Hood prop rod (1 Viewer)

[BILT4ME]

After reading all the folks here that WANT the rod, it surprises me.

I absolutely HATE having a prop rod to support the hood on ANY of my vehicles. I guess to each their own. I find it surprising with some of the stories of the hood falling on your head whether the truck was pointing downhill or in the wind. To me that is lack of PM, but I grew up in cold winter weather, and if the struts on anything even gave a hint of not holding up when it was cold, we changed them. But having a high wind catch a hood with only a prop rod and having THAT hood smack me in the head.....that's a no go for prop rods to me. My Studebaker has a prop rod and it's always in the way to work on it, or is's falling out, or the wind lifts the hood and drops it all. No Thanks. I'll rework them to a McMaster Carr equivalent if I must. I did that with the rear hatch and it's now higher, and still holds it up at -25°F.

Sounds like there are some resources now that the part numbers have been posted.

Good Luck All!

Your choice, they are readily available. IIRC, have replaced my struts, twice, they die. Have had hoods slammed shut by wind gusts, with good/new struts. We sometimes run devices like jackhammer, pressure washer, etc, off of the battery, having the hood slam, short to the clamps would not be a good thing?

You can imagine that it's some huge investment. We collect prop rods on pick & pull runs, the holes are there, pop in a grommet, snap in the clip, done, ~$10 deal, have done lots of them. Rods are simple, solid, more reliable, no "inventing" needed, so pick your poison.

 

[dales33]

Ebay...I got new rear hatch and bonnet struts a few years back and still going fine

 

[flintknapper]

i got the OEM hood prop and ditched my struts and couldn't be happier.

Is there any reason you can't retain the hood struts when adding a hood prop? Does the hood open farther necessitating the removal of the hood struts?

I'd like to have the hood prop just for back up.

 

[Marco Lau]

Is there any reason you can't retain the hood struts when adding a hood prop? Does the hood open farther necessitating the removal of the hood struts?

I'd like to have the hood prop just for back up.

The hood opens higher than the prop. i ditched mine cause they were sagging and also i was having a hard time aligning the hood proper. The prop killed one bird with 2 stones, plus i like the simple design.

 

[flintknapper]

The hood opens higher than the prop. i ditched mine cause they were sagging and also i was having a hard time aligning the hood proper. The prop killed one bird with 2 stones, plus i like the simple design.

So you are saying IF I were to leave the gas struts in place...they hold the hood open higher than the 'prop' is tall?

 

[Marco Lau]

So you are saying IF I were to leave the gas struts in place...they hold the hood open higher than the 'prop' is tall?

yes

 

[flintknapper]

yes

Gotcha, thanks.

So in order to keep my gas struts AND use the hood prop for back up....I could just move the gas strut mounts forward a bit or 'sleeve' the hood prop rod....thereby making it adjustable.

 

[Tools R Us]

So you are saying IF I were to leave the gas struts in place...they hold the hood open higher than the 'prop' is tall?

I have both, works fine, in protected environments the struts are fine, when out, deploy the rod. Have to define "prop rod" some rods are longer than others.

 

[LC4LIFE]

I removed my struts completely. i have never missed them, plus I liked picking up a couple of spots in the fender wells to bolt things like relays or other accessories.

 

[flintknapper]

I have both, works fine, in protected environments the struts are fine, when out, deploy the rod. Have to define "prop rod" some rods are longer than others.

Can't argue that. For clarification: Toyota 53451-60010

 

[1911garand]

The temperature just dropped here in MN. I was installing new battery terminals and winch wiring last week and BAM - effing hood came down and smashed my forehead into the radiator. Struts were fine when 75F, now fail when 40F. Ouch. Will be getting a rod ASAP.

Vice-grip on the strut rod for now.

 

[flintknapper]

The temperature just dropped here in MN. I was installing new battery terminals and winch wiring last week and BAM - effing hood came down and smashed my forehead into the radiator. Struts were fine when 75F, now fail when 40F. Ouch. Will be getting a rod ASAP.

Vice-grip on the strut rod for now.

Wonder if a hood prop can be added to my LX470's hood. It is a much worse offender than my 80 series.

 

[ccslider]

Wonder if a hood prop can be added to my LX470's hood. It is a much worse offender than my 80 series.

Why not just replace the struts??

 

[flintknapper]

Why not just replace the struts??

I have. Struts are less than two years old. They hold the hood up fine in warm weather and if there is no significant wind. But the LX hood is big and also has the grill attached to it. With the factory struts it is very easy to close. So much so...that I am certain a good gust of wind from behind the hood would cause it to begin to close.

I've actually had that happen with my 80 series.

Why continue to replace struts. Even if not used...they are forever slowly losing their nitrogen charge.

 

[flintknapper]

I bought the OEM support rod, grommet and clip from Amayama. They had it in stock and I received it in about 3 weeks. With shipping, I was just under $40

View attachment 1805616

Anyone had trouble getting PayPal to work on this site? I have tried both Amayama and PartSoug. Both return a PayPal message:
Things don't appear to be working at the moment. Please try again later.

 

[ccslider]

I have. Struts are less than two years old. They hold the hood up fine in warm weather and if there is no significant wind. But the LX hood is big and also has the grill attached to it. With the factory struts it is very easy to close. So much so...that I am certain a good gust of wind from behind the hood would cause it to begin to close.

I've actually had that happen with my 80 series.

Why continue to replace struts. Even if not used...they are forever slowly losing their nitrogen charge.

Maybe you got some bad ones.. I bought mine off eBay 3-4 years ago and they are still working great even in cold weather. They also have a lifetime warranty.
Qty (2) Toyota Land Cruiser LX450 1990 To 1997 Hood Lift Supports Struts | eBay


I like the simplicity of just popping the hood and not messing with a prop.

 

[Tedward]

@flintknapper
Dont have any problem ordering from those sites myself.
I'm guessing its PayPal blocking monies going over seas. Fraud protection thing is my guess. Perhaps log into the main website and check if there is a record of that.

 

[flintknapper]

I like the simplicity of just popping the hood and not messing with a prop.

^^^^ I agree. I certainly would not use the prop when not needed. Just be nice to have it in case I did.

 

[flintknapper]

@flintknapper
Dont have any problem ordering from those sites myself.
I'm guessing its PayPal blocking monies going over seas. Fraud protection thing is my guess. Perhaps log into the main website and check if there is a record of that.

The odd thing is...my PayPal account works just fine on virtually every vendor I buy from on Ebay. But outside of Ebay...I run into the problem about 25% of the time (domestic orders or foreign). I have scoured the PayPal community for a solution and most point to an issue on the sellers end.

Don't know...but neither of those vendors accept anything but PayPal and I can't mine to go through. Damn!

Edit: Well had to order the parts from 3 different places because of a damn PayPal glitch...but in the end got it pieced together. Should have everything in a couple of weeks.

 

[ccslider]

The odd thing is...my PayPal account works just fine on virtually every vendor I buy from on Ebay. But outside of Ebay...I run into the problem about 25% of the time (domestic orders or foreign). I have scoured the PayPal community for a solution and most point to an issue on the sellers end.

Don't know...but neither of those vendors accept anything but PayPal and I can't mine to go through. Damn!

Try sending me 1 bagillion dollars and we can test it