98 GC Hood Latch Won't Open

I just had this happen on my `96 Cherokee. There seems to be two common failure points: Either the cable breaks or, as in my case, the mounting plate in the middle front edge of the hood pulls away from the hood.

The hood itself is held down by a catch at each leading corner, controlled by a rod to a bellcrank on the plate in the center. The cable from the dash goes to the bellcrank. To open the hood each side must be released. From my Googling at the time it appears that there two ways to release the hood, either having freakishly long arms that can reach up from underneath and pull the rods, or by pulling the grill and headlight buckets out and unbolting the catch.

Me? It was 30 degrees, raining and I don't have a lift. I paid a dealer $75 to fix it for me.

Bob Snyder wrote:

Bill,

The picture looks like '99-04.

Is the '98 the same config?

Thanks again.

Bob