Did they make a hood pad for the 96 ram trucks? I have never saw one, but my truck has clips installed where there might have been one. It's a 318 engine. I did some searches and found nothing. Just seems odd to see the clips installed.

Yes, my '96 Ram 2500 SLT has a hood pad. It's sagging something terrible, but as of now, its still there. Over on this forum (http://dodgeforum.com/forum/2nd-gen-ram-64/), you can find the parts manual for your truck in electronic form to help with your search.