I'm Ryan from extremeterrain.com, and this is my review and installation of the Drake
Off-Road Hood Hold Downs fitting all 2007 and up JKs.
Today we're gonna talk through the installation of these hood hold downs which is a very simple
one out of three wrench install.
You'll be able to get these swapped into your JK in about an hour or less.
These will take the place of your factory hold down, so there's no need to drill or
do any major modifications.
But we'll talk more about the installation in just a second.
We're also going to talk through the construction and a few of the features of these hold downs.
These are going to appeal to a couple of different groups of people.
Some of you are looking to just change up the look of your Jeep by modifying your hood
hold downs and want to go with something that is a turnbuckle style like you see here.
Another group is just looking for something that's going to hold the hood of their Jeep
down better, so they don't have that iconic Jeep JK hood flutter, especially when you're
driving down the highway.
People have done everything from removing the factory spring to swapping out the factory
rubber piece in your factory hood hold downs, and going to something like this that is solid
and has no give to it will definitely keep your hood from fluttering.
Now there are a couple of different versions of these out there.
There is an aluminum hood hold down that is also adjustable from Rugged Ridge that has
a little bit more aluminum.
And that's going to be a little bit more like that factory hood hold down mechanism, but
instead of being rubber and plastic, it's going to be aluminum, so again it eliminates
that flutter.
This is also going to be a mostly aluminum and partly plastic option, but instead of
that flip down mechanism that's very similar to factory, this uses a push pin to keep everything
nice and tight.
Now I really like the look that you get from these.
It's a very mechanical look and a very mechanical style.
And these are a little bit more minimalist than the Rugged Ridge version of an aluminum
hold down.
However, if you're really looking to get the hood very, very tight, I think you can do
that more effectively with the Rugged Ridge simply because they maintain that factory-style
latching mechanism that allows you to get that hood nice and tight.
With something like this, in order to get the hood really, really tight, you have to
push down on the hood to get that push pin in place.
To make it easier to get the push pin in place you have to leave them just a little bit looser
than you would with the Rugged Ridge version.
The Rugged Ridge version of these aluminum hood hold downs is also going to be a little
bit less expensive than these which of course is a nice feature, saves you a little bit
of money for those other mods.
These hood hold downs are very well built.
These are going to have a plastic bracket that's going to go on the fender side and
the hood side.
They have a stainless steel hind joint in the middle here.
In the center of those two hind joints is going to be a billet aluminum adjuster.
This is just an aluminum color, but you can also purchase a black one if you want that
more blacked-out stealthy look.
And as I said before, these use a push pin.
You can go ahead and push that pin and remove it, and then go ahead and reinstall it very
easily.
And, of course, it has a piece of cable so that when you do remove that pin you have
the hood popped its not going to fall down, you're not going to lose it, it's going to
stay attached exactly where it should.
And a nice feature is they have rubber coated that cable so as your driving down the highway
if that does flutter a little bit and make contact with the paint you're not going to
end up scratching the paint off of your Jeep.
As I said before the install of these is very, very simple.
You can get this done in about an hour with just some traditional hand tools.
The first step in the installation is going to be popping the hood and removing the factory
hood hold downs.
You can do that by unscrewing a couple of bolts from the inside of the hood and a couple
from the inside of the fender to get rid of those factory hold downs and then use your
new hold downs and the included hardware to get these bolted into place.
Now once these are installed, you can go ahead close the hood, latch it, loosen up your jam
nuts, and then turn that turnbuckle to get them nice and tight.
And after that, you tighten down the jam nuts, and that's all there is to it.
This is definitely something anybody can get done in their driveway in about an hour with
some traditional hand tools.
These hood hold downs come in at right around $130, and if you are interested in the black
turnbuckles to give you that blacked-out look, those are around $15 for a pair.
As I said, these are going to be a little bit more expensive than the Rugged Ridge hood
hold downs, but these definitely give you more of that minimalist and more of that mechanical
look.
Those Rugged Ridge hold downs are going to do a really nice job of holding the hood as
tight as possible, whereas this mechanism because you have a push pin, is going to require
you to leave the hood just a tiny bit looser.
So it really depends on what you're after.
If this is going to be more of a visual mod, if you love the look of these and you're okay
having that hood just a touch looser, this is going to be a great option.
If you want a little bit of a chunkier look that's more similar to the factory style just
made of aluminum and you can get that hood as tight as possible, then the Rugged Ridge
option may be a little bit better for you.
And it's also going to save you a little bit of money.
So whether you're looking to eliminate some hood flutter or you're just looking to change
out your hood hold downs for something that gives you a different look, these are going
to be a really nice option.
So that's my review of the Drake Off-Road Hood Hold Downs, fitting all 2007 and up JKs
that you can find right here at extremeterrain.com.