Kenworth T880 Hood Repair Kit Installation

The Kenworth T880 hood is notorious for breaking where the hood support struts mount. This Kenworth hood is made of a thermoset material called Metton which is not weldable. Polyvance has created a repair kit that is much less expensive and less time-consuming than replacing the hood and which also creates a repair that will be stronger than the OEM hood. This video will show you how to install the Polyvance Kenworth T880 repair kit.

This is the fourth kit we have released to help repair Kenworth hoods. We also have repair kits for the Kenworth T800 and two for the Kenworth W900 (one for round pockets and one for square). You can view all of the kits here.

Always wear proper safety gear while working!

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Click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKiilt65dpY

Products Used:

Note: This is a list of the Polyvance products that can be used to make this repair. This list does not include sanders, grinders, or other common tools you will need. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to call technical support at 800-633-3047.

1000 Super Prep Plastic Cleaner (several options available) OR 1001-4 EcoPrep Plastic Cleaner
Kenworth T880 Hood Repair Kit

Video Notes:

English Closed Captions have been provided for this video. Click on the CC button to turn them on or off.
The length of this video is in no way representative of the actual time required to perform a complete repair and therefore should not be used for estimating purposes.

Music Credits:

"Sage" by Slenderbeats
From the YouTube Audio Library

English Transcript:

This video covers the prep and installation of Polyvance’s hood reinforcing plates to repair broken strut mounts on the Kenworth T880 hoods.

Clean the area to be repaired with soap and water, then 1000 Super Prep or 1001-4 EcoPrep to remove all contaminants from the surface. Let the surface dry completely before continuing. Gently force dry the area with a heat gun to expedite the process if desired.

Measure approximately one inch up from the flat surface of the hood and draw a cut line all the way around the strut mount bulge.

In a well-ventilated area, use a rotary tool with a cut off wheel to remove the top of the bulge. Removing the top of the bulge provides clearance for the reinforcing ribs on the repair plate to clear the hood, allowing the plate to be fully seated onto the hood’s surface, while the one inch wall will provide extra bonding area between the plate and the hood.

Test fit the plate to be sure it can be fully seated onto the hood. It should be snug, but if it does not seat with moderate pressure, trim a little more of the hood away until it can be fully seated.

With the reinforcing plate on the hood, trace around it with a permanent marker to mark the area to be sanded. Sand the hood’s surface with twenty-five to sixty grit sandpaper on an angle grinder to remove the paint and any oxidized plastic. Sand until the area inside the traced line shows one hundred percent fresh, sanded plastic. Hand sanding may be required in some areas due to the complex shape of the hood.

Aggressively sand the inside surface of the aluminum reinforcement plate with twenty-five to sixty grit sandpaper in an angle grinder. Sand every surface that will touch the hood until the sanding scratches have one hundred percent coverage. It is very important to leave no unsanded surface where adhesive will be applied on both the plate and the hood. Hand sanding parts of the reinforcing plate will also be required in this step.

Blow the dust off the mating surfaces and clean a second time with 1000 Super Prep or 1001 EcoPrep. Wipe dry with a clean dry cloth. Make sure the surfaces are completely dry before proceeding to the next step.

Place the reinforcing plate back on the hood and double check the fit. Make sure the plate can be fully seated over the entire surface and that there are no large gaps at the edge of the plate where it meets the hood. PlastiFix is a very strong adhesive and will work well filling gaps up to about one-eighth of an inch wide, so perfection isn’t necessary. However, if there are large gaps, further trimming of the hood may be required to clear the aluminum reinforcing ribs.

Once fully seated, use the reinforcing plate as a guide for marking and drilling a nine sixty-fourths inch hole at each of the six locations. The plate itself can be used as a drill guide, or drill at the marks as we have done here.

Before bonding the reinforcing plate to the hood, install the OEM bracket onto the reinforcing plate using the included one and three quarter inch bolts, flat washer, and lock washer, with the fork facing the large side of the bulge. A few drops of low strength thread locker on the bolts is recommended to reduce corrosion of the bolt in the threaded hole.

Apply a generous amount of adhesive to the surface of the sanded area on the hood. Use a body spreader to cover the entire area. Apply an even larger amount of adhesive to the reinforcing plate, zig-zagging across the entire sanded surface.

Place the reinforcing plate onto the hood. Secure it using six number ten by one inch screws. Gently snug the screws when first installing them. Making them tight immediately can cause uneven distribution of the adhesive and may cause the plate to be seated improperly. Tighten the screws in a star pattern, the same way you would tighten lug nuts on a wheel, until an even bead of adhesive squeezes out along the perimeter of the plate. Do not over-tighten. If there are any gaps after the screws are tight, squeeze more adhesive into the gap until it is full.

After curing a minimum of four hours at room temperature, or twenty-four hours for full strength, it’s safe to attach the hood struts. Be sure the hood struts are functioning properly before mounting them, however, as this is typically the reason the mounts failed in the first place.