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Something missing at hood latch


Cold Blue

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My hood latch has a spring, or something, missing. It works, but just flops around when the hood is open. In the picture, the striker is not installed; I am working on it to get the hood closure properly adjusted. Would someone post a pic, or something to show me the spring or whatever is missing at the latch and how it installs? Thanks so much!

DSC01808.jpg

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I don't have a photo, but I'm pretty sure there is supposed to be a coil spring around the pin that holds the latch in place - the kind with both ends sticking out a ways, one end resting against the latch base, and the other against the movable part of the latch.

 

This isn't a great photo, but you can just see one end of the spring sticking out on the right side of the pin area.  (This is from the 36-49 Plymouth Master Parts List.)

Hood Latch.JPG

Edited by Eneto-55
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Thanks guys! I see how it works now. It's a torsion spring that wraps around the pin. Unfortunately, the pin is a rivet; the torsion spring wraps around it. So it looks like I will have to cut the rivet out and install a small bolt with a nylock nut on it to be able to install the torsion spring.

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You might be able to find a pin of the correct diameter & length at your local hardware, one with either a hole for a cotter pin, or (more likely) a groove for a ring that fits into it.  (I cannot think of the name of those rings right now.  Those that you use a sort of reverse pliers to install & remove.)

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I dug out my hood latch, and I will need to do the same thing.  There is still sort of a torsion spring on there, but it looks like the original broke, and someone forced another one over the pin, ring by ring.  (It's all bent out of shape, and does little to keep the latch in the proper position - too weak.) 

I stopped in at the hardware store here in our little town, and they don't have a pin that is exactly the right size, but do have a 1/4 x 2" one than can be modified.  I figure it needs to be just over an inch long, so 2" allows enough space to chuck it up in a drill.  Then I'll spin it while working a hack saw blade on it just enough to make a groove for the snap ring, then do it a bit farther out to cut it clear off.  Bevel the end just a bit on the grinder.  I found some torsion springs that just might work, if they are stiff enough.  (I have several different sizes in my junk collection - stuff I kept from trashing out several old printers.  I always see potential in odd little bits out of just about anything....  Drives my wife crazy, but I try to keep it out of her way, and then I'm OK.)

 

(I suppose a large cotter pin would work too, but I like to make stuff look as original as possible, w/o going overboard.)

Edited by Eneto-55
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Eneto - I fixed my latch today. Went to the hardware store and found a torsion spring that would fit around the pin, with some room to spare. Took my Dremel tool and cut the end off the pin rivet so I could remove it. There was no way I could keep it and put the torsion spring on. I used a small bolt with a screw driver slot in the head so it looked rounded like the rivet, and used a Nylok nut so the nut wouldn't come off. Clamped the plate in my vice, inserted the bolt a little, compressed the spring with my pliers, and pushed the bolt thru, and put the nut on. Used my Dremel to cut off the excess spring that was sticking out past the plate and the latch. Looks great, works great!

 Here is a pic...

DSC01809.jpg

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Good job.  That torsion spring looks pretty much the same size as they had in the Do_It-Best hardware here.  I wasn't sure if it was stiffer than necessary, but I reckon that's a lot better than too weak.  Lowes has more of this small stuff than our local hardware, so i'll keep looking it's going to be a long time before I put the hood back on - I did way too much dismantling when I got the car.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Purchased a 1/4 x 2" clevis pin at the hardware.  Wanted 1 1/4" (length), but they don't carry anything like that.  Chucked it up in a drill and used a hacksaw blade to cut in a groove for an E clip, then moved it out a bit farther, and used the blade to cut it off.  I had a torsion spring the correct diameter in my junk box (parts saved from printers I trashed) to just slip over the 1/4" pin.

Here's a photo of the parts, and the make-shift "spring" that was on my secondary (safety) hood latch.  

 

HPIM1014-small.JPG

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