I'm writing this in part as a PSA warning that the RIVAL 2A.ST.2702.1 Premium Hood Lift will not fit the 392. The Redline Tuning 21-20007-02 Hood QuickLIFT Plus 392 works perfectly on the 392. I saw a post that said the RIVAL would fit with no cutting required and like an idiot I believed them.
I originally ordered the RIVAL 2A.ST.2702.1 Premium Hood Lift. As soon as it arrived I could see I had made a mistake. On the box I could see "Made in Russia"...
then I looked at the hardware, hex bolts were not cast properly, threads were not cut cleanly, it looked like it had been made at a Soviet tank factory, on a Friday. And of course the gas struts are both too short and too weak to lift the 392 hood. Lesson learned. Time to do what I should have done in the first place, order the American made Redline Tuning 21-20007-02 Hood QuickLIFT Plus 392 kit.
I ordered the black QuickLIFT Plus kit for Redline Tuning because it looked the most OEM. It arrived quickly and the build quality was like night and day compared to the RIVAL kit. All the hardware was well made, the gas struts had quick releases installed on the rod ends to allow you to disconnect the hood and lay it back against the windshield. And everything including the gas pistons are made in the USA (I confirmed that directly with Redline over the phone before placing my order).
I started the install with the hood hardware. The 392 has the HydroGuide system that kinda interferes with getting the hardware flush up against the hood. I had to lift up that stuff up to get the brackets tucked in underneath up against the hood for a secure fit.
The engine side brackets were easy to install and now comes the hard part, clearing the ECU bracket with the gas strut. For those new to Jeep, the 392 uses a modified bracket to hold the Electronic Control Unit (ECU or "the brains"). Unfortunately it interferes with the area the hood strut would rest when the hood is closed. So Redline says that the ECU bracket needs to be trimmed to fix this. But when I watched TrailRecon's video he had the Redline hood struts installed but the ECU bracket is not been modified. How did he do that?
Well it will fit, but not cleanly. The ECU bracket is defiantly pushing on the hood strut and you will feel this when you try and close the hood latches and you have to push down to get it to fully close. At first I tried to reversing the hood strut direction, this seemed like a good solution because it kept the cylinder out of the way of the ECU bracket. Then Redline contacted me and warned that doing that would prevent the piston seals from getting proper lubrication. (hadn't thought about that) So I took a little plumbers putty to see how much interference there actually was.
So using the old Dremel with a regular Corse Sanding drum and worked on that area until the cylinder cleared it cleanly.
The finished ECU bracket ended up looking like this:
On the driver's side I noticed that one of the AC retention bracket bolts was pushing the hood strut up on that side so I went through my bucket o' bolts and found a countersunk screw that fit and didn't stick up far enough to interfere. Redline recommends removing the metal grommet under the AC retention bracket in the directions, but the smaller screw/washer worked for me. I need to buy one with a T-40 Torx head that will match all the OEM hardware but for now this will get the job done.
I did end up removing the RedLine Tuning decals because I like the OEM look without the decals. Hood struts really should be standard OEM equipment from the factory but I get it, its a Jeep, and Jeeps have prop rods. However, this is one of the best "Mods" I have done and I should have done it sooner. Hope this helps.
I originally ordered the RIVAL 2A.ST.2702.1 Premium Hood Lift. As soon as it arrived I could see I had made a mistake. On the box I could see "Made in Russia"...
then I looked at the hardware, hex bolts were not cast properly, threads were not cut cleanly, it looked like it had been made at a Soviet tank factory, on a Friday. And of course the gas struts are both too short and too weak to lift the 392 hood. Lesson learned. Time to do what I should have done in the first place, order the American made Redline Tuning 21-20007-02 Hood QuickLIFT Plus 392 kit.
I ordered the black QuickLIFT Plus kit for Redline Tuning because it looked the most OEM. It arrived quickly and the build quality was like night and day compared to the RIVAL kit. All the hardware was well made, the gas struts had quick releases installed on the rod ends to allow you to disconnect the hood and lay it back against the windshield. And everything including the gas pistons are made in the USA (I confirmed that directly with Redline over the phone before placing my order).
I started the install with the hood hardware. The 392 has the HydroGuide system that kinda interferes with getting the hardware flush up against the hood. I had to lift up that stuff up to get the brackets tucked in underneath up against the hood for a secure fit.
The engine side brackets were easy to install and now comes the hard part, clearing the ECU bracket with the gas strut. For those new to Jeep, the 392 uses a modified bracket to hold the Electronic Control Unit (ECU or "the brains"). Unfortunately it interferes with the area the hood strut would rest when the hood is closed. So Redline says that the ECU bracket needs to be trimmed to fix this. But when I watched TrailRecon's video he had the Redline hood struts installed but the ECU bracket is not been modified. How did he do that?
Well it will fit, but not cleanly. The ECU bracket is defiantly pushing on the hood strut and you will feel this when you try and close the hood latches and you have to push down to get it to fully close. At first I tried to reversing the hood strut direction, this seemed like a good solution because it kept the cylinder out of the way of the ECU bracket. Then Redline contacted me and warned that doing that would prevent the piston seals from getting proper lubrication.
(hadn't thought about that) So I took a little plumbers putty to see how much interference there actually was.So using the old Dremel with a regular Corse Sanding drum and worked on that area until the cylinder cleared it cleanly.
The finished ECU bracket ended up looking like this:
On the driver's side I noticed that one of the AC retention bracket bolts was pushing the hood strut up on that side so I went through my bucket o' bolts and found a countersunk screw that fit and didn't stick up far enough to interfere. Redline recommends removing the metal grommet under the AC retention bracket in the directions, but the smaller screw/washer worked for me. I need to buy one with a T-40 Torx head that will match all the OEM hardware but for now this will get the job done.
I did end up removing the RedLine Tuning decals because I like the OEM look without the decals. Hood struts really should be standard OEM equipment from the factory but I get it, its a Jeep, and Jeeps have prop rods. However, this is one of the best "Mods" I have done and I should have done it sooner. Hope this helps.
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