What's the Catch?... With my Bonnet Catch

[stuzbot]

This problem is so basic I'm almost embarrassed to post it. But...

As of the past couple of days, I just can't get my bonnet to latch properly when I close it. I'll admit I've only had the bonnet open a few times before, given I've not had the motor that long. But never noticed anything odd about it before.

This week however, I've done a couple of days working on the truck and, both times, I've had a hell of a job getting the bonnet to close properly afterwards. In fact I've not been able to get it to latch at all today, so have just had to leave it semi-latched on the wee release lever. I've tried letting it down gently and pressing it, slamming it down and even jumping up there and sitting on the bonnet and bouncing up and down with my body weight on it. But it just won't catch.

As I say, it seems an embarrassingly prosaic thing to get stumped by, but stumped I am. I've looked under as the bonnet closes and everything seems to be lining up properly. And, even if they weren't, there doesn't seem to be any adjustment possible. My instinct is that I want to either raise the bottom catch a couple of mm or lower the hoop on the bonnet which locks into it a couple of mm, so they close together better. But, as I say, I can't see any adjustment possible.

Anyone run into this before or got any ideas what I can try next? It's going to be bloody embarrassing if, every time I lift the bonnet for some reason, I have to spend half an hour afterwards bouncing up and down on it, trying to get the fecker to close again.

Pics of my catch. Just on the off-chance someone can spot something amiss with it. I did wonder if it could be related to the fact, mentioned in another thread, that my front grille has been broken at some stage [circled, you can see the stump of one of its plastic brackets on the bonnet catch housing]. But the catch itself doesn't seem to be missing anything or bent out of alignment...

PS: The forum software has suggested this 'similar thread'. So, I'm glad to see I'm not the only one to have been flummoxed by e recalcitrant bonnet catch!

 

[Tractionman]

Undo the bolts either side of the bottom retaining half, and see if the holes are slotted, hidden by the washers. If so, you can raise it slightly to grab the upper half.

 

[stuzbot]

... see if the holes are slotted, hidden by the washers....

They didn't look slotted. I thought they would be. Mind you, I didn't actually loosen one off to have a look. Let's hope so.

 

[Tractionman]

That's why I said loosen off, slots may be hidden by washers. If that's not the case, elongate holes to give upwards adjustment, to grab its opposite half. Good luck !

 

[sharpy]

Use wd40 on the catch itself and on the cable under the catch and at the same time have someone operate the catch from inside the car the cable can seize up as these are getting on a bit now and just need a bit of lubricant to loosen them up

 

[goodoldboy]

As Sharpy & Frank Zappa said , keep it greasy so it goes down easy lubrication and frequent use helps. Also the rubber stops on the sides , that the bonnet rests on can be screwed in or out to change the travel of the bonnet - how far it will go down .

 

[Tractionman]

Frank Zappa, is he a member after all these years ?

 

[stuzbot]

Also the rubber stops on the sides , that the bonnet rests on can be screwed in or out to change the travel of the bonnet - how far it will go down .

Ah! --now that sounds promising.

I had already oiled the catch and cable, so that wasn't my problem. And yesterday, I loosened off the bolts and managed to move the catch up by a fraction of a mm --even though the bolt holes weren't slotted after all. The bonnet catch worked after that. At least it did the first time I tried. When I tried again, it was back to not catching again. So I thought "Maybe I didn't tighten the bolts up enough. I'll just give them another wee nudge..."

You can see where this is going, can't you?

Oh yes. what you can just about see peeping through there is the sheared off head of a bolt. And, out of the four bolts holding the bonnet catch onto the front of the motor, I'll bet you'll never guess which one sheared off: the three that are easy to get to, or the captive bolt which you can't get to the back of?

Right again!

So, yesterday's 10 minute adjustment of the bonnet catch ended up being an hour plus of dismantling the radiator grille and drilling out the snapped off bolt. In fact, I've still not got the stump of it out. had to abandon my efforts yesterday as it was so damned hot I was practically dissolving while wrestling with the damned thing.

