Necessity truly is the Mother of invention

[AlanCasida]

Since I live alone and good car help is not always close by I have had to come up with many ways of doing things myself. This is the one-man hood removal system I've come up with. The tension of the straps going through the clevis will hold the hood in any position I need. It actually works pretty good.
 

[Drew Pojedinec]

I normally put a strap through the hood latch, jack it up, unbolt the hood, climb on the windshield and push the whole works back.

Tho with my truck I just pull most of the bolts, leaving one in each side and just flop the hood back onto the cab (with an old army blanket to keep from scratching things, hate to ruin the patina).

[fe-starliner]

Thanks Alan for sending pictures that are sensibly sized!

[57 lima bean]

I would guess installation is a bit trickier.

[AlanCasida]

I would guess installation is a bit trickier.

Not really. I can just tilt the hood to the same angle as the hinges and drop it down in place.

[TomP]

That is brilliant and much better than my "mutually assured destruction" method. That is where I try to lift the hood myself and start one bolt by hand then continue to hold it and walk around the front of the car to start a bolt in the other side. The complications arise if I drop a bolt.

[Heo]

That is brilliant and much better than my "mutually assured destruction" method. That is where I try to lift the hood myself and start one bolt by hand then continue to hold it and walk around the front of the car to start a bolt in the other side. The complications arise if I drop a bolt.

Sounds familiar.....

[Joe-JDC]

I use the swim noodles for standing a hood upright.  Just slit the noodle with a carpet knife, and slip it over the lip of the hood at the rear and stand it up out of the way.  You can also use them to protect the sides of the hood.  They are cheap to buy, and really dense material, so they take some abuse without damaging the hood, or any other body part that needs a bumper in storage.  I even put a short piece under my wiper blade arms so that the rubber doesn't take a set when a vehicle is not used for a few weeks at the time.  Joe-JDC

[scott foxwell]

Clever!

[AlanCasida]

That is brilliant and much better than my "mutually assured destruction" method. That is where I try to lift the hood myself and start one bolt by hand then continue to hold it and walk around the front of the car to start a bolt in the other side. The complications arise if I drop a bolt.

That's how I used to do it until I needed to take the hood off of my '67 F250. There was no way I was going to be able to man handle that monster off so I came up with this. It actually worked way better than I thought it would so I always do it like this now.

[machoneman]

Great ideas guys! Liked the noodles for edge protection. Gotta move my hood a tad for alignment yet have held off unless I get I or even two ten-minute helpers! Not now.....TANKS!

[Tommy A]

Alan, you take'n the motor out the gal, to check things over for another 'Drag Week'??  Tom

[AlanCasida]

Alan, you take'n the motor out the gal, to check things over for another 'Drag Week'??  Tom

Yeah, it was using more oil than I'd like so I pulled the heads off to take a look. It looked like it was getting oil past the valve stem seals. But while I was looking it over I noticed some scratches in #4 & #3 cylinders so I figured I better pull it out and see what's going on. I pulled #4 piston out and it looks like there was something funky going on with my fancy Total Seal gapless top ring. If I can't hone the scratches out I may be at a crossroads with the ol' Gal. Do I return it to a cruiser or ramp it up into a bruiser.    

[babybolt]

Foam water pipe insulation works good to for protecting edges.  Its already slit.  For 69/70 Mustangs where the hood extends forward, slipping some pipe insulation on the hood trim keeps it from getting dinged up in storage.

[BattlestarGalactic]

Luckily the wagon hood is glass and I can lift it off easily.  My '69 F100 is all steel and weighs a ton.  I used to be able to wiggle it off and walk with it.  That was many years ago.  I used to hang it from rope tied into the roof rafters in the garage.   Tie it up an back away from it.   Worked well.  Lucky for me it has been 20 yrs since I've needed to remove that hood!