Rugged Ridge Textured Black Hood Catch - Pair

Form and function on these easy to install locking hood latches. An early easy mod for new Jeep owners.

These really are excellent hood latches, and are far superior to the stock Jeep latches. There is a noticeable decrease in hood chatter, and provide a much more rugged appearance. I've put them on both of my Rubicon's and love them. The stock plastic Jeep latches also turn grey with time, so these aluminum ones solve that issue as well. The install isn't hard, but can be fiddly, and will take about 30-45 min for an average DIY'er. I wasn't able to install the lower latch portion without taking off the front grill of the Wrangler, though, I've read others say they haven't needed to do so. (Though I can't imagine how) The grill is extremely easy to remove, so don't struggle to work around it. The Rugged Ridge instructions don't cover how to do that, so here it is in a nutshell. The grill is held on with just six snap locks on the top and several push clips on the bottom. A small screw driver will pop the top ones out easily - be gentle. The lower part of the grill is just held in with snap clips, and just pulls off with a little pressure. Remember to protect the grill from the two front tow hooks with towels to prevent scratching the grill. Start on one lower side, and with a little pull at the base of the grill, it will pop out. Then unclip the two turn signals, (optional) and you will have much better access to the lower hood latch bolt(s) — it's still a tight fit though. You don't have to remove the light connections if you don't want, just lean the grill down and out of the way. You can continue to follow the instructions, and then reinstall the grill by reversing the order above. It just snaps in. Hope this helps someone out. I would recommend them for not only appearance but superior function. I do wish they were made in the US instead of overseas. ****** Update ****** After having both latches for a while, there is something I've noticed. The silver version developed significant water spots that are not nice, and couldn't be removed. It's important to understand, the silver finish is paint (like a powder coat) not an unfinished aluminum. I personally would not buy the silver ones again because of the way they look after a short time. In the end, I traded in the older black Wrangler (with the silver latches) due to mileage, mechanical issues, etc. and bought a new black one. This time though, went with the black latches. Looks great, and no spotting problems like the silver latches.

It's amazing how much better quality these are than the cheaply made and poorly functioning OEM latches that came with my Jeep JK Rubicon Unlimited. Install took me 50 minutes and that's mainly because I was working slowly to make sure I was doing it correctly. They look so much better and the hood flutter on the highway is gone. I read plenty of reviews on here that said you should remove the front grill to access the lower passenger side nut. That is NOT necessary at all! With one hand, simply pass a ratchet with a 13mm socket up from the bottom of the fender up towards your other hand where nut is located (make sure the ratchet handle is facing upwards). Fit the socket over the nut to work it free with the ratchet and then remove it with your fingers. So easy! No extenders or anything else is necessary. For the top, all you need is a 10mm socket/ratchet and a 4mm Allen wrench. For the bottom, all you need is a 13mm socket/ratchet and 2 4mm Allen wrenches. I used a crescent wrench to tighten the nuts on the lower assembly once everything was latched.

I bought these to put on my 2012 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon (JKU) and they are awesome... After a particularly windy road trip, I was fed up with the hood "flutter" that nearly everyone who owns one of these vehicles experiences. This is when you're driving and a gust of wind makes your hood wobble, shake, vibrate or flutter up and down. It's unsettling to say the least. For someone like me who's had a hood come up on the highway ('77 Bronco) and do significant damage to the vehicle, not to mention scare the crap out of me, this is unnacceptable. After reading some reviews, I bought these. They are excellent., Shipping was fast, packaging was nice, instructions were nicely printed and very clear. It took me about 30 minutes to get the old hood latches off and put these on. It;s a little tricky to get at the bolts holding the bottom latches for removal and install, but it's nothing crazy. I was able t do it with a little patience and persistence. I've only had them on for a day, but so far my impression is that these are 100% awesome. If they fall apart or have finish issues or anything, I'll update this review. They compliment the rough and ready look of my Jeep and there's is NO hood flutter. They're rock solid. Highly recommended.

These latches are well made and designed to provide a more robust latching system without the "rubber band" and plastic of the original Jeep part. I installed this item and it works well on my 2015 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Hard Rock with the Hard Rock/10th Anniversary Hood. I purchased the smooth black finish which looks good and hopefully will fade much slower than the original black plastic. The instructions could be better written. They don't say how to get to the back of the bottom part of the latch that's on the fender. I removed the top connectors on my front grill to get to the nuts on the backside of this piece. Even then, the nut is very hard to get to. I used a very small 1/4" socket driver with a hinged head. For the price of this kit, it should come with a special tool to help reach the nuts in this area. Also, the kit comes with washers but they aren't listed as contents on the instructions page or shown on any step of the instructions. Rugged Ridge customer support said the washers go under the mounting nuts. The instructions should be updated to show this. Each latch has a threaded rod that is completely adjustable to reach your desired hood tension/compression. The directions say, "When adjusted properly, hood should contact and slightly compress the hood bumper." This is not very specific, but the threaded rods do allow you to set any compression you desire. Overall, I am satisfied with this purchase and look forward to a durable product that should last as long as the Jeep.

