How do you fix this??Repo body parts.

[rustbucket66]

There has been a lot of foul language around my garage, regarding the junk repo body parts I have bought. I bought everything new, rad support, inner and outer fenders, and front header panel. In trying to assemble them on the floor, like a front clip, I found most of it wouldn't bolt together at all. Hmmm. In comparing the rad support to the original, there were 5 or 6 things wrong. The repo was 3/8 inch too short from end to end, bends in the wrong places, weld nuts and holes nowhere near where they should be, the cross braces were misplaced, and others. I returned it, and tried another manufacturers, not much better. I returned it, and made repairs on an original. The rad support is very important that it be right. Inner and outer fenders, as well as front header panel bolt to it. Save your original at all costs. I have a bunch of pics of the headaches you might find. I'm not sure if I will get to where everything fits ok, but I have made several alterations already. Ohhh, how I wish the General still made these parts. These pics show how the front fenderis nowhere near attaching to the inner fender, close to 3/4 inch from having the rear holes from fender to inner fender lining up. Oh, these panels are all TriPlus, less the rad support which is in a scrap bin somewhere.

[rustbucket66]

Here are some things on the inner fenders you might find. The hood spring brace has the corners chopped off on the repo, not sure why. GM's are parallel to the brake in the fender. Next, the lower bracket that attaches to the rad support was nowhere near where it should be. drill out the spot welds, relocate, reweld, grind, to position it right.

[rustbucket66]

I'm just getting started. The top of the inner fender at the firewall is cut on 45s from GM. Theirs has one side cut off crooked, and the other side not cut at all, with a hole through it, not sure why. Trim these pieces off. Note how deep the spotwelds are.

[rustbucket66]

More spotweld pics, gonna be a lot of bondo for the bodyman on a brand new piece. Am I sounding bitter yet?? Damn right. Looks like a bowl of soup, some are as deep as 1/4 inch.

[rustbucket66]

Back to the fender not fitting, not sure which piece is not right. Installed original inner fender back on to see any differences. Unfortunately, I didn't keep my outers. Here is a good piece of advice DO NOT DISCARD YOUR OLD PARTS UNTIL YOU ARE FINISHED. You need them to compare and measure to. Try to repair them if at all possible. Note the location of the outer part of the inner fender that I have marked with a felt pen. Then the new back on, 3/4 inch difference. Wow.

[rustbucket66]

Got both inners, old and new on the floor to compare. Put 4 fingers comfortably in the gap at the firewall end on the original. Not even close to getting my fingers into the new one. A bit of a crude way to measure, but it quickly shows the 2 sides of the panel are too close together. Next, drilled out more spotwelds on the braces in side the inner fender, mounted it on, and started bending it out with blocks of wood, big bars, and what ever it takes to get it out to the felt pen line., and flat for the outer fender to mount. Then take it off again and reweld the spot welds. Anybody getting tired yet?

[jbgroby]

I know hind sight is 20/20 but when it came to the fenders, I went with old OEM from RJ Sisneros. I did not want to take a chance with the light weight re-pops too many folks complaining. As far as the spot wleds go, very few folks would even know if they were correcct or not.

[Budman56]

Sorry to say I was miss lead about my fenders to, and just like yours I will have to spend too many hours trying to fix them. They should have bolted right on without all this work. it just boils down to the fact that we don't complain enough about pour quality japan & china crap. At then end of the day all we really want is cheap parts that fit right. But then again if it were that easy ever one would restore these trucks.
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[gofastnut]

this is scary!!

[Chevy Fleetside]

Im happy I can get a fender from a yard and just use a patch panel. We have alot of good parts here. Maybe I should get into selling used/refurbished parts...

[protrash64]

It's been noted on other threads that there are big problems with the inner fenders being something like 3/4'' off in length which twists the whole front clip, IIRC.

I have used the fenders with all other original parts without too much trouble.

[awbrown]

I feel your pain .. today I was installing inner rocker panels , the ones that go in about 8 inches the whole length of the panel ,and as I was fitting the rocker it was shy on the front ,I thought the rock was wider , but the panel was actually shorter and the cab mount bolt holes were way to high ...this is how it should look this is not how it should look correct width .. not correct

[rustbucket66]

This has me a little wound up now. Went back out this evening for more pain in the garage. Mocked up header panel, have it lining up reasonably good across the top and it comes down the underside of that pretty good. Then when it turns to go straight down, things go horribly wrong. It looks, obviously, like it has to come in at the bottom. It doesn't go, the bracket that runs along the bottom of the rad support is hitting. Pretty close fit huh? I have taken the thing back off, and drilled pilot holes in all the spotwelds that I need to get that mounting bracket off.

