55.2-59 59 billet hood hinges

[tdishon]

I see two styles of billet hood hinges for my 59. American Billet or Eddie Motorsports.
I hear American Billet opens up a little more? Both are designed different with Eddie Motorsports mounting only to the firewall and American Billet mounting to firewall and inner fender.
Any experience with either?

[Johns327]

My truck is a 55 they only mounted on the firewall. I have the EMS units and the hood doesn’t open as high as the factory hinges. I have many knots on my head from the hood. But boy does the hood operate much smoother than the factory units.
I did need to put a spacer between the hinge and the cab. They didn’t at the time I installed mine have spacers so I had to fab some. You can see the nick in the paint. Their install instruction said to not operate the hinges without the hood so there isn’t any way to check this before it happens. Kind of a pisser, but it’s all repaired now and I like the way they hold the hood.
Sorry about the rotated pictures...

[mr48chev]

Here I flipped them for you. My old eyes can't do sideways anymore.

Those are good looking units but remembering banging my head on my old 51 Merc about every time I opened the hood that may be a deciding factor if the others are of equal quality.

[tdishon]

They do look great!!!! I'm glad you said the hood opens smooth. I may get an Eddie Motor Sports and All American Billet and report back of any differences. They are designed a little different, but both look great and should be smooth. I wonder if one opens more? More to follow.

[GeronimoApache]

Has anybody painted their billet hinges?

I'm kinda thinking about using these too. But my truck is a more traditional build. So billet hinges might look a little out of place

[Johns327]

There are different finishes, I believe there is a black one which would blend out of sight.

Thanks for rotating the pictures.

[tdishon]

I received both hinges (Eddie Motorsports and All American Billet). They are both clearly quality built!
They open to the same angle, but the Eddie opens more forward and the American Billet opens the hood the same height, except the hood sits over the cowl further back. The only other difference I can see is that the Eddie mounts to the firewall like the 55-57 and the American Billet mounts to the firewall and inner fender.

[Johns327]

Wow, that’s a nice comparison. So what are you going to do?

[tdishon]

I'm going to bolt both of them on and see how they both sit. Curious where the hood sits on both. Probably in the coming week.

[Fitz57]

The American Billet ones I think are for the 58 59 trucks

[tdishon]

I have a 59. I bought both for the 58-59. The Eddie Motorsports are a little different from 55-57 to 58-59. The arms are different.

[Fitz57]

Got it

[GeronimoApache]

Originally Posted by Johns327

There are different finishes, I believe there is a black one which would blend out of sight.

Thanks for rotating the pictures.

My engine bay is white. So ideally I would like to paint my hinges white.

Originally Posted by tdishon

I have a 59. I bought both for the 58-59. The Eddie Motorsports are a little different from 55-57 to 58-59. The arms are different.

I see you are located in Peoria. Is that Peoria Illinois? What are you doing with the hinges you dont use?

[tdishon]

I'm in Peoria, Arizona. Basically Phoenix(across the street LOL).
Not sure yet on the set I don't use. Probably post it here.

[58CameoAZ]

So i have the Eddie Motorsports on my 58 Cameo, I also have the stock hinges on my Sons 59 Stepside, I took a Tape measure and checked , the stock hinge opens 3" Higher then then the E M's Not that Big a deal to me! if i get a Chance i will try and post a Pic
of the trucks side by side in the Garage for comparison.
Allen

[tdishon]

That would be great!

[58CameoAZ]

My 58 and 59, from the latch to the hood is 36.5 on the 58 an 39.5 on the 59.

[tdishon]

58CameoAZ, do the billet hinges open smooth? Easy to adjust?
Anyone have American Billet experience?

[58CameoAZ]

Originally Posted by tdishon

58CameoAZ, do the billet hinges open smooth? Easy to adjust?
Anyone have American Billet experience?

I would say yes to smooth operation, Not any easier to adjust, but not any more difficult to adjust then the stock hinges. they come with new hardware
with Allen head bolts. i am very happy with the look and operation so far and
3" of limit to fully open does not bother me and i stand 6'4" and find it not any harder to work on the truck. the 58 is sitting way lower then the 59 is as you can see.

Allen

[GeronimoApache]

I ended up ordering a set of hinges from Eddie Motorsports.

I have a 56 cab with 58/59 front sheetmetal so I ordered the 58/59 hinges.

I already drilled the new lower hinge hole in the 56 firewall because I had LMC hinges.

I need my brother to come over and help me get the hood in position but the first problem I already ran into was they include the wrong bolts. Instructions say eight 3/8 x 1-1/4" bolts are included. Well there are 2 different length bolts included (4 of each) I did not measure the length but they are not 3/8, they are 5/16.

The hood takes 5/16 bolts but the firewall is supposed to be 3/8. I grabbed a hex head 3/8 bolt and it does not fit in the slots of the hinges...

[tdishon]

Keep us updated GeronimoApache

[mr48chev]

I'd be contacting tech support on the bolt size thing if you haven't done so already. That may be a misprint in the instructions.

[GeronimoApache]

Slight update with my Eddie Motorsports hinges. I have been busy with other stuff. But I did a little searching online for a solution. Here is what I found.

55.5-57 cabs use a 3/8" bolt to attach the hinge to the firewall. The vertical spacing is also closer together than 58-59 (I already knew that 2nd part)

58-59 cabs use a 5/16" bolt to attach the hinge to the firewall. The vertical spacing is farther apart than the 55.5-57 cabs. You can re-use the top hole. But the threaded insert will not be for the correct size bolt.

I have a 56 cab that I already drilled the new lower hinge hole, because I tried LMC hinges and I feel that they really suck. That's why I went with the EMS hinges. I ordered EMS hinges for a 58-59 because I wanted to ensure they were correct for that hood. That is why the 58-59 EMS hinge is not slotted for a 3/8 bolt because a 58-59 would have used a 5/16 bolt.

So long story short, I am going to use 5/16 bolts. I may end up buying longer ones for the hinge to attach to the firewall. I also will probably cut off the square nuts off the firewall and weld on some new ones that are threaded for 5/16.

Now I just need to get some motivation. I'm a head custodian for a Jr. High near Chicago. School starts in 4 weeks and my mind is racing on lots of things lately.