Hood Adjustment??? '55 R112

We can't get the hood to open without pinching the edge against the fender's edge... We've tried raising the grill, shimming the hinges where they bolt, and sliding the hinges forward/rearward. Nothing works, it still pinches. It's like the pivot point is too low, it loses clearance the farther the hood is opened. Anybody had this problem?

This is the gap when it's closed and latched. Pretty normal, about 3/16-1/4".




Closes up to zero clearance as the hood opens.





Hood won't open any farther than this without pinching the paint.

Seems like the curve of the hinge is too tight. I haven't taken mine apart and the parts manual isn't very clear. Could the hinge plate that is bolted to the hinge box (on the inner fender) be "flipped" 180* thereby putting the hinge edge above the bolts instead of below the bolts? What do the hinges look like (fully collapsed) without the hood attached? Just a couple of thoughts.

It would help to see how the hinge plate looks like without the hood, if you could forward an image. I have not had any issues with the paint opening mine except one time when I saw the passenger side latch left open when I got home, and in my hurry to see if anything had been ripped off, did not notice the same (?) gawker had left the driver side unhooked also - rookie mistake. I did scratch the fender paint that time, but the truck has been repainted since and isn't left out unattended anymore. If the hinge is properly mounted, it should allow the hood to clear provided the latch is engaged. Images are from a 54 R-122, but they should be the same. When the weather gets a bit nicer, I'll try to get more detailed images of the latch plates. Hope this is helpful - Bob

..... I have not had any issues with the paint opening mine except one time when I saw the passenger side latch left open when I got home, and in my hurry to see if anything had been ripped off, did not notice the same (?) gawker had left the driver side unhooked also - rookie mistake. I did scratch the fender paint that time........

Ouch! Why can't people learn to leave their grubby mitts off other people's stuff!

If it was a family member I hope you gave 'em the business!

No, I could rule that out, likely just a neighborhood busybody that felt they had a right to look at something in my driveway, then couldn't latch the hood back after opening it - nothing was taken or damaged until I lifted the hood. Back then, I could not get the truck through the door of my garage, and now it is in a storage shed for the same reason. When I bought it on-line, I thought it was shorter than it is, and as the guy who took the arrival pictures in my gallery can testify, the first thing I said was "that will never get into the garage". Luckily, I had always planned to repaint it.

theastronaut,

Did you figure out the solution to the hood pinching?

I (my builder) had the same issue with my L110. To put the hood down close enough to be "normal" resulted in the edges of the hood contacting the fender upon opening the hood. He experimented with all sorts of adjustments and ended up custom sizing some rubber spacers on each edge of the hood to keep it off of the fenders. The end result was a larger gap than I'd like, but the hood doesn't rub on the fender either. He threatened my life and limb if I removed the spacers. The paint job I received is good enough that I understand the threats. I think the engineers missed this one in the design stage of the latch/hinge and the tolerances are too close. However, in their defense, I'd say they were going on the theory that these trucks were intended to be worked primarily on the farm or in a manufacturing environment. Participation in concourse car shows with these trucks was virtually unheard of at that point in time.

You can see in the photos the before and after hood gaps. I'd like the after picture to be as close as the before picture, but the reality is, that's the best we could get it without rubbing somewhere along the length of the hood.

Wew51,

So are you saying the originals rubbed too? Or is the paint/primer build-up thicker now?

Mine never rubbed either before or after restoration and I went today and got some images to show the hinge in action. A previous post indicated what may be the issue i.e. "the gap is larger than I would like", the gap was designed to allow the pivot of the hood to work without touching the fender, not designed as someone "would like". My hood has little round bumpers along its bottom edge similar to the two on the hinge plates in the images which space the hood far enough up that the pivot works perfectly. The images will have captions indicating what the hood is doing. The top portion is fixed to the hood and latches to the bottom to bind the two portions into one unit. The bottom part is attached under the rim and pivots up and down through a gap. If properly placed the "hinge carries the hood above the "pinch point, albeit not very far - clearance is only the width of a couple of dollar bills' thickness. Pictures turned out too large for this forum, see Robert Rhodes gallery, I'll put an album in there - give me a few minutes - Bob

Every L, R, or S truck I've owned, (and I've owned several of each) they all rubbed some way or another with the gap line of the hood perfect,

I'd tend to agree the factory probably didn't really put a lot of work into making this area perfect, seeing the hood was also made to remove and throw on the ground so you could climb right in and do your business.

in IHC defense though, they made a heck of a door for these trucks, I've had some pretty beat to crap trucks and the doors still clicked shut with a push of the finger,

not like a contemporary Ferd or Chebbie of same era, gotta slam that door ten times to get it to latch