1952-59 Ford Hood hinge bolts

I have managed to lose mine somehow. No clue how, my shop is so freakin clean you wouldnt believe it

the bolts that hold the hood to hinge

Are these just shoulder bolts I can pickup at hardware stores or are they "special" in some way? Been so long since I took them off dont even remember what they look like.

If they are different than store bought, does anyone have spares they don't need? Looks like they are $3 plus shipping for a pack of 6 at carpenters just hate to order stuff that small and pay $5 shipping

Found a pic in Mac's book, looks like them may be standard shoulder type bolts and 5/16-24 x 9/16" long. If so I should be able to pick those up local

 

I believe they are 5/16 fine thread, at least on a '56. I think some attach with nuts and locks, but 9/16 to 3/4 long should work fine.

 

excellent, gonna pick up some and try that. thanks

 

Ive tried searching for some at my local hardware stores but had no luck. Ended up buying them from Macs. They arrived in about a week.

 

On 1954 ford forum I heard people say they found fender shoulder bolts pretty easily at ace hardware. Said they had a bigger selection that lowes and the like. I am gonna try there and if not I will just order em and be done with it.

 

On my 54 they are special, they have a shoulder that the hinge pivots on. C&G ford parts in Escondido stocks them, dont remember what they cost but it was only a few bucks.

 

Like the guys stated before, C&G, and Mac's have the bolts you need. The bolt is a 5/16-24x9/16. The part number and price from Mac's is; 20237-S8 $0.95. I don't have my C&G catalog here but I'm sure the price is roughly the same.

 

on mine they also were drilled so that they can be wired on to keep them from coming loose!

 

Order the right ones, those damn hinges need all the help they can get, the hole looks cool and they work great.

 

I saw some with a hole in them, had no clue what that was for. Anyway, I am ordering new ones, I am done trying to find the old ones

 

Sounds good. I would order a couple extra one's and keep them handy just in case.

 

Extras, I will probably lose those to LOL!

 

If they are the same as F100's you can buy new ones from the resto parts companies.

My F-100 shoulder bolts were stripped and kept coming loose. The weld nuts were also crossthreaded. I got sick of opening the hood and having a hinge slam back and get stuck when a bolt fell out. No real way to fix this except replacing the nuts and bolts together. So, I went to the hardware store and picked up some oversized stainless bolts (3/8"-16). I also got some stainless & br*** bushings and a few flat washers. I removed the hood (by myself without scratching paint or smacking the gl***), cut out the old weld nuts with my plasma cutter, then welded in the new SS bolts in their place. Then I smoothed everything off and cleaned it all up & painted it. Managed to get the hood back on the hinges and put the new bolts in with the steel bushings to ride on the hinges, and the br*** bushings to take up the slack in them. I would have just drilled & tapped the stock weld nuts, but there's not much material left in them after drilling, and they aren't very thick, so you have to use fine-threads to get a good bite, so I went with the old cut & replace method.

Now the hood opens & closes very easily...even though it still has the poorly engineered wobbly hokey pokey Ford hinges that aren't worth a ****. Eventually it will get a hood tilt kit, but I don't have the funds to support that right now.

Maybe you can do the same thing if you can't find the right shoulder bolts.

 

Does anyone have a pic of the installation location on the shoulder bolts? Since I picked up my 52, the hood sticks up in the back, and it looks like they just put standard hex bolts in all the holes after getting it painted, so the hood alignment is way off. I'm just not actually sure where they go, since the diagram in my manual is a little vague. Thanks.

 

You may also have weak springs or paint debris between the bearing surfaces. Some lubrication may solve the problem of the back sticking up.

 

Thanks! I did try lubing the hinges and it did smooth out the closing process a little. Not sure how to check for a weak spring besides replacing it. The hood is held up solidly when it is open and there is resistance when closing it. Which spring would cause it not to close completely. The standard-looking one or the coiled one? Thanks again.

 

Don't know for sure, but my problem went away after replacing the flat coil springs and cleaning/lubricating the various bearing surfaces.