Daystar “Hood Wranglers” Heavy Duty Hood Latch Upgrade

If you own a 2007-2010 Jeep Wrangler you have hood flutter, unless you have installed an upgraded hood latch from Daystar. At Wrangler4x4.com we have installed the “Hood Wranglers” on our 2009 Jeep Wrangler and are sharing our installation experience with fellow Jeep owners like yourself. We are going to first take a quick look at what the upgrade kit consist of, and its benefits. We will then take a good look at the installation procedure to help guide Jeep owners who wish to tackle this procedure for themselves.

What do you get when you purchase the Daystar “Hood Wrangler” kit? Most importantly instructions are included with the kit and if there is any question the instructions list contact information via email, phone, or fax. You receive two beefy rubber replacements for the weak factory pieces. You also receive four full diameter metal bolts to replace the plastic coated metal pins that you will later easily snap in half to replace. Finally you get an ample amount of thread locker to hold everything together as we bounce down the trail.

Lets now take a look at the installation procedure. Daystar lists that you will need two screw drivers and two vise grips to complete the installation. Phillips or Flat head either one will work. We will also note that a 13mm wrench or socket ratchet will also be required. We did not have two vise grips on hand and substituted two channel lock pliers that got the job done well.

Step 1: Daystar first recommends that this installation be completed at a temperature of 70 degrees or higher. This is important because the new rubber pieces are much beefier and less flexible than the stock pieces and cold weather decreases the flexibility even greater. Installing this kit in cold weather may cause the plastic parts of the hood latch that are reused to fail when you latch your hood down for the first time after installation is complete.

Step 2: Open the hood latches and remove them from the vehicle. This is important to prevent accidental damage to your vehicle while remove the factory pins. A 13mm wrench and or socket ratchet will be required for this step. Reaching the nut on the inside of fender to remove the latches is a bit tricky and you may need to try a few different wrench or socket ratchet combinations to get into the small area. We settled on a 6 inch extension and universal joint socket to remove the drivers side latch, and flexible socket wrench for the passenger side.

Step 3: The rubber portion of the hood latch is held on by two plastic coated metal pins. Clamping onto each end of the pins with vise grips, channel locks in our case, and twisting them will break the pins. You can then remove the rubber pieces and discard them along with the original equipment pins.

Step 4: Install the new “Hood Wranglers” rubber pieces into the original latch hardware. One end of the Hood Wranglers is flat. This end will mount into the lower portion of the latch assembly. This is the part that bolts to the fender of the Jeep. When you get the hole of the rubber portion aligned with the latch hardware slide in one of the new bolts provided in the kit. Apply a small amount of the thread locker to the shorter mating portion of the bolt, screw it into the longer portion and tighten with two screw drivers.

Step 5: Now attach the latch to the opposite end of the Hood Wrangler. Pay attention to not to install the latch upside down.

Step 6: Reinstall the hood latch to the fender.

Installation time was very minimal. We spent about an hour to upgrade our hood latches on the JK Jeep Wrangler. This includes time getting ours tools prepared, taking our before pictures, pictures along the way, and clean up. All the components fit perfectly and there are no complaints from us on form, fit, or function. Our only obstacle encountered was to determine what wrench and socket ratchet combination allowed us to remove the nut connecting the hood latches to the fenders. Looking at our factory hood latch prior to the upgrade kit and the completed assembly installed on our 2009 Jeep Wrangler you can see an obvious difference is the gap between the hood and the fender.

Days of the hood fluttering and vibrating are in the past as wind, highway speeds, and large trucks no longer effect our Jeep. Daystars “Hood Wranglers” have strapped our hood down solid!