Hoping to find someone with a 40 or 41 Ford pickup who can take a measurement for me. The hood won't stay up on my restored truck. I think that the hood arm and spring supports are mounted to the firewall in the wrong position. There is a flange around the firewall that the arms mount to. I need a measurement from the top corner (where the flange across the top of the firewall meets the vertical flange) to the point where the hole is drilled through the flange to mount the arm. I have attached a picture of this area for reference. Any help would be greatly appreciated. JerseyJim Stahl P.S. The arms on the pickup are not the same as the 40 cars.
JerseyJim, i know you've said the hinge is different from sedans but shouldn't there be one more bar to create the brace? Your pic shows just one bar going to the body and seems to me that'd act like a hinge itself and not let the real hinge operate. Am i missing something?
After another look, seems to me that the pic shows the hood open but the spring isn't really expanded. See if that one brace going to the cowl standing seam isn't acting as the hinge. The sedans have a similiar brace and another that attaches to the side of the cowl and triangulates the brace.
Just wanted to add a bit of info. I have added a picture that shows the dimension that I am looking for. These arms as I said, are not the same as the car. Very different in fact. The spring tension increases as the hood is lowered. The spring seems to be there to prevent the hood from slamming down. I think the idea is that when you open the hood all the way, the arm reaches a point where it is vertical enough to hold the hood. The mounting hole on mine is 4 inches down from the top of the flange. The arm should also be mounted on the outside although, I don't think that would really change things enough to make it hold. There is a half hollow in the metal on the outside (fender side) behind the firewall flange that looks like it was put there to allow the end of the arm to swing around. If I ***ume this to be true, my bolt hole is toward the top of the hollow rather than in the middle where I would expect it to be. The difference would be about a half to five eighths of an inch. I'm not sure if that is enough to correct the problem. That's why I'm hoping that someone can give me an accurate measurement. I'm also not sure if my arms are mounted correctly. Should the spring be on the bottom leg as shown or reversed to the other side of the tuck and mounted upwards? JerseyJim
jerseyjim , i just went out and checked my 41 , your arm is mounted correctly . it's hard to tell from the pics but were the springs chromed if so they will be weaker , when i got mine from Drake they were bare steel. Can't give you the measurement as i smoothed the firewall . Hope this helps bob41.
You have the correct bracket, there have been some instances where the hood will not stay in the upright position. The first test is to determine that there is no extra bondo or filler on the front edge of the hood. This upsets the balance of the springs. The next step to remedy this has been to shave a small portion off the right angle stop portion of the hinge to allow it to open further. The hood hinge is the same for 1939 standard and all pickup trucks up 40 to 47. The 40 deluxe hinge has a dog leg bracket that mounts to the cowl.
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