Hood binding on cowl - not sure how to adjust/fix - '84 FJ60

[kenavt]

Hey folks, my hood is binding quite badly on my cowl (such that it won't sit flat). It had been rubbing a little bit last year; then I took it off while doing an engine swap, and now it is really quite binding badly after re-mounting and adjusting it.

You can see where it was binding when it was mounted before because of the rust spots... it seems that the binding spot might have moved a small amount from the rust spots before (to take up a bigger area).

I've adjusted it multiple times using the FSM instructions (step 1 below).

Do folks have suggestions for how this could have happened and how to avoid it? To my awareness the truck hasn't had an accident although I suppose its possible. It's binding roughly equally on both sides at the same point... you can see the air gap in the middle of the hood, no binding there.

The best idea I have is... for a quick hack, try step 3 in the FSM above to raise the rear of the hood. That seems unlikely to work (need a lot of adjustability here), so then try to pull off the cowl and see if anything is misaligned (I will have to do that eventually to investigate my broken wipers anyway)... or maybe try to shim the hood hinges somewhere.

 

[OSS]

Maybe something is bent but try adjusting the bolts that connect to the hinges again.
On a normal cruiser there's a semi even gap of about 1/4" all the way around the hood when it's mounted straight.

Maybe try loosening the hinge mounting bolts a tad then closing the hood and try wiggling it into place. Or put a soft spacer between the hood and cowl to try to wedge it forward a tad when the hood closes.

If you can get the hood so it doesn't hit anywhere when the bolts are loosened, it's just a matter of finding that sweet spot when the hood is lifted up again and the bolts tightened up.

 

[cruiserpilot]

Loosen and slide the hood forward on the hinges by 1/4”. Then tighten the bolts again. Do you
have help? Looks to me that you’ve just let the hood slide down the hinge just as you tighten it.
use the prop rod to hold the hood up, then hold the hood firmly when you tighten the bolts so it
won’t slide down the hinge as you tighten it. It’s a knack, you just have to get there

 

[cruisermatt]

Are those dents in the top of cowl? If so then that truck has probably had the hood flipped up at speed before. If that’s the case then good luck. I’ve had a really tough time with mine after that happened.

 

[kenavt]

I think @cruiserpilot is right, I had help but I think the hood has been sliding down the hinge as I tightened it, so I haven't been at the maximum flexibility for the normal adjustment point.

I went to adjust it again this morning by propping up the bottom of the hood with a couple thin pieces of wood (while upright with the prop rod), and adjusted the passenger side nicely. However, the driver's side... it appears I've stripped the screws somehow, as they just spin infinitely in either direction with constant force (more then hindsight, still requiring a socket wrench). I suspect the (inaccessible) nuts inside the hood that were welded on have come loose and are just rotating with the screw. So I'll work on that side quest and return to the main part soon...

Are those dents in the top of cowl? If so then that truck has probably had the hood flipped up at speed before. If that’s the case then good luck. I’ve had a really tough time with mine after that happened.

There's a small one in the rear middle of the hood (viewable from the photos) that matches a similar one in the cowl at the same place, but it doesn't appear to be interfering with anything. Anything else in the photos is just peeling clearcoat or rust patches.

I did have it flip up on me at 25mph a week or two ago... since then I've been driving with bungee cords. But I was having these alignment issues before that as well.

 

[cruiserpilot]

I suspect the (inaccessible) nuts inside the hood that were welded on have come loose and are just rotating with the screw. So I'll work on that side quest and return to the main part soon...

I would remove the hood, flip it over and see if you can capture those nuts. Since it's quite hidden, you have the ability to get in
there and do some surgery, maybe have to weld them back in. Having a hood flip up happened to me once, stupidly with a
'73 Mustang and that didn't come up until about 25 mph! Ruined the hinges and I had to suffer with that hood since I couldn't
afford another, I get you. Hinges you should replace, should be able to find a set without too much trouble.

 

[88Retired62]

Ken…I was going to throw in a few more words of advice, and then I casually glanced at your avatar as I was rereading your post the second time around. Even the avatar picture shows a hood grossly out of alignment. Of all the sheet metal on the FJ60/62, the hood skin exhibits the least tolerance-to-tweeking…or in this case “Twerking”. I can’t imagine the hood line ever remaining the same after a 25mph pop-up, especially if it traveled anywhere near or beyond vertical. Keep-on keep’in-on if you’re that never say die type of guy but realize that this hood, including the hinges, may be “GHOSTED”.

