'49-'52 Chevy Hood Hinges (WTF?)

Those things are fucking sketchy! The ol' manual says to use tool #J-81whatever...

Anybody got some sorta trick for removing/installing these things that I'm too retarded to figure out?

thanks kindly,

Jesse

 

i've never done it myself , but i know that there is a tool to do it .chev's of the 40's has this on their website..looks like something you could make

i think you stretch your spring witha floor jack , then put this over it? maybe someone else will know more

click here:

http://www.chevsofthe40s.com/browse.lasso?&dept=Car&cat=012C&skip=16

 

If your talking of removing the springs. A real stong type can pull them with a handle and hook like a hay hook. The rest of us cut a 6 are 8 inch length of tail pipe. Cut that in half long ways. Weld a washer in each end. raise the hood as high as you can and insert the tool # 0I812 into the spring. Put a large hose clamp around the spring and the new tool. lower the hood a bit and the spring should be loose. If you need I might can email a pic.

 

Here is a copy of the old chevrolet tool that I copied from a chevrolet service bulletin. This is the way Chevrolet took off the hood springs. I made mine from a old pry bar with a hole drilled in the end to catch the end of the spring. The welded on handle is just to help you steady it . In the pic you can see where you put it against the back fender brace, a little piece of wood and towels if you got nice paint etc. can go between the brace and the bar, and then you hook the hole in the bar onto the end of the spring. My hinges aint on, but you can imagine , once you hook the spring in, pull the handle down , thus lifting the spring off the hinge. You can lift the spring easily, only having to lift it about a 1/2- 1 in. The handle on the bar helps you to move it out of the way of the hinge , let up on the bar , releasing the tension, and it drops out of the way with you still hooked on the end , in control. Once you do it, you will not believe how easy it is. The spring can't go flying, scratching stuff up!
The bar is about 2 ft. long , just copy mine.I hope I explained it good enough.

 

Carshop in orange county Ca also sells a tool for this issue. Its simple ,best to make it your self.

 

i,ve tired a few diffrent ways and this works the best

 

Somebody did a tech post on this and was a real slick deal Iirc.
Way simple with the homemade tool.

 

Ive read that you can open the hoood to stretch the spring (or with a floor jack if it out of the car) and put pennies between each coil, once you install the springs you open the hood, the spring stretches and all the pennies fall out.

 

These are all great ideas and I appreciate all the posts!

-ns

 

Do a search because someone did a post with plans and photos and everything. It's a rod with a hole in one end and a notch in the other. Shut the hood halfway t ostretch the spring, insert the tool, and lift up hood.

I took mine out before I knew about the tool. I used my floor jack to stretch them back out. One end hooks around axle of front wheels, and then I welded a bolt to the cup on top to hold the other end of the spring. A nut and washer make sure that the spring doesn't fly off.

 

Yeah, I actually found pics of the tool you're talking about on another site(thanks to our own Rusk). Basically a section of re-bar with a notch cut in the bottom and a hole drilled in the top. This is probably the way I'm going to go. I used a link Rusk sent me yesterday, but it doesn't want to work today...

-ns

 

There are other sites?

 

Try this one,,,http://chevy.tocmp.com/miscellaneous/hoodspring.htm

I used pry bars in the past to get the springs off...SKETCHY! The rebar trick is cheap and easy, although I like the one CustomCory posted too.

Bryan

 

Only when you're REALLY DESPERATE and you don't wanna lose some teeth just swapping hoods!!!

-ns