974 blazer I am working on. I would like to say that it is really nice to find this website that is monitored by people that don't mind sharing their experiences and expertice with others.


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## willis3821 (Jul 13, 2003)

alot of times when i have seen the hoods not sitting flush i have asked the owner have you taken the hood off before i get a 99% of the time yes what they did was they didnt take a marker and place a line across the hing and hood to make sure they are lined back up right. alot of times they just drop it back on and forget to realine the hood right!


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## eamims (May 20, 2002)

I replaced my fenders and when I put the hood back on, I didn't 'rotate' the hood/hinges down far enough before tightening down the hinges to the fenders. There's one bolt slot in the hinge that could be misaligned. It took two people to get it just right. Still it's only 95% perfect, when I shut the hood, I still have to push the back corners down a 1/4" to make them flush. BTW, when I changed fenders I didn't make any adjustments between the hood and hinge (I didn't even disconnect them, thats why it took 2 people to put it back on just right).


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## colorado 54 (Jul 5, 2003)

Before you replaced your fenders, did it lay flat? If so, then I know it is just an adjustment. If it was not laying flat before the fenders were replaced, then I am back to thinking the hinges do just wear out as wyldman said. If they wear out, it must be the play I can see in the pivoting points which are 3 or 4 metal dowels which are peened on one end to keep them from falling out. I am tempted to try removing them from my old set of hinges and replacing them just to see what happens. I am almost out of the woods now, as I had both doors, both fenders and the hood off the truck. The hardest part of this job was the door-fender-hood alignment procedure. I don't mind saying I had to do it over and over until I got it right. This is why the manual says "SCRIBE A MARK OF THE ORIGINAL POSITION BEFORE LOOSENING BOLTS". Once you take everything loose and start over, you are on your own. And the doors are pretty heavy.


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## eamims (May 20, 2002)

I don't remember if it laid flat or not, the fenders were super rusty so the first thing I did was take them off when I bought the truck. The hood however was perfect, not bent at all. I think my problem has something to do with old hinges, because you can gently press it down a 1/4" and it stays just fine. The holes on replacement fenders are not always 100% (ok, in my case, none are) in the right place...you should've have seen how much work I had to do on my replacement bedsides to fit the orignal bed. Also the rear wheelwells....man, I had to redrill/waller half the factory holes to line it up right. I think the cab side of my fenders could come up a hair, but then I have a problem with the original door scraping. It all looks 95% so I don't worry too much.  

The biggest pain I had was that my replacement bedside (right hand with gas hole) had the hole in the wrong place. Since the fuel pipe is rigid, it required me to cut out a 6"x4" hole out of my bed and weld a prism shaped cover to over it. But on a plus note, that forced me to abondon using a drop-in liner, and get Line-X which is the best thing I've done to my truck so far (well, that and the TracRac rack)


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