Hood not flush with fenders

This is all I had to do.

 

A beetle performing the marble test:

 

No, I am not an engineer. I am an accountant, who has done his own wrenching for a few decades.

I did take a look at it last night when I got home, no garage and sun down by the time I got here. Unlike some other makes and models, the 3rd gen hood hinges are mounted on a horizontal on both the hood and body side of the hinges. There are also no bumpers at the cap end of the hood. Shims, spacers, or washers will be required to raise the hood at the hinge end / near the cab.

If time allows I may try to find the proper thickness material to correct mine this weekend. If I do I will take pics before and after.

 

OK. Got to the office a few minutes early; took some pics to show the issue.

I am not sure if it is a hood mounting issue or a fender mount issue, either way hood adjustment can fix it.
For reference, I put a quarter on the hood near the cab on each side and near the front on the driver's side, here are the pics:

Driver's side hood is lower than fender by a bit more than the quarter's thickness at the cab a bit less at the front, I can run the bumper up a bit more in the front.

Passenger side, no gap at front but there is near the cab, a bit less than the thickness of a quarter.

 

What year is that quarter?

 

Zoomed on the pic on my phone... 1994

 

TC_Mic, Did you ever resolve hood /fender problem on your Tacoma?...and how? (Yeah, I know this is an old thread, but for me it is a new problem.)

 

Yup my hood is lower on passenger side (rear). Poor quality control really. I have a bumper that is out of alignment too. I call it character.

 

This made me lol irl

Seriously though, anyone who has replaced a hood, has had one painted, or taken one off for any reason what so ever, knows the agonizing process of realigning the hood. You just gotta keep screwing with it until its close enough that your ocd alarm doesnt go off

 

Yes I got mine resolved. I do not nor did I have a problem with the actual alignment, only height of hood in comparison to the fenders.

I used plastic spacer washers that came with a TV wall mount and basically found the one or combination of a couple that were the same height of the difference between the fenders and hood. Ditch light brackets, metal plate, etc. between the hood and hinge may solve the issue as well. Only tool needed it a 10 or 12 mm, I do not recall the size for sure but 10 is likely, socket wrench.

Then working one side at a time I put a couple marks on the underside of the hood with a sharpie. Loosened both bolts then removed one, put spacers between the hood and hinge, reinstalled bolt loosely, did the same to the other bolt. Then I aligned the hinge with the original marks prior to tightening the bolts, close hood and check hinge height. I did wind up doing about a 1/4 to 1/2 turn on the front hood bumpers to correct the height there.

Repeat same procedure with the other side. double check left/right alignment for entire hood. Mine was good, so I just grabbed the alcohol and cleaned off the sharpie. The entire process took about 20-30 minutes, give or take a few, including gathering supplies and putting them away.

 

Lemon law... TRADE THAT BITCH!

 

Thanks much. While I was at my "go to" body shop to check on some work being done on my wife's Tacoma, I asked the owner what he thought about the hood alignment, etc. on my Sport. He said that he would never OK the release of a hood alignment like the one on my truck to leave his shop. Guess I'll be looking for some spacers. Glad to know that this minor problem is pretty easy to resolve. Thanks again.

 

They actually make Shims for adjusting body panels, picked these up at a parts store.

 

Should work perfectly. I did not think about it at the time, but I actually had a few of those that came with my power steps that were not needed.

 

Glad to see I'm not the only one with this issue. Just like OP, my hood sits lower near the grill. I assumed it was the Bamf grill pulling down. Excited to fix it when I get home tonight!

 

IF it is only near the grill (front) you can adjust the bumpers a bit and be fine, no added cost or parts.

If on the other hand, like mine, it is sitting too low at the cab, hinge spacers will be needed.

Either way it is an easy fix. If you have the forethought to get/use fender shims for the hinge adjustment it is even easier and likely faster.

 

I'll hit it from the front first and hit the back if she's not satisfied yet...
I'M TALKING ABOUT MY TRUCK, get your mind out of the gutter!

 

Wow, I looked at how my hood was too low for a long time. It only took 30 seconds to adjust the rubber stops and it's flush! Thanks TW

 

***
No sideways?

 

I have adjusted my hood front bumpers so that height of the hood and fender at the front is very much OK on both the driver side and the passenger side. The hood on the driver side is OK at the cab. However, the hood at the cab on the passenger side is about 1/16" (1.6mm) lower than the fender and gradually evens out with the fender as it approaches the front. I stopped at the body shop to ask about shimming the hood at the hinge. The owner stated that he would prefer not to mess with shimming a hood on a new truck fresh from the factory. He also stated that the hood is most likely within factory tolerances and that raising the rear of the hood with shims may cause problems at the front. When doing repairs at his shop, they rarely uses shims. The techs "tweak" the panels as they assemble them prior to painting. Basically he doesn't want to take the chance of messing up my new truck. For now guess I will just live with it. However my neighbor is a very talented (and expensive) 60's and 70's muscle car restorer. I may just have to ask him what he thinks. (Don't have OCD so meds won't help. Just a perfectionist when it comes to my trucks and Harleys. )