**2012 Wrangler** Wow these things are way more meaty than I had imagined. They make me feel like I am driving a legitimate Tank now. They look amazing and I love that you can adjust them. For looks alone these are amazing but I purchased due to hearing a few horror stories from some local Jeepers about hoods latches breaking and decided to be proactive on this one. Install Notes: The uppers(part on the hood) are very easy and if you can't figure those out, sell your Jeep. The Lowers are another story. I will tell you what I did and hopefully it will help you out. For the driver side I was able to use a standard ratchet with and extension to get the single bolt underneath. Just weave around the horn and a few other things and you should be able to get in there no problem. Passenger side is packed with goodies to work around and made things fun. I chose to take off the grill and I am glad I did. If you haven't done this before, don't worry, its easy. There are 6 plastic clips on top of the grill that need to be removed. Just use a flathead and pry the middle section out and then pry the bottom portion out. Next grab the grill by the uprights closest to the headlights as low as you can and give it a healthy tug away from the vehicle. This should pop out the metal clips and all that is left is to disconnect the turn signals. With the grill removed, you should be able to fit a normal wrench in there now and start to take off the passenger side bolt. From there its just installing the new hardware and putting it all back together. Make sure to remove the little rubber piece from the original latches that rests between the hood and the fender area. This will prevent you from over tightening your hood down and having a paint on paint rubbing issue that could lead to rust. There is a spot on the new latches to install this little rubber piece. Make sure to completely remove the adjusting bolt from the latch before you install. Mine only had about two threads in on one side and the other was threaded about 4 times further than that. Even them out on each side of the latch so you don't have the threads strip out on you. After you find the sweet spot just hit the nuts with a wrench and tighten them up. Just make sure not to go too crazy and strip the bolt. After that, step back and admire your new military grade hardware that will outlast your Jeep.

Great upgrade. Didn't have much problem with hood flutter prior to install on my 15 2 door JK, but wanted the look (and some preventive maintenance, as I did have hood flutter on my 97 TJ). As far as install, here is how I did it (and it took me about 20 minutes after reading everything here). The most difficult by far is the nut in the lower well on the passenger side. However, it can be easily done (especially if you have smaller hands) without removing the grill. As someone else stated, use the ratchet set (1/4") that comes with your Jeep. Also, grab a 13mm socket for the fender well parts. You don't need a deep socket, but sort of a medium sized one (I found mine at Menards). MOST IMPORTANTLY, I found a finger ratchet at Lowes that comes with a hex bit socket adapter for the 13mm so I could attach it to the Jeep ratchet. That is the hardest part to find (for me at least). After removing the existing hardware for the fender well connection, I used painter's tape to hold the washer and lock nut together, then actually used a long piece of painters tape to hold this assembly so I could work it into position over the exposed holes. Once I did so, I screwed in the bottom bracket by hand until it caught securely (in order to reduce the potential for cross threading that I believe I read about in one of the Wrangler forums). Remove the tape at this point. Next, grab the hex wrench and the Jeep ratchet with the adapter and the 13mm socket. These easily work into place on the passenger side (and even more so on the driver side). I used the ratchet to hold the lock nut while I used the hex wrench to screw it together. The rest (uppers) is complete cake. The only issue I have is I wonder about the 3 thread rule on the bottom and top when you adjust the latch, as they aren't exposed. I assume because of locking down the washers it is good to go. In any event, it has definitely cut down on some wind noise I heard from the passenger side in my soft top, as well as seemingly increased gas mileage slightly.

I really love these hood catches and they are the perfect replacement for the OEM hood catches or whatever else you currently have now. I bought these black textured hood catches for my 2011 Call of Duty Black Ops Rubicon as I was concerned that they will eventually weather and rot. The instructions were not written as well as they could have been. Not included in the parts list 6 washers (which I found buried in the bottom of the box after I had completed the installation) and the 2 hood bumpers, which I found to be much better than the stock OEM bumpers. The installation was somewhat difficult concerning the lower anchor catch assembly. I have small hands and found it very trying to get the 13mm nuts threaded. The upper catch assembly was very easy and after getting the bottom catch installed, the rest of the installation went easily. I do see that the finish may be easily weathered so I will take everything off in late spring or so to put the washers on and coat everything in spray on bed liner. I can't have enough black on my black Jeep! These hood catches are very sturdy and I feel will outlast anything I had looked at before I bought these. It would be nice if every Wrangler came with these or something similar. Minor things aside, I would recommend these clearly superior hood catches to anyone with a Wrangler. Touches as these makes a Jeep more solid where it really counts.