DesertTortoise
Junior Member
Hey there
Sorry, this is a bit long-winded but I think necessary for context, if not a story to tell.
I've got a 2012 Limited. Picked it up in 2020 with 100k with a salvaged title for a good deal. What I didn't realize at the time was that there was a micro bend in the tie bar up front from the accident that totaled the vehicle.
Previous owner's son put a 2014 hood, bumper, and lights on but it didn't fit quite right (wheel liner rubbed oversized tires on full radius turns, bumper attached with glue at seams and wire to hold it up underneath). The look and feel of the vehicle (and most importantly, price) caused me to overlook these seemingly minor details at first.
Then I realized that all the problems were focused on the front end where the accident had happened. After maybe 5k the front hood started to look cockeyed and slowly started to lift up front. I didn't want to deal with it so I kept on driving. Eventually, after a 4k mile family road trip with mostly 80+mph driving I started to get 2-4" of lift at the front of the hood. Again, I didn't want to deal with it, so I just relied on the hood latch. Terrible choice.
The hood latch is attached to a very thin piece of metal (core housing) that also surrounds the radiator.
Not 1 month later, the latch gave out and I took to securing the hood with a ratchet strap from underneath. It works but I probably could've avoided this problem had I acted earlier - always too many fires to put out it seems.
The metal has torn enough so that the latch and all the core housing must be replaced along with the latch. BUT that can't be done without replacing the front bumper, and even though I had it replaced last year - and it's coming loose again (because of the bent tie bar) - any body shop that looks at it, and is even willing to touch it, says they have to replace with a 2012 bumper. Which means that the hood and lights must be replaced, too.
Now this is getting pretty expensive for a hood latch replacement. And although this thing runs great, i've got 172k now and don't expect I'll drive it for more than another 25-30k before I look for another one.
That all said, I'm thinking about using some Jeep style exterior hood latch assemblies to secure the hood and bypass the internal hood latch.
My dad first came up with the idea of using hot rod hood pins, but those would either go into the failing core housing or require some fabricated mounts to secure adjacent to the fenders. Doesn't seem worth the cost as I won't be fabricating that myself.
So we came up with the exterior hood latches, a la Jeep.
I've looked around but can't see any examples of anyone doing this with a 4runner... maybe someone here has seen it and can reference it for me??
I've noticed that the Jeep style exterior latches are much closer to 180 degrees than the curvature of the 4runner hood-to-fender pitch is, but there are more styles of Jeep hood than I'm aware of.
Any suggestions or feedback appreciated!
Sorry, this is a bit long-winded but I think necessary for context, if not a story to tell.
I've got a 2012 Limited. Picked it up in 2020 with 100k with a salvaged title for a good deal. What I didn't realize at the time was that there was a micro bend in the tie bar up front from the accident that totaled the vehicle.
Previous owner's son put a 2014 hood, bumper, and lights on but it didn't fit quite right (wheel liner rubbed oversized tires on full radius turns, bumper attached with glue at seams and wire to hold it up underneath). The look and feel of the vehicle (and most importantly, price) caused me to overlook these seemingly minor details at first.
Then I realized that all the problems were focused on the front end where the accident had happened. After maybe 5k the front hood started to look cockeyed and slowly started to lift up front. I didn't want to deal with it so I kept on driving. Eventually, after a 4k mile family road trip with mostly 80+mph driving I started to get 2-4" of lift at the front of the hood. Again, I didn't want to deal with it, so I just relied on the hood latch. Terrible choice.
The hood latch is attached to a very thin piece of metal (core housing) that also surrounds the radiator.
Not 1 month later, the latch gave out and I took to securing the hood with a ratchet strap from underneath. It works but I probably could've avoided this problem had I acted earlier - always too many fires to put out it seems.
The metal has torn enough so that the latch and all the core housing must be replaced along with the latch. BUT that can't be done without replacing the front bumper, and even though I had it replaced last year - and it's coming loose again (because of the bent tie bar) - any body shop that looks at it, and is even willing to touch it, says they have to replace with a 2012 bumper. Which means that the hood and lights must be replaced, too.
Now this is getting pretty expensive for a hood latch replacement. And although this thing runs great, i've got 172k now and don't expect I'll drive it for more than another 25-30k before I look for another one.
That all said, I'm thinking about using some Jeep style exterior hood latch assemblies to secure the hood and bypass the internal hood latch.
My dad first came up with the idea of using hot rod hood pins, but those would either go into the failing core housing or require some fabricated mounts to secure adjacent to the fenders. Doesn't seem worth the cost as I won't be fabricating that myself.
So we came up with the exterior hood latches, a la Jeep.
I've looked around but can't see any examples of anyone doing this with a 4runner... maybe someone here has seen it and can reference it for me??
I've noticed that the Jeep style exterior latches are much closer to 180 degrees than the curvature of the 4runner hood-to-fender pitch is, but there are more styles of Jeep hood than I'm aware of.
Any suggestions or feedback appreciated!
