Pete M Posted April 26, 2006 Share Posted April 26, 2006 I'm sure most of you have already seen this little truck, but I want to make sure it's officially posted up. The best thing to do is lube all the associated mechanisms on a regular basis (like with oil changes). It happens all too often. An MJ/XJ owner reaches down to pop the hood and the latch release handle comes off in their hand. If it happens to you, don't fret, it's not as bad as it might seem. Crawl under the front of your Jeep and see if you can reach up past the radiator (this can be next-to-impossible for owners with the aux fan or front steel guard). Now feel around and tug on the skinny little bar that connects the two corner latches. It's waaaaay up at the top. Sometimes this works, but usually it only pops the passenger side. See, the bar pulls on the pass side, but PUSHES on the drivers side. If it doesn't pop open, remove the headlight and headlight bucket. You'll see this bolt: It is one of two bolts that hold the bracket that the hood latch, um, latches to. There's two of them though. The second can be seen here above the first: I dismantled most of my front end before I discovered these two little gems, hopefully you won't have to. It's a tight fit, but it's been proven that a ratchet can get at both. Then the whole assembly pops up with the hood. Now open the hood, free the bottom half, and reattach it to the Jeep. Replacing the cable is pretty straight forward. Jeep on! --Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DirtyComanche Posted April 26, 2006 Share Posted April 26, 2006 With mine it wasn't the handle breaking. My release rod touched the battery and went kaboom, and lit the engine bay on fire... Thanks for the past help Pete... This should be stickied. That reminds me, the latest issue of 4WD mag, or maybe it was peterson's 4x4 had an article on the crappy things about cherokees. They didn't know how to release the hood this way. They seemed to think that it was perfectly acceptable to just get the sawzall and cut until it popped open. While normally I'm not against sawzalling offending metal, I found it a little odd that they didn't know a better way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oizarod115 Posted April 26, 2006 Share Posted April 26, 2006 sounds like a PITA! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
89MJComanche Posted June 24, 2006 Share Posted June 24, 2006 If only I could find the photos of the hole that we had to cut in my fender back after I painted my 1989 when I was still in High School. If I had only known about this back then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
88swampedmj Posted July 13, 2006 Share Posted July 13, 2006 i think if my hood latch broke..id prolly use hood pins haha they look cool on my cuda Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted July 13, 2006 Author Share Posted July 13, 2006 Way ahead of you. :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DirtyComanche Posted July 14, 2006 Share Posted July 14, 2006 What are those? Fence hooks with a bar through them, connected to a cupboard handle? Pure sex. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted July 14, 2006 Author Share Posted July 14, 2006 No and maybe. $10 stainless hood pin set, a couple $1 handles from the hardware store, and some stainless picture frame hanging wire between them. Pure functionality. :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twisty Posted July 14, 2006 Share Posted July 14, 2006 Pure functionality. :D thats what matters. looks good pete! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenosha Warrior Posted October 1, 2006 Share Posted October 1, 2006 what if the hood release cable sticks in the open position? Ive PB blasted the hell out of it, 1 in 5 times I go to close the hood, it won't stay closed and takes a good 10 minutes of playing with the latches and a can of PB blaster to get them to close and latch., Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenosha Warrior Posted October 10, 2006 Share Posted October 10, 2006 the sumbtch just broke! Now I'm on my laptop, outside, using pete's instructions to get the front end apart. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted October 11, 2006 Author Share Posted October 11, 2006 Might be that the little return spring is dying. Or that the cable is getting stuck and not retracting all the way. Or that one of the latches is still sticking. And how on earth did I miss your post? :hmm: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenosha Warrior Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 The cable broke right at the handle, so my dad and I pulled it out, and just reattached the handle and hung it between the rad and the grille. pure functionality. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thekuntash Posted November 28, 2006 Share Posted November 28, 2006 the bar connecting the 2 latches broke on mine so i brought out the bfh and a pry bar and broke a latch off the one side that wouldnt open wouldnt suggest if you don't wanna pin the hood or put a new hood on it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted November 30, 2006 Author Share Posted November 30, 2006 Undoing those bolts would still have opened the hood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carnuck Posted July 19, 2007 Share Posted July 19, 2007 I'm going to locking hoodpins if mine breaks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geonovast Posted August 25, 2007 Share Posted August 25, 2007 Man, I wish I'd know that a few years ago....my cable hadn't snapped, but the little plastic thinger wouldn't stay in the bracket at the front of the hood. I left my lights on at work once and couldn't open the hood to jump it. So we utilize the crack in my header from when I hit the dear and...yeah. Used to be what my driveway looked like when I lived at my dad's. 1 1/2 of the blue ones are gone. The rest of the one on the right is in my shed, or attached to my MJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drahcir495 Posted October 22, 2007 Share Posted October 22, 2007 I owe you big time Pete! Saw this post a thousand times, but I never believed that something like this would happen to me. Best sticky EVER :bowdown: :cheers: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
92comanche4x4 Posted March 10, 2008 Share Posted March 10, 2008 i had that happen to me at work were the handle came off into my hand i just got some channel locks and pulled the cabnle with that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitch Posted March 27, 2008 Share Posted March 27, 2008 it happened to me, put I punched my way into the engine compartment. Installing hoodpins now. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CypherWulf Posted September 29, 2008 Share Posted September 29, 2008 Maybe the '86 is just wierd, but I didn't have to go through nearly all this much today when it happened to me, I just unscrewed the grille, and reached up and pushed the (single) latch to the side the same way that the cable would have done, worked like a charm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted September 29, 2008 Author Share Posted September 29, 2008 86 MJs have a single hood latch in the middle. 87+ have 2 latches, located in the corners of the hood. They are notorious for sticking and a real pain to grab hold of (especially if you have the skid plate or E-fan). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CypherWulf Posted September 29, 2008 Share Posted September 29, 2008 OIC, good to know there's at least one thing about my 86 that is nicer to have than the later models! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BookspanS Posted September 29, 2008 Share Posted September 29, 2008 OIC, good to know there's at least one thing about my 86 that is nicer to have than the later models! X2 :agree: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darren Posted November 27, 2008 Share Posted November 27, 2008 I never thought it would happen to me. I'm so glad this writeup was here, Thanks Pete. Happy Thanksgiving! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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