hood not closing completely

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nanaimo

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Hi all, new to this forum so I hope I'm ok posting this here. I recently bought a 2003 Liberty Ltd in fairly good condition and as this is the first vehicle I've owner I'd like to work on it myself as much as possible and hopefully learn some things in the process... I figure I'll be posting here a lot more :p I just finished jerry-rigging my tailpipe which had rusted thru and disconnected from the muffler (full repair will be next weekend when I can figure out how to lift it up). Anyway, the reason for this post is that I just noticed that my hood is not closing fully on the passenger side. It latches, but there is about 1" of space left as opposed to about .5" on the drivers side (just eyeballed those measurements). I'll attach a pic for reference. I figure that the hood is most likely bent but I was wondering if anyone had any other insight into this problem. Happy thanksgiving (or Columbus Day for all you freedom lovers)!
 

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tommudd

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Hi all, new to this forum so I hope I'm ok posting this here. I recently bought a 2003 Liberty Ltd in fairly good condition and as this is the first vehicle I've owner I'd like to work on it myself as much as possible and hopefully learn some things in the process... I figure I'll be posting here a lot more :p I just finished jerry-rigging my tailpipe which had rusted thru and disconnected from the muffler (full repair will be next weekend when I can figure out how to lift it up). Anyway, the reason for this post is that I just noticed that my hood is not closing fully on the passenger side. It latches, but there is about 1" of space left as opposed to about .5" on the drivers side (just eyeballed those measurements). I'll attach a pic for reference. I figure that the hood is most likely bent but I was wondering if anyone had any other insight into this problem. Happy thanksgiving (or Columbus Day for all you freedom lovers)!

There are rubber stops/ bumpers on each side. Try bringing the high side down to see if that helps any. Not sure how it would of bent , so most likely someone has raised the stops on that side.
Try that and report back with what happened
 

dude1116

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I've actually seen this on numerous KJ's. Not really sure the fix...but just noting that the driver's side likes to be lower.
 

teeje

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Check what Tommudd mentioned. Most likely the cause. They just screw in

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nanaimo

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Thanks for the replies guys. The rubber stop wasn't the issue. I screwed it most of the way in and the gap persisted. I could see the stopper from thru the gap and there was still about .5" between it and the hood. In response to hoosier, the hood is almost perfectly aligned closest to the passenger side mirror, but gradually lifts up out of position as you move forward to the headlight. Tried looking under with a flashlight but there's not much you can see when the hood is closed!
 

nanaimo

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tommudd - previous owner reports nothing major and I didn't get an accident history report but it doesn't look like it, no. bumper has a little crack on that side but nothing that could affect the hood
 

teeje

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Loosen the bolts on the supports (get someone to help you) and shimmy it back. Its probably too far forward.

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CactusJacked

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Thanks for the replies guys. The rubber stop wasn't the issue. I screwed it most of the way in and the gap persisted.

Since the hood pivots on the latch that's in the middle, cranking the drivers side snubber up more will raise the hood on that side, and lower the hood on the passenger side. You want balance between latch height, and left/right snubber height.
 

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