modified hood release cable?

Hi Folks:

A few years ago, I replaced my hood release cable with a new one from Team Cherokee. I lubed it with special cable lube, and lubed ALL of the moving parts that open the hood, but it never was very good or smooth feeling. Now I can barely open the hood ... I have to give it a massive pull -- even though I've relubed everything again..

Has anyone ever modified the OEM design, or fabbed a custom release? I'm thinking of some lever sticking out the front a little so that you can move the release rod from the front of the vehicle. Or ... any other ideas would be welcome!!

This is a PITA part of the xj design, and it would be a good candidate for custom solution.

Thanks!

I hit my with silicone PB blaster every so often, smooth as butter, use it on the latches, that's where mine was sticking before

Thanks for responding. When I installed the new cable, I lubed the two latches and tested them ... smooth as butter. I took off the bell housing in the middle ... the thing the cable attaches to. I rebuilt it and made sure it was smooth. The cable lever and cable itself were lubed with motorcycle cable lube, and the pull handle moved very smoothly before it was installed.

So, each individual component was smooth and moved effortlessly. But ... when everything was put together, it was definitely not smooth. It seems the square rod coming off the pull handle under the dash has some binding. It feels like it's binding there.

I wonder if the installation bolts are too tight? Maybe that would induce some stress/binding on the lever assembly?

It's dark now, I'll go out tomorrow and loosen the installation bolts to see if that helps.

Just a thought.

But what I'd really like to do is fab a custom solution that is bulletproof and less finicky.

Thanks again, and please keep the ideas coming.

Hood pins are always simple. Keep the safety catch and pin it.

Sounds like your cable is binding somewhere. Did you compare the original and new lengths? Is it routed correctly?

Your also pulling against the latch/springs, have you lubed them?

csailors said:

Hood pins are always simple. Keep the safety catch and pin it.

Click to expand...

Exactly what I did for this reason.