[rustbucket66]

Here is the panel back on the floor, and I have drilled pilot holes where the spot welds are. I'll get the brackets completely off, then try to make something align, then weld them on again. Let's hope. Tomorrow, I am buying one of those spotweld drill bits that only make a big hole in one panel. Should save some welding and grinding.

[rustbucket66]

Here's another thing to do. Ive drilled pilot holes in these spotwelds also on both sides, will need to disconnect the hood spring bracket. Then I will be able to bend out the inner fender a little, so it reaches out far enough to the outer fender where the middle 2 bolts are. It needs to come out so the washers of the body bolts don't crush the lip that stands up on the inside. I've seen lots of these trucks at shows with the bolts crushing this lip on the outer fender. Make sure it is fixed before you paint anything. I have bent the rear out a bunch already, but the hood spring bracket is strong and wont allow for any bending or tweaking in this middle area. Once it is where it should be, I will weld up the spotweld holes, and grind smooth.

[rustbucket66]

The body bolts in that previous picture are just started a few threads. If they were tightened down, the lip would be pushed over. Now, remember the afore mentioned fresh air holes in the front of the fenders? I used zip ties to show where and how big the holes are. I think these pictures will give you a better idea how much fresh air is in there. See the light from the trouble light in behind coming through?? Also note the metal missing on the top and bottom corners, kind of a triangle missing on each. That will be a nice thing to fix. Anyone scared yet? Be afraid, be very afraid.

[Corts60]

Oh man. That is awful quality. Make sure you are complaining up the ladder as well. And by that I mean write the company and show them the pictures of how awful their product is. Thank you for taking the time for sharing all of this with us.

[LT1 Burb]

Wow, I will not buy repop crap after seeing this thread. there is plenty of good parts around still and I would definately spend the same money getting good used parts. If you need a grill surround they are around, I have 5 of them in my shop and I just turned down rust free inners but they may still be available.

[MailManX2]

Originally Posted by awbrown

I feel your pain .. today I was installing inner rocker panels , the ones that go in about 8 inches the whole length of the panel ,and as I was fitting the rocker it was shy on the front ,I thought the rock was wider , but the panel was actually shorter and the cab mount bolt holes were way to high ...this is how it should look correct width .. not correct

I ran into the same bolt hole alignment problem when I did the floors on my 60 Apache. I had left the original cab mounts in so I welded up the holes in the replacement floor panel and redrilled them to align with the cab mount holes.

I installed the rocker panels and will have to weld a piece of sheet metal to the replacement floor panel to lengthen it. Then I'll be able to weld the panel at the bottom of the rocker panel.

[Chevy Fleetside]

I think I will order my bed parts from Mar-K.

[62 mark]

I was quite dissapointed in my rockers an cab corners from lmc... had to actually cut the passenger side rocker in half, trim out a half inch and weld it back together. the cab corners,what a joke.the only good thing is it improved my welding skills greatly! Unfortunately most of these parts are made overseas and its trim to fit.

[Captainfab]

I hate to say this, but this isn't anything new. The aftermarket replacement parts for these trucks have always been unacceptable in my experience. At least the ones made in China, which is about 95% of them. It is a rare occasion when a part does fit without major re-work. When possible I will always repair an OEM part before buying aftermarket. Of course that often times means buying the patch panel.

As long as guys continue to buy these parts, the manufacturer will continue to make them, and the distributor will sell them.

[MailManX2]

Originally Posted by 62 mark

I was quite dissapointed in my rockers an cab corners from lmc... had to actually cut the passenger side rocker in half, trim out a half inch and weld it back together. the cab corners,what a joke.the only good thing is it improved my welding skills greatly! Unfortunately most of these parts are made overseas and its trim to fit.

I had bought repo rockers and ran into the same problem.. My fix was to buy a set of NOS GM rockers off of ebay.. Those fit like a glove.

I had a parts truck and used the cab corners from it.

[rustbucket66]

I am aware of what the shims are for and where they go. Right now I'm just trying to get the stuff to at least bolt together and be somewhere close. There will be shims at the back of the fenders top and bottom. That is one of the reasons I haven't put the doors on yet. I wonder if there is an assembly manual for aftermarket parts, probably not. I am also aware of the caulking to go between the rad support and the inner fenders.

[rustbucket66]

As mentioned before, I drilled the spotwelds out on the backet that goes from the backside of the header panel, and fastens along the bottom of the rad support. Got the brackets right off as you can see, and bent down the tab that connected to it near the bottom. I tried mocking it up briefly, and it wasn't too bad. Now it can go in as far as needed, and line up reasonably well with the fenders.