Hood center rod removal

W

wrndln

Well-known member
I bought a decent hood at a swap meet today. I need to remove the 3 hinge rods to do some sandblasting and bodywork on the panels. I tried to search for the thread on how to remove the hollow center rod on a 28/29 hood (maybe 30/31 hoods have a hollow center rod also). I got tons of hits on the search that were not even about hoods, so I gave up looking through previous posts. I vaguely remember there was a discussion on this topic sometime back, but I can't remember what the the consensus was on how best to remove the rod. Anyway, does anyone know the best and least risk of damaging the hood panels, way to remove the hollow center rod from the hood. I kind of remember someone said to use a drill to spin the rod out, but I have seen the results of someone trying to do that - they ruined one top panel as the rod spiraled out badly. Maybe they didn't get the rod soaked well enough with penetrating oil. BTW, I have started soaking the hinge rods with PB Blaster. Thanks for any help.
 
I have used a drill but turn the rod VERY SLOWLY and have it WELL SOAKED with penetrent. I have had very good success with this procedure.

Chris
 
Lube every thing with a good penitrating oil. I've always been able to tap the center tube out far enough to then flatted the end and clamp the flattened end with a vice grip. Now, have someone hold the hood on a work table and you take a short bar and place it on the tip of the vice grip and hit with hammer. Also keep swing the panels back and forth if they move.
 
The electric drill method has always worked well for me too. Just be sure you flood it with penetrating oil and let it soak, the longer the better.


Deron
 
If you are going to re-use the hollow rod,then make sure that you use a plug in the end so the drill chuck does not distort it. The drill worked for me as well. Good Luck
 
Drill worked well for me too. Soaked with KROIL. Then used variable speed drill going as slow as possible. I bought stainless replacement rods from Brattons.
 
There is a U-Tube video doing just that. The guy sprays the length of the rod down with WD-40 and drift pin-pounds out 1/2 an inch and then tightens down the chuck of a cordless drill on that 1/2 inch and starts to turn the rod while pulling out. And the rods back out. Hood falls apart. Never store an assembled hood flat. Always stand her up on edge.

skip.

Skip,
I searched for the You Tube video, but came up with nothing. Do you know the link?
Thanks
Rusty Nelson
Lakeville, MN

The link was posted in the old Ford Barn, all that stuff appears to be long gone. So no. I have no link but will search around. I know the fellow had several U-tubies...one was hand starting the 'A', hood rod removal, some others [I did not watch] and others.

skip.
 
Last edited:
Skip,
I searched for the You Tube video, but came up with nothing. Do you know the link?
Thanks
Rusty Nelson
Lakeville, MN
 
Don S said:
If you are going to re-use the hollow rod,then make sure that you use a plug in the end so the drill chuck does not distort it. The drill worked for me as well. Good Luck
Click to expand...
The above is important.....wether or not you are going to reuse the tube use a drill bit that just fits inside the tube.
I have also opened the hinge knuckles...slightly, to get the tube out.
 
I use lower pressure and a small nozzle (3/32") to sandblast all my sheetmetal parts. It takes a long time to do it this way. I haven't seen any waviness so far in the sandblasted stuff I've done. Model A's are made mostly of 19 ga. sheetmetal that is a lot more forgiving than the thinner sheetmetal on modern cars. Also thanks for all the posts on getting the rod out. I will keep spraying penetrating oil on the hinges for a few days before I try to spin them out.
 
You can use a body slide hammer dent puller with a screw in the hollow tube to get enough of the tube out to grab and twist.
 
Take a brass solid rod about 6" in length; work one end down 1 1/2" to the inside diameter of the original rod. After lubing entire old rod, insert brass and tap lightly, remove brass and insert in oposite end and tap lightly. Once it starts to move keep moving from one end to the other until the rod starts moving freely. Then use a drill to remove the old rod. I like to take my time as you can sure screw up a good hood if you get hurried.

I just took apart a 30-31 hood, using this method, that still had the original hollow seamed rods; the center rod was really tight; when I finished it did no damage to the hinge portion of either side.

Ron
 
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