Misaligned hood latches!

[Moab]

How do I fix this?

Today is going from bad to worse. First the plastic dye on my flares failed. Then I replaced those stupid security hood latches. Which were terrible to deal with. HAd to end up using a huge set of bolt cutters I have to get them off. But once I put the stock latches on. The hood doesn't line up with the fender on the drivers side. So the rubber is in a slight S shape. And the latch is barely latched. Any big bump and I'm pretty sure it will come undone. There's always the other latch and the hood latch itself. But I have a feeling this is now going to be an ongoing thing - my hood latch coming loose. Maybe I'm wrong. But it doesn't take much pressure to release the hood latch on that side.

Been a great day! LMAO! Got any ideas on how to fix this? I wanna grab the whole hood and jam it to the left. So it lines up. But I'll probably mess something else up. I'm wondering if a bodyshop guy could adjust the hood hinges without destroying the paint? Any ideas?

I tried pushing both parts of the latch in the correct direction before tightening them down. Below is as close as I can get them. There Crown hood latches. Is there a latch that would solve this or is better? Please don't say a security latch. (OMG. I'm about to lose it. lol.)

 

[astjp2]

loosen the bolts and it should align back up...

 

[Moab]

loosen the bolts and it should align back up...

You mean loosen the bolts, push them as far to the correct side of the holes as possible, and then tighten down? (I've done that. This is as good as it gets.) Or do you mean literally leaving them loose?

 

[FireJeep]

Have you tried loosening them and rotating the bottom one slightly counter clockwise and the top one also counterclockwise just to ease the off set? Also, take a look at how the hood is lined up along the hinge side, is there a bigger gap on one side versus the other? Also look at the tub to fender joint, is the fender tight against the tub? Just some thoughts.......

 

[astjp2]

I meant for your hood, loosen, align, tighten

 

[Moab]

Have you tried loosening them and rotating the bottom one slightly counter clockwise and the top one also counterclockwise just to ease the off set? Also, take a look at how the hood is lined up along the hinge side, is there a bigger gap on one side versus the other? Also look at the tub to fender joint, is the fender tight against the tub? Just some thoughts.......

When facing the front of the Jeep the hood is about .25 inches or more to the passenger side. The gap between the hood and top of grill there is a gap. That is .25 closer on the drivers side than the passenger side.

 

[FireJeep]

look at the gap where the hood hinges are, the part the hinges attach to is the cowl. There is a slight bit of play in the hinge bolts, you may be able to "adjust" the hood to lessen the off set of the catches

 

[Moab]

I'll look. Thank you.