Hood Reinforcement

On my 56 S on the underside of the hood there are some metal rods and a formed / ribbed piece of sheet metal that goes transverse across the underside back near the cab. The rods connect to the reinforcing rib but the rib is not connected to the hood in the center and it rattles loudly when I close the hood and the hood flexes all over the place. Was the rib spot welded to the bottom of the hood in the center at one time? Seems like it should have been but I just don't want to weld it and find out that wasn't part of the design. Has anyone else dealt with this?

JUst stuff a piece of closed cell foam in the gap. Old IHC probably used some pressed paper. I tack welded this brace to the hood on our R120. When the weld cooled, it pulled the hood surface down a few thousands of an inch.

I agree, I had the same thing on my S hood, I recall there should be small angle in the center that had to be tacked to the formed section.