Body / Glass: C/K Hood Weight

[345 DeSoto]

Serious question. Age and infirmity are makeing it more and more difficult for me to lift the hood on my Sky Hawk. I need to know what the weight of the hood is. Thanks...

[JoeHall]

Not sure, but do know lift weight of the 56-61 hood is heavier than the 62-64, due to grill differences. A fish scale or fire extinguisher scale could be used to measure lift weight, but I don't have either of those. I'd guess 25 pounds, max, for the 56-61, maybe 20 for the later ones. They all require a somewhat awkward lift though, in terms of human body ergonomics.

[studegary]

Serious question. Age and infirmity are makeing it more and more difficult for me to lift the hood on my Sky Hawk. I need to know what the weight of the hood is. Thanks...

Of course the weight of the hood does not matter. You are not lifting the hood off. As mentioned, you only need the force required to raise the hood, with some of the weight on the hinges.

[j.byrd]

345Desoto, here's mine...19 lbs although it feels like a hundred, ha !

[rockne10]

345Desoto, here's mine...19 lbs although it feels like a hundred, ha !

But your '55 doesn't include the grill. which the Sky Haw does. And, if the grill itself weighs ten pounds, we can estimate thirty all together.

Has anyone retrofitted gas struts to assist in lifting these heavy hoods?

[j.byrd]

rockne10, that is true sir, but since he said "C & K" hoods, I thought this would give him a starting guess.... My Sky Hawk hood didn't seem any heavier than my 55, but that was several disappeared muscles and a few years ago, ha !

[345 DeSoto]

"Has anyone retrofitted gas struts to assist in lifting these heavy hoods?"...…..Which is the reason for my Post. I need to know the "lift" weight of the Hawk hood...

[PackardV8]

You'll find this is a very difficult engineering problem. The very front heavy grille, the flimsy hood, the flimsy hinges, don't play well with struts. The real answer is hire someone who can show you his work on a Hawk to convert the hood to front hinged. Here's mine in progress.




IIRC, bezhawk here has done this for customers.

jack vines

[studegary]

How often do you really need to open the hood?

[6hk71400]

John Kroulik, the owner of "The Whisler" did a front load Hawk hood like the 57-59 Fords and Thunderbird and Lincolns. Slick operation as I recall. As you know you lift and pull and Hawk hood. It was easy 50 years ago but the last K I owned was a 55 and that hood was lighter and a snap to lift.

Good Luck and don't get injured while lifting.

Bob Miles

[345 DeSoto]

How often do you really need to open the hood?

Not often, but when I do, I NEED to...

[E. Davis]

I feel your pain. Hood weight on my 61 Hawk is probably the best reason why I'm considering letting it go. I can still lift it but it hurts to do it so I probably don't get under there as much as I should and maintenance suffers which will no doubt cause me even more pain eventually. I thought I read somewhere the dead lift weight on a Hawk hood was nearly 40 pounds. Seems like its at least that much to me.

[studegary]

Not often, but when I do, I NEED to...

I understand. It does not seem like that long ago that I carried a Hawk hood with grille around by myself. I wouldn't do that now.

[StudeRich]

The problem I see with building a "Helper System" is the fact that you MUST pull the Hood FORWARD, UP does not cut it!

The System used on the next to the Last iteration Avanti 2003? was quite a neat idea, it's like a Garage Door Rail System that basically Slides open!

[swvalcon]

If you changed it to hinge at the front and reinforced the side edge I would think you could use a gas strut on each side. You could hood pin it at the rear or just leave it. I had a 75 corvette with no hood latch installed for years and never had a problem and drove it over 100 a few times. Only lift the hood if you drive real fast in reverse.