Finally got off my butt and got some belt dressing to hopefully quiet all the racket under the hood but I went to open the hood and no go.
I pulled the hood release lever under the driver's-side dash and nothing. It moved but it didn't disengage the hood latch. I fiddled with it for a good forty five minutes but I still couldn't get it to open.

I mentioned in the following thread: https://dodgeforum.com/forum/2nd-gen...etter-one.html that grazed the relocated horns:

a few weeks ago but I've since gotten that all squared away and I've had the hood open several time since then. Other than that, I haven't done any work on the truck, lately, that would cause this to happen.

I had the driver's-side door open when I was inspecting the lever and I noticed that the dash (closest to the driver's-side door) was moving. I don't know if that means anything but I'm trying to describe everything that I observed.

Long and the short of it: anyone know of a way to get the hood open if the hood release (under the dash) doesn't work?

 

sometimes mine wont open, ill pull the hood release and the hood wont pop up. sometimes i have to pry it from the side of the hood to get the initial pop. there are 2 screws that hold the hood release in to the dash. sometimes the wire thing that opens the hood is the problem or the actual latch.

 

I'll definitely check that out in the morning. I just hope I didn't screw myself by placing the new horns where I did.
I'll post any progress or otherwise after I work on it.

Thanks thunder98110

 

It could be the cable isnt pulling it far enough to release the hood with the dash being loose this could be the problem. You could try pushing down on the hood and having a friend pull the hood release. I have had to do this on my jeep once or twice.

 

Looking at the pic your horns are very close to the release cable maybe one of the mounting bolts is too close to the release cable and binding clamping on the cable.

Maybe all you need is to adjust the release system it can be adjusted.

 

I didn't get to it today but I'm doing some work with a friend of mine. He said he would try and help me out with this. We've figured out a lot of mind-bending things in the past with his Ranger so, I'm confident that we'll get this issue sorted out.
Thanks!

 

Yea, they're basically directly in front of it. Everything looked good when I readjusted the horn/horn mounting plates but I hope to be able to see about that tomorrow. I hope this doesn't turn into one of those hours-long problems that should have only taken 15 Mins.

Wish me luck!