My Willys 3A and 3B Community

3A, 3B, DJ Technical Knowledge Base => "Original"-- Technical Questions, Answers, Observations => Topic started by: Tumbleweed on January 31, 2014, 09:58:20 AM

Title: Hood Support
Post by: Tumbleweed on January 31, 2014, 09:58:20 AM

I thought that somewhere, someone made hat channels for the inside of the hood for support. My hood is in good if not great shape but it does flex a little. I thought that the extra brace on the inside would really stiffen the hood up so when the windshield is down it would not put so much pressure on the top. I will not rule out that even though my hood is in good shape the previous owner may have bent it in and then beat the dent back out. If he did he did a great job of hiding the dent!

Thanks,

George

Title: Re: Hood Support
Post by: Ryan_M on January 31, 2014, 11:32:29 AM

Be careful about how rigid you make the hood. It is supposed to have some amount of flex. The hood on my 3A was beefed up with a couple braces and now it doesn't fit correctly.

The braces are tough to see in this pic but one is a piece of angle iron welded over the original hat channel piece up near the firewall end of the hood. There's another flat-bar brace welded to the hood about where it rests on the grill.

(http://i1188.photobucket.com/albums/z403/rmurdock2121/51%20Willys%20Jeep%20CJ3A%20Rehab/DSCN1862_zps6a63d6b7.jpg)

It's so rigid now that there is a sizable gap between it and the fenders. If you are going to add a brace, make sure the hood is in the proper "flexed" position before you do it or you'll end up with this:

(http://i1188.photobucket.com/albums/z403/rmurdock2121/51%20Willys%20Jeep%20CJ3A%20Rehab/DSCN1879_zpsa6d99c80.jpg)

Title: Re: Hood Support
Post by: Tumbleweed on January 31, 2014, 12:34:53 PM

That's good information Ryan and thanks. I was thinking of a brace a little more forward (see your pic below) I think I saw something like this last year but don't remember.

Title: Re: Hood Support
Post by: Birddog7 on January 31, 2014, 08:20:40 PM

I have seen people take the back hat channel off a bad hood and put it in the center. Classic Enterprise carries hat channel that you can adapt and weld in.

Title: Re: Hood Support
Post by: Birddog7 on January 31, 2014, 08:46:33 PM

(http://i1227.photobucket.com/albums/ee428/birddog77/Firewall%20CJ3B/4ca8a9560a819ced73897efd5a3227a0.jpg)
(http://i1227.photobucket.com/albums/ee428/birddog77/Firewall%20CJ3B/fae138e90e8716b5aa00cefca4f294d0.jpg)
(http://i1227.photobucket.com/albums/ee428/birddog77/Firewall%20CJ3B/6c9e9dff0c15766818b3b83922321958.jpg)

Here is a example of what Bob3b did to his hood.

Title: Re: Hood Support
Post by: Tumbleweed on February 02, 2014, 04:19:37 PM

Yep that's what I am talking about. I would like to move it forward just a bit to clear the script. I will check out Classic for some channel.