Arrrghh!

 

[stuzbot]

Well, this is turning into a complete ball-ache and no mistake!

I tried winding down the rubber bump stops, as recommended by @goodoldboy, but it made no difference. So I returned to my earlier theory that the fact my front grille area has been bashed in at some stage and shoddily repaired with cable ties and [I kid you not!] cardboard might have something to do with things.

[Of course, all of this was preceded by another session to finish drilling out the bolt I'd snapped off the other day]

Anyway, as I've mentioned in that other thread, the wee cross-member on which the air-con radiator sits has been bent back a bit and, as the vertical bar to which the bonnet catch attaches connects to this cross-member at the bottom, I reasoned that maybe it was affecting the alignment of the catch. So I undid the vertical bar at the bottom and, sure enough, when I pulled it slightly forward and held it there, I was able to close the bonnet properly.

With the bottom bolt undone, the vertical bar wants to swing forward at the bottom, thus slightly altering the angle of the catch at the top. It's difficult to see in the pic but that cross-member at the bottom of the air-con radiator is actually bent back slightly where it looks like it's been bumped with something

So, as a temporary measure, until such time as I can work out a way of straightening that cross-member, I made me a wee spacer by using some rubber fuel hose and a couple of washers on a piece of all-thread, which I screwed into the cross-member...

I don't think Toyota have a part no. for this one!

Spacer in place:

That seemed to work, as I tried a couple of times and the bonnet closed OK. So it was now time to put the grille back on, which I'd had to remove to get at the bolt I'd snapped off. While I was in there, I thought I'd dive down the rabbit hole. So I started cutting off the cable ties holding my front lights and grille together to see and see just what a botched together mess that whole area was.

Not a pretty sight:

Broken light fitting brackets glued together and then broken again

A bracket made from rusty scrap, which doesn't actually attach to anything at the far end!

And, for those times when you need a really professional repair, plenty of cable ties to hold it all together

And, just to add a crowning turd to the woodpile; you see that cable tie just visible in the leftmost hole in the plastic bumper in the above photo? Well, that was stopping another cross-member, which sits inside the bumper, from rattling up and down, because....

That cross-member is cracked at one end and has been cable-tied up to stop it rattling, instead of being repaired!

So, now I'm going to have to dismantle all that front end again, including bumper and get that cross-member off [if it comes off -- I see some bolts, so hope so] and weld it.

What a complete arse. I don't know whether to be more annoyed at the seller for what must be some of the most half-arsed botching of all time. Or at myself for going all over the underneath of the truck before buying. But not looking at anything further forward than the radiator. Because who ever thinks to add "Check front end isn't held together with cable ties" to their pre-purchase inspection!

Anyway, just for the meantime, I put everything back in place and, using what I had to hand, made at least the beginnings of an effort to raise the standard of repairs around lights and grill from "You must be taking the piss" to "Not pretty, but at least things won't fall off now"...

After all that botching together of headlight and grille again, I was ecstatic beyond belief to find that the bonnet was refusing to catch again!

[ASIDE: Why is it that things which work when they're in pieces so often stop working when you put them back together again? I've lost count of the times I've had some electrical gadget 'fixed' while it's in bits with the connections just twisted together. Then, I solder it up properly, reassemble it and it's not working again!]

So I then had to disassemble the grille again which, fortunately thanks to my top quality botching, only meant undoing some screws, rather than cutting cable ties, and I fiddled with that bloody vertical bar holding the bonnet catch. It seemed that my previous home-made spacer affair was only good for two test attempts and, after that refused to work any more. So I removed it and, by experimenting again, found that I could reliably get the bonnet to close properly, by pulling the bottom of that vertical bar forward whilst simultaneously pushing it upwards. Easy enough to do, with the front grille off, but not so much when it's on. So, in the end, because I couldn't be arsed messing about with it any more, I put the grille back on and managed to get the bonnet to close by summonsing the missus to press it down while I lay underneath the van, pushing up on that bar.

