34 Ford Hood latch spring

[phil pavicich]

I have a broken hood latch spring on my lhf hood handle , i have purchased a new spring from midwest springs , and am baffled as how it goes together , The spring needs to be tentioned on the shaft somehow, is there a special way to do it . The end of the handle has a D shaped end , but it very sloppy in the spring, the first pic is the lhr latch which is how it should be , i dont want to pull this one apart and then spring flys across shed , thanks in advance ,Phil

 

[bobH]

I can't help you, but... I had to look on the other side on my 34 to figure it out. And, I learned that there is an 'early' and 'later' design. Naturally, the vendor that i bought from, had the later, and more common, spring. And, my car took the 'early', late 33/early 34 design. So, I never fixed the problem. If you can't get it to 'tension' in the right direction, then, maybe, your situation is the same as mine. If it seems that your spring is wound 'backwards, that would be what I ran into. Just opinion...

 

[Karl Wescott]

Here is a photo of the reproduction handle, handle mount, and spring as supplied by Rootlieb. Likely this is the later version, and the spring sure looks like the one in your pictures. The clamp compressing the spring is to show the relation to the handle, which would normally be constrained by the slot in the hood.


This may sound kind of silly, but is the spring on the other end of that hood side intact, and the ones on the other side of the hood? That might be a clue as to what you should have.

 

[phil pavicich]

Karl the photo you posted shows the spring on the outside of the folded handle mount , i have this type on my other 34 's , the one i have is , the spring is inside the folded cage section and the handle comes thru the middle of the spring as shown in photo, it does not have the spring on the outside as in my pics , all the other 3 handles are the same , is this a early 34 design ?

 

[mercman from oz]

Here is a comparison picture of the 1934 Ford Hood Spring - Early and Late.

 

[JimG]

Mine has the early version. Here are photos of the front and rear latch. Comparing my serial number to what's listed on the Van Pelt website, I would guess my car was built around June of 1934. Of course, I don't know if these are still original parts or not. They are bolted in, so at least the fasteners have been replaced

 

[deuce lover]

Another oic.