I prefer twist locks. THey are flush and don't scream POSER!

 

Don't worry about it Lil Dennis. Whenever you get a chance.

 

Way back in the day, I was meeting an old Chevy dump-truck at highway speed when his hood flew back over the windshield; needless to say, it was a harrowing experience.

The next day, I bought and installed a set of those Mr-Gasket LOCKABLE hood-pins on my 1978 Chevy K-20, as I did not want the same scenario happening to me.

The little key-lock gizmos finally gave out after about a year; plus, in Kentucky, we get a lot of freezing rain; or, it will rain a flood for days and then freeze.

With the little key gizmos full of ice, there is no way you are going to get under the hood until the spring thaw --- I don't care what kind of super-duper de-icer anti-freeze tricks you may have up your sleeve.

When the little key-locker gizmos gave up the ghost, I replaced them with a set that uses pins like these :



:except, my pins have the big "ring" portion turned at 90* to the "clip" portion; VERY IMPORTANT if you are gonna use them as hood-pin latches.

If you use the flat style like pictured, you can't get ahold of them very easily to pull them out.

Believe it or not, thirty years and 400,000-miles later, those exact same two clips are STILL on that truck; who else can make a claim like that ??

TSC, among other places, have those same 90* clips with tractor logos/colors made into a really neat pull-handle, if you are a tractor guy.

For genuine strength, clips like these are better and less apt to wander off :

http://www.jegs.com/webapp/wcs/store...-1&showValue=3

If you use little cables, get the plastic-coated kind so it don't skin up the paint.

One advantage to hood-pins is that they are highly adjustable and are located at BOTH front corners.

You can add an extra nut, a flat-washer, and a big rubber washer, underneath the hood, and adjust the rubber washer up or down to level the corners of the hood.


One thing about hood-pins, you can SEE them and easily tell that they are in place; any kind of log-chain or strap hidden under the hood cannot be seen from the driver-seat and could be left un-done.

 

could you not use small padlocks in to holes of the pins? i mean it may not look teh best but would be secure enough and shouldnt get too much ice in them. if all else fails on thesoe small padlocks we use rubber pipe ends to put on the bottom of the locks to keep stuff out of the key hole. when i say small i mena liek the suit case locks that can be bought in all colors and strenghts

 

Thanks BearKiller. I have not seen the tractor ones you speak of. I'm a John Deere guy, but I think some Case IH ones would match the red truck better, especially since the 5.9 was put in a lot of IH tractors! Do you have a link or something? I don't think there is a tractor supply anywhere near me.

 

http://cgi.ebay.ca/AERO-CATCH-FLUSH-...item483a5ccae3

 

Those are really cool and unique; alas, I fear they would suffer the same icing problems as the key-locking style.

 

Yeah that's why I wanna stay away from them. I would put something like that on my truck without a doubt if I never drove it in winter.

 

[/img] these work

 

Thanks man!