Strongly considering hood latches

Wow.

 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=sjVCAF2dARo

 

Great write up.Finally installed the latches you gave me like 2 or 3 years ago.lol. I just changed out the aluminum for steel pin.

 

My hood flutters at highway speeds; Replacing the latch won't do it?

 

It will. Mine was squeaking and fluttering. Gone now.

 

I mean just replacing the latch so don't have to drill through the hood...? I am willing to go with the musclecar-style latches, but I would like to try replacing the OEM one first. I live in Pennsylvania, which unfortunately requires a safety inspection and emissions test every year; Until a few years ago, I brought it to the dealer to get inspected, and some moron tech didn't bother to shut the hood all the way. I found this out the hard way as I merged onto the 611 bypass; The latch held and kept the hood from flying open, but now that I think about it, this incident likely tweaked the latch a bit.

 

See if you can find a "good used one. If you don't want that route, try a new one. Neither will hurt.

 

Shoot dude the OEM latches sucks so bad that they should fail the safety inspection even brand new from the factory.

 

Check the little rubber bump stops at each front corner of the hood, the ones that adjust up and down. Look at the way the hood lines up with the fender and adjust them upward a little. They get squished down over time and allow the hood to wiggle around.

 

I’ve had a set in for over two years, just finally broke an aluminum pin. But I’ve got a full tube core support so that might be why I didn’t have any issues with the aluminum breaking until now.

 

Go with the metal pins. Mine have never been a problem and are much stronger than the aluminum ones could hope to be.

 

yeah I’ve got a set of stainless now.

 

Looked at the date of your first post was 2015. Where you quoted my photo. I'd have to do more digging to find the specific date of when I actually installed the latches. From your post however, that is roughly 7+ years going strong with the aluminum pins.

There are some slight notches in them. The main problem that I have encountered, is that the stress on the core support had caused the driver-side to crack. I had to re-weld that back together. Super thin sheet metal, coupled with the wind vibrations over time.

I think I repaired the area around the pin about 2 years ago now.








GTG now.

 

I am using straight metal pins from them, not the Aluminum though Tor.

 

I was bringing up the point about the difference between the steel pins and the aluminum. Strange how some people are having the aluminum ones break. Wonder what the differences between their installations and mine, cause that kind of breakage?

 

ThatS going to happen to me too. Ill probably reinforce it now before I have issues

 

these look cool
some are circular and keyless, buttons
Simpler to use and cut install, but less security

is there any point to doing it ahead of time?
what reasons necessitate it?

I try to WD40 latches and whatnot every 5k to maintain moving freely

hoods in general get adjusted with rubber stops
The Tacoma is the same

I used to have hood movement and flutter
And kind of odd height panel gaps
but it seems to have been resolved by simply adjusting the rubber stops, going back and forth trial and error

 

Mine finally let go too :/



Don't think I can do the pins, I've never had a hand-drilled hole line up in my life.

 

Rubber hood stop adjustment or wear issue. And/or that damned fake hood scoop on the trucks that have it may also contribute to hood flutter. (My 2014 TRD-OR has a normal, non-fake hood.)

On pavement I've hit 110mph briefly (down hill,) and extended runs of several minutes at over 100 mph on the flat -- and never seen a hint of hood flutter.

Even doing 70 mph on single-track bumpy dirt forest roads, no hood bounce or flutter that I've ever noticed.

 

I definitely think the stoppers and adjustment are part a big part of the equation. I don't think the scoop matters. My hood that failed exactly like @mk5 above was a non-scooped version that I actually traded in my scewped sport hood for many years ago. No doubt it didn't line up like the original. I think it's just a matter of a) ever truck is different, and b) things that shake and rattle tend break or wear out faster than things that don't.

Since reinforcing my cross support and putting these latches in, my hood has stayed perfectly right and tight. At least as close as it's going the get at this point.

I really do like these latches. There's just something about pushing that button, flipping the latch, and pounding my fist on each corner of the hood to release the tension on the pins that I find satisfying. Maybe even...cool

@mk5...measure twice, three times if you have to...have someone you trust check your work and whisper "you can do it" in your ear. Make a template if you dont get one in your kit. Mask out the surface in tape you want to drill/ cut. I went as close to dead center with my pins through holes for the adjustable bumpers so it was easy to locate on the hood and cross support.