Hood Latch

[steved]

I wanted to share something we came up with as another way keep the hood from hitting the front grill. This is on my 105. I don't know what all other models use the exact same hood but maybe someone here will step in and let us know. The brackets are 18 gauge stainless steel. They fit/pivot over the embossed/raised area where the hood bolts to the cast iron grill. Two tabs on each bracket touch the hood and one tab touches the cast iron front for the stop. It took 3 tries to get all the angles exactly right. Since the brackets were a loose fit, they did tend to rattle at first. Next, I sprayed them with white "plasti dip". About 5 coats. Next I spray painted them with the Valspar IH white I used on the hood. No more rattle. Time will only tell how long the plastic will last. I would have preferred to dip them but I could not find any of the liquid in white around here,only black. I've always been impressed with how thick it goes on. I dipped my PTO handle in it. The brackets are not really noticeable and it sure beats dinging the hood up on the front grill. What do you guys think? If there is enough interest from this post, I can post something in the for sale section and run some more.