Hood struts

[AHutchison]

I recently went with a billet grill that came in four pieces. After taking off of the front of it and replacing the stock plastic with heavier billet grill, my hood won't stay open. I have to put a board up or something. It looks tacky and was wondering if anyone else had the same problem and could give me a quick solution. A link or who to call. Thanks for the help.

 

[rscurtis]

I have Eric Buckel's grille inserts on mine, and this year I noticed that the struts are just able to hold the hood with these installed. I also have the factory hood liner, but I've had that almost since new. Perhaps the struts are losing some of their lifting power, although they show no signs of leakage. Does anyone have an idea what Dodge gets for these?

 

[rashwor]

Mine are weak too and i only have the stock grill and hood. I need a set.

 

[TCDiesel]

Watch out for the China knock offs Junk, Strong arm and mighty are made in SC,But do to Auto-ZONE demands AVM-mighty will be made in CHINA (Purchased @ AZone). I think Sacks are also China junk.

 

[CBari]

I had to replace mine on my 03 earlier this year and went with the strong arm ones and have been very pleased. Dont remember how much they were just that they weren't as high as I thought they might be. I want to think they were under $20 for the pair.

 

[TimothyLong]

I am on my second pair for both my '03 and my wife's '04. In both cases, the struts started failing when the weather turned cold. In fact the second set on both trucks is starting to show the same signs. I bought Strong Arms for my truck (from an aftermarket source, don't remember who though) and MOPAR replacements (from moparpartsamerica.com) for my wife's truck. They look like the exact same thing, but the odd thing is that both the factory and replacement struts seemed to last longer on my truck than hers. We both have the same grille insert too. It is irritating because when they stop working as they should, they give no warning. Both my wife and I have nearly been hit on the head several times by the hood falling back down on its own. I wrote an e-mail to D/C to complain about it and they were going to send a rep out to look at problem till they found out that I had already replaced them and thrown the old ones away. Silly me for not wanting to get a concussion from trying to plug in my engine block heater!

 

[HOBrian]

I pump my hood up and down a few times to get it to stay up on it's own. Oo.

 

[Rockranch]

The hood struts on my truck are played out. When I got the truck last year, it was in December. The struts would not hold the hood up, unless I held it fully open for a few seconds. As the weather warmed up, it worked normally all Summer. Now that the weather has turned cold again, it won't hold at all. Looks like time for new ones. I'll try the pumping trick and see if that works.

 

[Superglide]

I'm in the same boat as Rockranch. Exact same symptoms.