I feel for ya man. I popped my '96 dak a couple of times when I had it doing
the same thing. The latch got caught on my beltloop. Worst time I got stuck
and couldn't get out. My wife was rolling on that one. Glad to hear it
wasn't worse though. As for the wiper assembly. There are tabs that stick
out on the arm right next to the base. You have to push these in and then
the whole arm can just be lifted off. They will be hard to push then all of
the sudden give and then you're in business. I would recommend using a
grease pencil or something non-permant the mark the very back of the arm and
the stalk it's on. This way you can put them back on in the correct position
and the wipers will not be messed up and hit the edges of the windshield. IT
is important to do this since teh stalks are grooved all of the way around
and you will not be able to tell where they wipers go. Been there done that.
I need to get my '96 back. Especially since I have a good chance of getting
rid of my '01 in the next few weeks. Unfortunantly it hasn't been the truck
that my '96 was. Anyway, good luck.......
Jeff Durling
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jon" <jonsdak@midmaine.com>
To: <dakota-truck-moderator@bent.twistedbits.net>
Sent: Tuesday, August 20, 2002 9:59 PM
Subject: Re: DML: Please help! '96 Dakota hood latch failure?
>
> Thanks Jeff,
> I'll keep that in mind, but miraculously, my hood and windshield are fine,
> except that the bottom edge of the hood is bent in a couple spots.
> The biggest thing is the hood hinges, which I ordered. The guy I talked
to
> when I ordered them, from the same dealership I called before, said they'd
> be in in three days.
> When my dad got home, we went and retrieved the truck, strapped the hood
> down as far as it'd go, and he drove it home and I followed in his car.
> Once we got here, we took the hood off and got to work, which leads me to
> another question: how do you get the wiper blades off (knuckles and all)?
> The hinges bent back and scratched the metal piece between the back of the
> hood and the windshield, and in trying to bend the hinges to conformity,
we
> scratched it some more, so when the new hinges come in and I have the hood
> off again, I'm going to pull that piece off and repaint it.
> After much grunting and cursing, we managed to get the hood to almost
close,
> far enough down to engage the first latch, which is, by the way, the
reason
> for this whole fiasco, we found. The latch and spring is all rusted, and
> stuck open last time I opened the hood. I _must_ have bumped the latch
when
> I vacuumed the truck, and the secondary latch was useless, as it was stuck
> open. That explains why the hood came up, instead of fluttering.
> So now, there's a severly unattractive, but functional, tie-down strap
that
> runs around the latch, then around the spring, and down onto the air dam
on
> the bumper, holding the front of the hood down.
> It's driveable, but my truck is messed up. Hopefully once I get the new
> hinges on, and paint that piece, she'll be good again. I lubed the latch,
> and it works now, but I still think I'll replace it.
> Thanks all,
>
> --
> 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
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Jun 20 2003 - 12:05:15 EDT