Help replacing front hood badge

[LightmanE300]

Hey guys. Someone stole my ram hood logo/badge when it was parked at the Tampa airport a few months ago. I guess one of the local community high schools' mascot is the ram, so they are being stolen pretty frequently in the area.



I got a replacement hood emblem from my local dodge dealer. However, it doesn't have any double sided tape on it, and I'm not quite sure how they install. Has anyone replaced theirs? When I asked the service manager at the dealer he looked and was perplexed as well. No techs were available at the time. Any hints or what am I missing here? I feel pretty stupid that I can install all of the other accessories I have and do maintenance and can't figure out a stupid hood badge :-laf

 

[rbattelle]

Well, here's the procedure from the 2003 service manual:



1. Clean surface.

2. Install special tool #288939 into holder #2993 with fixture #00953.

3. Raise vehicle and support with safety stands.

4. Remove both front wheels.

5. Remove A/C condensor.

6. Remove intercooler.

7. Drain engine coolant and remove radiator.

8. Lower hood.

9. Using special tool assembled in step 2, carefully lower the new emblem into place and secure using a large C-clamp.

10. Re-install radiator, intercooler, and A/C condensor.

11. Refill engine with coolant.

12. Replace front wheels.

13. Road test vehicle for compliance before returning to customer.



Phew! Fortunately for you, I've come up with a simpler procedure that will be significantly less expensive:



1. Purchase a bottle of contact cement.

2. Clean the new emblem and the place where you're going to stick it with some rubbing alcohol.

3. Apply contact cement to the backside of the emblem.

4. Apply contact cement to the place where you want to stick it.

5. Wait 10 minutes.

6. Stick the new emblem in place. Be careful, the contact cement bonds on contact.



-Ryan :-laf

 

[LightmanE300]

Holy crap, for a logo? Jeez! Now I'm embarassed too, because I have a 2003 service CD and didn't look. In any case, all of the dealers I'd spoken with said it 'should just have double sided tape' on it. Being that my truck is black, and completely debadged aside from the two C's on the sides, I may just leave it off. Wow.

 

[rbattelle]

You should check out the procedure for replacing the emblems on the tailgate! I won't go into detail here, but suffice to say it involves disassembling the transmission.



Seriously, I think contact cement would be a good option. The only down side is it's very strong, so if someone tries to remove it in the future they might take more than just the emblem away with them...



-Ryan

 

[LightmanE300]

I know contact cement wouldn't be that difficult, I've worked with a few adhesives before. I guess I'm still in shock that I have the right part and it's not as simple as the other emblems are to stick on. They DO come with double sided tape on them.



I'm also worried that whoever took it didn't take it all. I'm not really sure if the top half of the emblem is gone and part is still there, or if I'm down to the 'base' where the emblem should be installed upon. There are some weird dimples on both the remaining portion and the new emblem's bottom that do not line up. I should go take a pic , I'm sure that doesn't make much sense

 

[LightmanE300]

Well I figured out exactly what happened, and someone didn't steal it, it fell off. I know this because there are no scratches, and the entire ram head itself separated from the rest of the badge. As I look at the new one i received, I realize that the silver ram head that's attached to the black backplate/background came off, leaving the backplate still affixed to my hood. Now poses the real problem. I could risk scratching my paint and try to pry the old backplate off, or just live with it. There's no way to order the emblem broken/split apart, so I'm stuck. LOL.

 

[PKnoerzer]

heat it up real good with a heat gun or hair dryer first, then you should be able to pry it up with your fingers - might want to wear gloves .

 

[Prairie Dog]

Well, here's the procedure from the 2003 service manual:



1. Clean surface.

2. Install special tool #288939 into holder #2993 with fixture #00953.

3. Raise vehicle and support with safety stands.

4. Remove both front wheels.

5. Remove A/C condensor.

6. Remove intercooler.

7. Drain engine coolant and remove radiator.

8. Lower hood.

9. Using special tool assembled in step 2, carefully lower the new emblem into place and secure using a large C-clamp.

10. Re-install radiator, intercooler, and A/C condensor.

11. Refill engine with coolant.

12. Replace front wheels.

13. Road test vehicle for compliance before returning to customer.



Phew! Fortunately for you, I've come up with a simpler procedure that will be significantly less expensive:



1. Purchase a bottle of contact cement.

2. Clean the new emblem and the place where you're going to stick it with some rubbing alcohol.

3. Apply contact cement to the backside of the emblem.

4. Apply contact cement to the place where you want to stick it.

5. Wait 10 minutes.

6. Stick the new emblem in place. Be careful, the contact cement bonds on contact.



-Ryan :-laf

:-laf The only thing you forgot was disconnecting the batteries!