Dontcha just love it when a ten minute job ends up taking an entire two days and you still end up getting nowhere!

I'm kind of dreading what I might find when I get the bumper off and check out that cross-member inside it. Given that that is snapped at one end and the cross-member further back that the air-con radiator sits on has been bent too, that suggests that, at some stage my truck has been hit quite a bash in that front left-hand side area. So I really hope there's no more serious damage than that. Readers of my other threads will know that the motor came with a set of 4 mis-matched tyres with different air pressures and tread wear on them and it has a slight pull to the left at times. I've been assuming a new set of tyres and [maybe, if needed] a wheel alignment will sort that out.

But now I'm thinking, what if the main chassis has been slightly bent too and that's why the van is pulling to the side? Hopefully I'm just being paranoid. The main chassis is pretty tough and those wee cross-members not so. And, when the truck pulls, it pulls to the left, which is the opposite side the worst of this damage is on. Trying to think about it logically, if something hit the truck hard enough to bend the chassis in on a particular side, it would pull to that side, wouldn't it, as that wheel would be slightly pushed back. So hopefully the two things are unrelated.

Sigh! --what a palaver!

 

[Tractionman]

Bloody hell ! Now you've gone and opened a can of worms.
5 minute jobs and all that, eh ? So much for a careful old boy owning it.He must have known what the craic was there, just hoping you didn't spot it, engrossed elsewhere.
Until you can get more dismantled and a proper plan in place with any parts to hand, those repairs you have done are professional in comparison to the lash ups you've exposed.
Would careful jacking while pulling on the errant bar be enough to straighten it to get the bonnet to catch ?
When you discover your purchase is not entirely not what it seemed, you do tend to wonder what else you will find, but you are remaining positive and getting on with it. Good luck.

 

[stuzbot]

Good luck.

Thanks.

Still kicking myself for not looking at anything forward of the radiator. But it is what it is now. I'll just have to see if its salvageable

Would careful jacking while pulling on the errant bar be enough to straighten it to get the bonnet to catch ?

Before I ran into the fact it was affecting the bonnet catch too, I was pondering ways I could straighten that bar. I thought there would be a solid crossbar across the front of the chassis and I could use jack on that with a strong chain or strap, to pull the bar forward. Something like this....

But now I've realised there's no solid crossbar in front, only another relatively flimsy one that's cracked at one end, I'll have to think of an alternative plan. Nothing to use as a brace to pull it forward from in front and radiators in the way behind. So can't push it forward from the back. I'll have to get my ingenuity cap on.

When you discover your purchase is not entirely not what it seemed, you do tend to wonder what else you will find, but you are remaining positive and getting on with it....

Yes. One of the reasons I sold my previous van [a VW T3 Syncro --another motor that I'd always wanted to own] was the fact that, the more I worked on it, the more I found things that had been botched together, or not even fitted right. And, since the guy I bought it off told me the person who owned it before him had rebuilt the head, I shuddered to think what standard that work might have been done to, so I never really felt I could trust it.

I'm hoping this Land Cruiser won't turn out to be a similar scenario. That's the trouble with buying a decades old vehicle though. Until you start pulling stuff apart, there's only so much you can glean from giving it the once over, before buying.

 

[Beastrider]

The thing you brace against doesn’t have to be on the truck itself - You could park close to a lamppost (or similar) and use that to pull against. A good ratchet-strap might well do it.

 

[stuzbot]

True. I did actually consider the possibility of attaching a strap / chain from the bar to a post of some kind and then pushing the truck backwards. That bar doesn't look like ti would take too much force to bend it back. A ratchet strap would probably be easier to fine control than rugby tackling the car though.

 

[Tractionman]

Your getting into alternative thinking now, which very often reaps rewards.
Don't feel too bad about buying an older vehicle and experiencing problems, it happens to those with newer too, sometimes brand new that nobody has messed with, but they normally only have the Land bit in common. Haha.