You can search for a very old thread where a hood latch broke free on the Interstate. The safety catch held the hood and the underpants caught the crap.

 

I bought the Daystar Hood Wranglers. They where so tight that I could not buckle up the hood. I had to put the stock ones back on until I figure something out.

 

I got my daystar latches today to avoid the prospect of the hood flying up.

 

Just this weekend we had some wicked wind here just south of Colorado Springs and it looked my hood was going to fly open every time I passed a semi, scared the crap out of me. I am going to try some of the suggestions.

 

So, if you remove the spring what happens when the hood is dropped to close? What is there to dampen the fall?

 

Your fingers if you're not careful. I removed the spring this weekend.

 

I know this sounds stupid. I had the same issue. I had them all bolted together and could not buckle.

I unbolted them from the bottom connector and stuck them in a glass of water heated from the microwave (not too hot of course). Walked the whole thing out to the Jeep, and let them sit for a little bit in the hot water and then reinstalled quickly. They latched up easy.

Now that they have been on for a few weeks, they have naturally softened up a bit and work fine.

 

the hood spring mod worked for me up till like 6 mos ago when I installed 33"s and lifted 2.5" now my hood bounces all over the place. I recently saw a jeep in my neighborhood with those expensive 100 dollar metal turnbuckle latches that they sell at quadratec. I am thinking of going this route. Although ive heard the daystar hood ranglers work great, I recently went to the car wash and for some reason when they were drying my jeep they left my factory latches un hooked (not sure why they opened them to begin with) thankfully I noticed it after only driving half a block at maybe 20mph. But it really could have been ugly. I think if I had the expensive turnbuckle latch things the car wash guy might leave em alone.

 

That spring is not there to dampen the travel of a dropped hood. Unlike may vehicles, you should not be dropping your Jeep's hood because that is not what causes it to latch. Lower it gently and use the rubber bands. The spring is there to slightly raise the hood when you release the rubber bands, making it easier to insert a couple fingers under the lip of the hood to raise it. If you still want that feature, then use a couple zip-ties to secure the hood. They work better than even the spring and are still a cheap fix (Yes, the springs work quite well. But under extremely severe conditions you will still experience hood dance on very rare occasion--plenty of folks have attested to that on this forum).