1996 dakota hood problems
 

a buddy of mine has a 1996 dodge dakota with a 2.5 in it, he was driving it today and the hood flew up on him, now it will not shut and we think its the hood hinges, anyone know how to replace these or how to tell if this is what the problem is?

It won't shut as in you can't get it down from being wide open or it won't shut like the latch is not working properly?

well i went out and looked at it and the hinges were bent to hell and back but we got them bent back down so that the go under the cowl but the part where the hood attaches is still not even and now the hood is hitting the cowl and the latch is as far out as it can go so we cant pull the hood out any farther

Sounds like you are going to need to get new hinges.

I wouldn't trust hinges that have been bent and then bent back at all.

alright im pretty sure thats what hes going to do just because its messed it all up

Its a good idea. Once you start bending metal like that, it will only get weaker.