A homemade, individual-engineered solution without significant functionality or failure testing. Sometimes jury-rigged stuff works as well or better than something designed and tested by a trustworthy company, but that's very much the exception and not the rule.

 

I put my install up against any kit and trust it more.

 

Hmmmm... Not to get into a pissing match but here are some points to ponder.

It's a pretty simple install and far better AND safer than the OEM prop rod. The prop rod can get knocked out with potentially catastrophic results. Using struts, regardless of their origin, is safer, ie. a redundant system. If one strut completely fails,the other one still will hold the hood up without any problem (yes, even worn rear hatch struts).

I've seen XJ hood strut kits from $70 to $129. I spent a grand total of $6.85 for the ball mounts. The mounting plates for them I welded up and because of the design I choose, I welded a mending plate behind the butt joint weld. I have a tendency to overbuild things. If I find a weak point with my install, I'll be the first to correct it and make it right......

I've seen some pretty hideous and some down right dangerous home brew mods through the years. I'd be hard press to think of an aspect concerning this mod that could be a safety concern. Maybe I'm not looking close enough....

 

Addendum - I just finished the install and I'm really pleased. With the second strut installed, the hood really has no problem at all raising on it's own. It actually comes up a little faster than I would like, but I'm guessing that's because the struts I used weren't worn out. I'm a happy camper! Going beyond the personal satisfaction of re-purposing and fabbing an item into a functional form, I saved a boatload of loot.......

BTW, I'm not slamming anyone who has purchased a kit or will in the future. Some folks might not have the skills, time, or knowledge to accomplish it. It's all good, whatever floats your boat....

 

And here are 2 pics......

Mounting the hood ball studs inboard allowed the strut to clear the washer fill neck, no rotating required.....

 

You'd have to work pretty hard to knock a prop rod out, but that's neither here nor there, because you're not comparing "prop rod" to "strut," you're comparing "homemade strut" to "engineered kit strut." And if your homemade strut is as good or better than an engineered strut, that's awesome: as I say, sometimes self-engineering beats the factory kit. But for my part, something some dude bolted up on his own recognizance doesn't really quell my concerns about having 50 pounds of hood fall on my head.

I've seen dozens of factory-installed struts that wouldn't hold up their hood, necessitating their replacement. I've never seen a prop rod fail without significant and obvious damage to the surrounding body. One depends on invisible seals: the other depends on a metal rod.

Bad seals, bad location of the strut mounts, poorly-installed strut mounts, weak strut mounts, off the top of my head. If you've avoided all of those, then I'm sure your self-engineered solution is excellent. As a rule, though, I trust a team of trained engineers and a staff of trained testers over a dude in his garage with an idea and a rivet gun. And I say that as a dude in his garage with an idea and a rivet gun. I love to fabricate my own stuff! But I don't delude myself into thinking that makes it as good or better as something properly engineered, tested, and assembled.

[edit: And like you say, to each their own! I fab my own stuff all the time, without shame or [too much] fear. If you've got the skills to do it properly, go for it. This is a pretty minor mod, and the biggest risk you take is having the hood fall down, which isn't quite the same level of "oh crap" as having your axles come off while you're on the highway. But if you don't have the skills, just save up and buy the kit from the people who do, is all I'm saying.]

 

I agree about the prop rod being difficult to knock out and at face value, damn near impossible to do yet I myself have had a number of occasions when working in very windy conditions that it almost happened. It scared me enough to used a ratchet strap to hold it down so it wouldn't come loose while I completed a repair....

I've had hood struts fail (major PITA) but when using XJ hatch struts, it's way more strut than is required. Originally engineered to hold up a weighty hatch and now pressed into service to hold a "light weight" hood (in comparison). My concern would be how the strut was secured. I used self tapping bolts, only because I couldn't find rivetnuts, rivnuts, or nutserts locally. I will install them for a more secure mounting.....

 

Plus, you mentioned the Rustys kit. There was no team of engineers making that. It was a guy that did it himself, then put together a kit of all the parts so you don't have to hunt them down yourself.

Most aftermarket parts are from homemade designs that people decide to produce and sell!

 

Okay, so "almost" versus "fail." But again, not comparing prop rod to strut, but homemade strut to professionally-engineered strut.

An excellent point: if the Rusty's kit isn't professionally-engineered, professionally-tested, and professionally-assembled, then I would hold it with the same caution I would any random dude's bodge job.

Well, that's just not true. Most aftermarket parts are designed, engineered, tested, and produced by large aftermarket companies, who deal in volumes unheard of for homemade designs.

 

I agree to a point. We'll never know exactly what is professionally engineered and what isn't. We can "assume" that larger companies have invested heavily in R&D and testing, but more often than not we deal with smaller companies who don't have the resources to do so. I also understand that there are liability concerns and it would be foolish for a company to market a product that doesn't have some reasonable testing. We'll often see phrases attached to products like "Baja Tough" or "Trail Tested" which really mean nothing at the end of the day.
Even if a product was professionally engineered, that's no guarantee either. It does swing things in our favor but it's not an absolute. I work for a large metal fabrication shop and we have a staff of engineers. They are very good and when I'm building something and I have a question regarding it's design, I'll ask the head engineer for advice about my concerns.
Engineers have erasers on their pencils as I do. Case in point (although no harm done except for the critically injured pride of the engineer), while the engineer was overseeing a project, a welder asked him if he could help him out and get an aluminum magnet. Off he went looking for one. Major cerebral flatulence....
I believe the best course to chart is to proceed with intelligence....

 

This was a fun and quick mod. I've had my hood blow up and off the stock hood prop, so it was high on my priority.

Don't hurt your neck watching the video

Video

Strut kit

 

Update - After numerous opening and closings of the hood I noticed a bit of flex in the bracket. Upon further investigation, the rivets were the issue. I couldn't find wide head rivets in the grip range needed so settled with the standard head ones. Additionally, some of the rivets gave me some problems raising a red flag. Maybe the ones from Ace were substandard. Regardless, this wouldn't be acceptable and I took it to the next level. I found steel rivtnuts (nutserts, rivet nuts) in my parts bins and went to town. It's way overbuilt using 5/16" grade 8 bolts but it's rock solid now. I was hoping to find 1/4" rivnuts but none were to be found on hand.
As is my way, I'll keep an eye out for any other issues, but I'm very confident there won't be any.
I suppose my mantra should be "When in doubt, overbuild....."

 

Dang, you plan on driving with the hood open? That's a lot of bolts! Haha

 

Doesn't everyone?

 

You know that one 5/16 grade 8 bolt is stronger than the rest of the hood put together, right?