Driving without a hood is illegal in my town, and I work in an... unsavory
location, so I'm not sure I'd want to leave my truck's engine compartment
vulnerable while I work anyway.
Thanks for the idea though.
The hinges are $29, so right now I'm not going to involve the insurance,
unless there is some damage that I didn't see to the hood. Then I will,
because hoods are expensive.
Thanks.
-- Later, Jon jonsdak@midmaine.com http://jonsdakota.tripod.com 1996 Dodge Dakota Sport 4X4, 3.9L V6, 42RE, 3.92:1 8.25 axle, "BackRack" Headache Rack, Dodge Motorsports decals, steering wheel cover, and front license plate, diamond-plate bedrail covers, Lund VentVisors, Lund BugShield, Jensen MP-3310 CD/MP3 Receiver, Pioneer TS-G1347's in front, TS-A5713's in rear <jon@dakota-truck.net> wrote in message news:aju8ju$pur$1@bent.twistedbits.net... > > "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 ----'
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Jun 20 2003 - 12:05:15 EDT