Strongly considering hood latches

Flex is one thing, but flutter? Mine comes and goes but I have always felt kind of sketchy about it. I'm sure overtime that can only fatigue the metal as well and beat up on the stock latching system can it not? I feel like quite a few people have it but few actually do anything like pins or a similar setup to hold it down better.

 

If you think you need them by all means run them. It's your truck and overkill isn't necessarily a bad thing either IMO. If they eliminate your flutter I'll prob run them as well. Even if it's not to keep your hood flying up it eliminates that annoying as fuck flutter off road and on the highway

 

I think they look stupid if mounted sideways. They should be mounted like you posted mocked up ling ways between bumber and windshield. Ill post a picture in about 2 hours of the others guys truck i know who has them. Its on his silver truck and i think they look good in person. Im going over there after work so ill snap a pic.

 

You are right. Overkill is never a bad thing. Especially when you consider all the members running around with overkill suspension parts on their trucks who half won't ever even use to their full potential.

I like that idea! Where do you think I should weld it at? I have fiberglass fenders so welding to those is out of the question!

you're a fool. Lmao! I've seen you on the other threads man, you are definitely the forum clown, I'm not even mad at that. We can both be fools together!

Nice! Yeah make sure you post up the pictures! The more I look at it and the more I do little mock up fits and see where everything needs to be, the more I'm really liking the way it looks.

 

10 years and 1.5 million 2nd gen Tacos sold makes the system "proven". If hoods started flying up in NBC/Fox-significant numbers (i.e. 0.5-1%) there would have been a recall on it.

 

It's not that it may fly up its that its annoying as fuck to listen to

 

Not to mention see also as you drive!

I can literally grab my hood and tweak it around reenacting the fluttering motion that the highway wind speeds cause it to do. That's pretty cheesy from a OEM hood if you ask me.

 

I'm 3k miles from my truck right now but I'll post a vid when I get home. I can do the same thing.

 

I'm still waiting on the picture from Proforce of that one Taco using them. I want to see what they look like.

As a quick side note, I'm starting to read that if you plan on using these systems that it is best to use the steel strike pins, as apparently, the aluminum ones are not that strong. Needless to say, I'll have to be giving a dealer a ring tomorrow for an inquiry about getting the steel strike pins.

 

I wonder if they'll help with my hood alignment . When my hood is shut there's a 1/4-1/2in gap between my hood and fenders and grill and headlights

 

They should if you align and shut down the hood one side at a time after the factory latch has fully engaged. It should be pretty easy to line up and make flush again. That's what I'll be doing with mine as well.

 

Sorry terrible night pics i just took. Members truck: Supratrippy

 

imo - If unable to repair yourself then take it to a reputable body shop and have them replace needed parts if any and realign the hood. There may be a need for a fiberglass application but, stock hood, no reason.

 

Is there an aftermarket latch similar to the jeep ones? I've always liked those but not worth buying a whole pos rig over lol

 

Wonder if those having hood flutter problems all have modified their front ends (bumper, light bars, etc.) that caused the aerodynamics to change, allowing air to be forced into the engine compartment? Started reading this thread out of curiosity since my Sport hood has never had any flutter at any speed or cross-wind conditions, but my front end is not altered. I assume that Toyota performed wind tunnel tests on these trucks. Flutter may just be the price to be paid for some of the front end alterations performed that change the aerodynamics, and latch pins may be the best way to overcome that.

 

I'm liking how they are mounted on this one compared to sideways, I'm wondering why he didn't just use the existing holes off the rubber stoppers though? It would had been easier that way and that's what most other people do. It also looks like he's using a stock metal hood still as well.

Wow, that looks good! I had no idea you were using these man! I'm starting to wonder how many other members run these!

Lol I'm going to say no there is not and given that it seems likeany of us could use one, I'm surprised its not offered for our application. Jeep gets all the good stuff as usual.

I really don't think bumpers are part of the problem here. Maybe light bars and stuff yes. I think a lot of it is the fact that Toyota used insanely thin sheet metal on the core support which doesn't allow mounting for any accessories if you intend to drive it anywhere but on the road.

 

Yah its a stock hood. Mounting is just preference. He also didn't use the bottom "sandwich" plate either. Switched bolts out for small metal screws instead to avoid cutting a massive hole underneath the hood too and compromising the integrity of it

 

I was noticing there weren't holes at the bottom of it. I wonder how that would affect its overall hold down strength.

 

I've known him for awhile and been through some pretty serious mobbing with him and they have never had an issue. They are also primarily holding all the pressure from the hood because the center latch is useless on his truck

 

Mine was fluttering before any of my mods. It's almost like its warped. The sides come up more than the center