I don’t know about you but for me there are things in life that you discover and you wonder to yourself “what the heck was I waiting for?” It might be an excellent night’s sleep on a new mattress, an amazing meal at a restaurant down the street that you never bothered to try, or your first bottle of the local microbrewery beer and learning that it is actually really, really good. In this article I’m going to tell you about two things: one that I didn’t wait on and one that I should not have waited on.  

I’ve had the 4xFix Hood Holder kit in my garage for a while now. For some reason or another after I received it there was always something eating up my time. I hate to say it but installing the kit fell to the bottom of my priority list. That coupled with “out of sight, out of mind” meant that the kit didn’t get installed. Well folks, let me tell you, that was a mistake.

Why was it a mistake to put this off? Well, like I mentioned above, there are things that once discovered make you ask “what took you so long!?” For those of you that like to read the ending first here’s a spoiler: I like this kit. I like it a lot. This kit is easy to install, and makes life simple with no more hood strut gymnastics. Is this kit a necessity? Nope. But as far as simple luxuries go for the cost and effort involved this is definitely a one nice to have.

I’m sure that you’re thinking that lifting the hood of a JK is not all that hard. But it can be awkward, especially if you are of “diminutive” stature and have a lifted JK. I don’t fall into the category so I’m ok there. However there are other factors that can make a hood lift a real plus. If your JK has a bumper that has a hoop or stinger it can be awkward to get the hood up and the strut in place, even if you’re at my nearly six foot height. If you do fall into that “diminutive” group, well then this task could be a real pain. The 4xFix Hood Holder kit solves this issue. Simply release the rubber hood hold down straps and then release the safety hook and your hood just rises up like it was conjured by David Copperfield himself.  

I’ve had experience with installing two kits from 4xFix prior to installing the Hood Holder kit; their Evap Canister Relocation kit and a Tailgate Holder kit (more on that later). From those experiences I learned that 4xFix mixes simplicity, ingenuity, and extreme attention to detail to assemble kits and instructions that are second to none.  The 4xFix Hood Holder kit is no exception to this.

The kit came with two struts, a hardware kit, and a very detailed set of instructions.	As an added bonus the hardware kit came hermetically sealed with each major part and the small parts all in their own chambers. I know it’s a small thing, but it’s tidy and helps in keeping things organized during the installation. As I see it, that’s a good thing.

4xFix’s instructions say the job will take 30 to 60 minutes to complete. I think it took me about 45 minutes and that was with my five year old “helping” me out. Working alone the job would have been easy to complete in 30 minutes. 4xFix’s instructions made the job easy.

Earlier I mentioned the 4xFix Tailgate Holder kit. This is one of the first additions I made to my JK and was my first experience with 4xFix.com. Despite this kit’s simple function it is easily one of the more valuable and useful additions I’ve made.

I decided I needed this kit after getting clobbered by the tailgate one too many times. With the spare tire mounted to the tailgate there’s a lot of mass there and even on subtle grades the gate could gain enough momentum to seriously whack the unwary. Knowing that I’d have my son with me on the trail this wasn’t acceptable. The 4xFix Tailgate kit consists of a strut, two mounting brackets, a long aluminum bar, and assorted hardware

Unlike the Hood Holder kit and the evap kit, the Tailgate Holder kit was not a “snap” to install. This is mostly due to the cramped area behind the passenger side tail light that you need to access in order to mount one of the brackets. It requires a bit of contortion to make it happen but it can be done. This kit is far more substantial that the others and it should be considering what it’s trying to control.

Since installing this kit I’m happy to report that I haven’t gotten slammed by the tailgate once, no matter the slope that I’ve opened the tailgate on. Maybe I haven’t attempted to open it on a steep enough slope to see it overwhelmed but so far I’m satisfied.

Here’s where I sum it all up. If you’ve been reading along you already know that I like 4xFix.com’s products. The Tailgate Holder kit I’ve had on my JK since before my first wheeling run with it and I have zero complaints. The Hood Holder kit should have been on my JK far longer than it has been. It’s another example of good, solid ideas executed well and explained even better.