"Jon" <jonsdak@midmaine.com> wrote:
: Driving down the road, 3/4 of a mile from my house this morning, 50mph,
: suddenly my windshield is black. My hood has flown up!
: I manage to safely bring the truck to a stop, ease it off the road. I get
: out, and the hood hinges on the back are all bent out of shape, I muscle the
: hood down so I could see to limp to my grandparents, 300yd down the road.
: Once I'm there, I inspect it further, and the right edge of the hood now
: sits on the fender. Is there a recall on these latches, or is it a fluke?
: I had just vacuumed the truck out before this, and I thought I might have
: hit the latch release with my elbow when vacuuming the t-case/driveshaft
: hump, but the lever, to disengagae, tilts to the left, and takes quite a bit
: of muscle to pull (as anyone with a '96 Dak, or maybe even a Ram, knows), so
: I can't believe that I could just bump it enough to disengage the latch
: without knowing it, especially on the elbow, a sensitive spot. Even if I
: had, though, shouldn't the underhood latch kept it shut? It probably would
: have rattled (that was another thing, it didn't rattle at all before it flew
: up), but I would think that the latch should have kept it from flying up
: like that. This latch is in perfect condition, on inspection. My biggest
: problem is, the hinges are bent, I can't close my hood, and I need my truck
: for the rest of this week for work, and then next week for school, and my
: Dodge stealer needs to special-order the hinges, which will take two weeks,
: they say. I can't be truckless for two weeks.
: Any info or ideas well appreciated!
Ouch! Sorry to hear about that! The same thing almost happened
to me in my '96 Dak on the way down to the Nats. I had popped the hood
at a gas stop to top off my winshield washer fluid. I guess I hadn't
closed the hood securely, because once I got out onto the highway, it
popped up and started fluttering. Fortunately, the safety on the latch
caught it, and I was able to pull over and close the hood firmly.
When you pull the release in the cab, the main latch will release,
but there is a spring in there so that the latch catches before the
hood opens fully (which requires you to reach in with your hand and
release the catch before you can open the hood). I'm guessing the
hood went from fully closed to fully open? Does the latch move freely?
Maybe if it were rusted up a bit the spring didn't have enough force
to move the latch back before the hood passed by the "catch" point.
As far as using the truck goes, in a pinch you could just unbolt the
hood and drive around without it. (Might want to check your local
laws first.) At night or when parked, a tarp over the engine bay
could keep most of the rain off.
If you know anyone with a torch, it might be possible to heat the
hinges up and bend them back into place in order to at least get
the hood to shut and stay shut.
Another alternative would be to check other dealers for new hinges,
or on-line salvage yards (see the DML faq for URLs dakota-truck.net/faq)
Is this covered under an extended warranty or insurance? If
so, either of those might cover (or partially cover) the cost of
a rental car (or truck).
After reading your post, and after what happened to me on the way
to the nats, I think I am going to look into rigging up a safety wire,
from the latch to the truck, that will only allow the hood to open
up 6" or so. (Just got to be careful to do it so it doesn't get
in the way of the fan, probably do it in front of the radiator.)
Good luck!
---Jon-
.---- Jon Steiger ------ jon@dakota-truck.net or jon@jonsteiger.com -----. | I'm the: AOPA, DoD, EAA, NMA, NRA, SPA, USUA. Rec & UL Pilot - SEL | | '70 Barracuda, '92 Ram 4x4, '96 Dakota, '96 Intruder 1400, '96 FireFly | `----------------------------------------- http://www.jonsteiger.com ----'
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