 

[kenavt]

I would remove the hood, flip it over and see if you can capture those nuts. Since it's quite hidden, you have the ability to get in
there and do some surgery, maybe have to weld them back in. Having a hood flip up happened to me once, stupidly with a
'73 Mustang and that didn't come up until about 25 mph! Ruined the hinges and I had to suffer with that hood since I couldn't
afford another, I get you. Hinges you should replace, should be able to find a set without too much trouble.

Yep... that's the new plan. Traveling for the next week now but when I come back the hood's coming off, and I'm going to get at those nuts and fix em. Anticipating the angle grinder and welder will get some use for the first time in a few weeks

Ken…I was going to throw in a few more words of advice, and then I casually glanced at your avatar as I was rereading your post the second time around. Even the avatar picture shows a hood grossly out of alignment. Of all the sheet metal on the FJ60/62, the hood skin exhibits the least tolerance-to-tweeking…or in this case “Twerking”. I can’t imagine the hood line ever remaining the same after a 25mph pop-up, especially if it traveled anywhere near or beyond vertical. Keep-on keep’in-on if you’re that never say die type of guy but realize that this hood, including the hinges, may be “GHOSTED”.

Yes, it was quite out of alignment before. I thought about what you said and I'm going to keep on going for now hacking this hood back into shape as long as I can get it to latch and not look too awful, if only because a new (or used) hood is quite expensive. But I'll keep an eye out and hopefully be able to scoop one in the future for cheap (and hinges as well).

 

[kenavt]

Well, did some surgery to get at those nuts using a angle grinder and welder-as-plasma-cutter through two layers of metal and... discovered that the nuts are perfectly fine and welded on no problem. The bolt just spins while the nut stays stationary, welded onto the hood just fine.

So then tried to put another nut on the bottom of the threads, bind it against the welded-in nut, and use that to force the bolt out the top but... it would just spin the new nut out every time.

 

[TheNeek]

You can inspect the threads on the weld nuts? I have a feeling that those threads are not up to the task. Might be able to dill out the weld nuts and tap them to the next bigger size and then use new, bigger bolts.

 

[2mbb]

There is quite a bit of (good?) thread sticking through the weld nut. I liked your idea of using another nut threaded on the stick out. can you use vice grips to keep the second nut from rotating independent of the weleded nut, then try to remove the bolt? If you can get the nuts really locked together, I would use a drill or impact to try and quickly spin the bolt out.

Otherwise, maybe try to wedge something between the hinge and the hood to put tension on the bolt to get the threads to catch.

 

[kenavt]

Spent a few days hammering away at this... tried a whole bunch of things, none of which had any effect:

• Trying to bind a second nut from below and get everything to spin... the second nut would always just spin off
• Hitting it with my air impact
• Applying pressure from underneath (or above) and trying to spin it
• Trying to spin it with vice grips from below
• Cut the head off the bolts and spin it through the nut

But ended up with the nuclear option of drilling both bolts out. Never had to do that before! Turns out both the welded-in nuts and the old screws had missing threads... both worth completely gone. Then bought new longer bolts, tapped the welded-in nuts (which didn't fix them well), and threaded the bolts through. That gave us the idea to weld in a second M8-1.25 nut below to the first nut, followed up with JB Weld, and the bolts mainly grip those second nuts. That was enough to throw the hood back on!

This time for alignment (the original point of this thread after all) I used some shims and an assistant and it just barely closes now. It makes some groans, and there's binding, and it's not at all pretty, but it does latch. Long-term the solution here is to replace the hinges and hood for sure, but that's pretty low priority for me versus other mechanical items and passing smog. Might go and weld these big holes in the side of the hood closed too.

 

[Boss Hog]

Did you ever get the hood aligned?

 

[kenavt]

No, I haven’t. It hadn’t gotten any better or worse in the last nine months and a couple thousand miles - still opens and closes while rubbing on the cowl but will do so.

I would replace the hood, hinges, rubber bumpstops all around, and latch mechanism (as @NookShneer pointed out to me, something’s off with it as well, although I don’t think it’s affecting alignment). And hopefully that would fix it. But it’s been pretty low priority for me vs mechanical items and now my HDJ81. If I can get a good easy deal on a hood I’d bump it up the list.