ADJUSTMENT

1. Open the hood and support with the hood prop.

   Fig. 1: The hood latch and hinges can be moved to adjust the position of the hood and closing characteristics

2. Loosen the hinge bolts until they are just finger-tight.

   WARNING
   Take great care to prevent the hood from bumping the windshield. Not only will the hood be damaged, the windshield can be broken by careless installation.

   Fig. 2: To adjust the height of the closed hood in relation to the fenders, the hood stoppers can be raised or lowered

3. Close the hood — at least engaging the first latch — and check the hood-to-fender and hood-to-cowl seams and alignment. Re-open the hood and make adjustments as needed to give equal seams all around. When the hood is in final alignment, tighten the hinge bolts to 10 ft. lbs. (14 Nm).

   Fig. 3: Install the hood stoppers on Monteros so that the top of the stopper is 1.06 in. (27mm) from its mounting surface

4. Check the hood latch operation; it should engage easily and smoothly. The latch should release without the use of excessive force. The hood latch mounting bolts may be loosened; the latch can be adjusted left/right or up/down to compensate for the hood striker position. On Montero, the striker (on the hood) can also be adjusted by loosening the bolts.
5. With the hood closed and latched, check the height of the hood. It should sit even with the fender tops; this dimension may be adjusted by turning the hood stops to a higher or lower position. Note that adjusting these stops may require readjustment of the latch to position the hood correctly.
6. Make sure, after all adjustments are made, to tighten all mounting bolts and nuts.