another body alignment post

[Fesser]

I've been working on my 70 K5. Had the body off the frame, replaced all body mounts, replaced doors, had rockers replaced, and painted the body parts myself (just because I always wanted to). Now I am in the process of putting it back together and in the process chipping all of my new paint. From reading posts on here I have the body shimmed pretty well, although the windshield frame hits the top of the drivers wing window( probably due to the windshield frame being repaired). My surprise came when I put the hood on. My front clip is apparently mounted a little diagonally. The gap between the hood and the fender is about an inch wide at the front passenger corner and an inch wide at the back of the drivers side where it meets the fender. It seems the only way to get alignment would be to move the whole front, rad support and all, over toward the driver's side. I plan on loosening pretty much all of the fender bolts and the rad support bolts, and then rigging something between the lower fender front cups so that I can use nylon ratchet straps to pull everything to the driver's side. If it moves into alignment I plan to retighten everything. Is this an unusual problem? Is my plan likely to work? I apologize for the long post.

[SeventyOne]

You should tape up all body panel edges to prevent chipping. Sorry this is all the help I can offer since I am a few steps behind you in my restoration.

[Rochlow]

I'm in the same boat. Same problem. I moved the whole radiator support towards the drivers side. It helped abit but I still have a big gap on the passenger side.
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[Rochlow]

I'm also have to readjust my front bumper because of this. When I took my truck apart I remember there being an ass load of shims in the front.

My next step is to shim the drivers hood hinge to push it over to the passenger side.
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[PHAT TONY]

Don't loosen the fenders right off; as you move the rad support you want the fenders to come with-not recenter. There's very little side to side adjustment at the fender/rad sup. anyway. Use a measuring tape and cross-measure your clip; I hook it on the cowl corner bolts and go diagonaly to the same point on each fender, should have same distance. Adjusting the hood spear will also pull the hood over when it latches.
Keep in mind these are trucks and to try and "perfect" them is 9 tons of work....for a livable result.
Hope this helps.

[Rochlow]

Originally Posted by PHAT TONY

Don't loosen the fenders right off; as you move the rad support you want the fenders to come with-not recenter. There's very little side to side adjustment at the fender/rad sup. anyway. Use a measuring tape and cross-measure your clip; I hook it on the cowl corner bolts and go diagonaly to the same point on each fender, should have same distance. Adjusting the hood spear will also pull the hood over when it latches.
Keep in mind these are trucks and to try and "perfect" them is 9 tons of work....for a livable result.
Hope this helps.

Exactly the method I used. However the radiator support is pushed over to the drivers side as much as it can go.. Going to give a few more trys to see if I can get it closer..

[Dieselwrencher]

Fesser, have you checked to make sure your body tub is on the frame pretty straight? There is a little wiggle room in the body bushings and could possibly give you a false starting point being out of square to begin with.

[red71cheyenne]

Originally Posted by Dieselwrencher

Fesser, have you checked to make sure your bidy tub is on the frame pretty straight? There is a little wiggle room in the body bushings and could possibly give you a false starting point being out of square to begin with.

I have had the same issues and wondered if this weren't part of it. That and I think I got the windshield frame welded back in place in the wrong spots. Once I get mine tore apart again, I'll take pics of what I'm talking about.

[jaros44sr]

Originally Posted by Dieselwrencher

Fesser, have you checked to make sure your bidy tub is on the frame pretty straight? There is a little wiggle room in the body bushings and could possibly give you a false starting point being out of square to begin with.

Originally Posted by red71cheyenne

I have had the same issues and wondered if this weren't part of it. That and I think I got the windshield frame welded back in place in the wrong spots. Once I get mine tore apart again, I'll take pics of what I'm talking about.

X3...i think i have the same issue, but won't know for sure until I buy my '67 hood

[Fesser]

Originally Posted by Dieselwrencher

Fesser, have you checked to make sure your bidy tub is on the frame pretty straight? There is a little wiggle room in the body bushings and could possibly give you a false starting point being out of square to begin with.

I am just starting to think along these lines. I pulled the front over a little, but it still isn't close enough. I've been thinking about shimming the fenders at the cowl so that I am not fighting them. But, I didn't use any real measurements when setting the tub back down so I can be off a ton I suppose. I think its time to see how fast I can get an assembly manual because I don't even know where to measure from. And, like others on here, I'm pretty sure my windshield frame isn't going to be squared up to the doors. The guy that welded it on didn't have the doors.

[PHAT TONY]

I don't know if I'd sweat tub measurements; if you can get stuff to move where you need it-move it till it fits. If you shim the fenders your doors and cowl may not adjust out far enough to meet them, and if they do...what about alignment with the rockers?, or meeting weather strips. Once the doors are on and latched you may be able to push the windshield frame ahead as needed.

[Rochlow]

If you don't have the wing windows in the frame at the top of the door
Won't fit right. Once the wing window is in it will pull the top of the door down
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[Dieselwrencher]

Originally Posted by PHAT TONY

I don't know if I'd sweat tub measurements; if you can get stuff to move where you need it-move it till it fits. If you shim the fenders your doors and cowl may not adjust out far enough to meet them, and if they do...what about alignment with the rockers?, or meeting weather strips. Once the doors are on and latched you may be able to push the windshield frame ahead as needed.

The position of the body will greatly affect the alignment of the front sheet metal. I've fought this a few times. Think of it like this, if your frame has been hit in one corner pushing one side straight back, what would happen to the alignment of everything? It would push the one side back causing narrow gaps on the hit side and wide gaps on the other. I'd atleast try to take some measurements and make sure the tub is as close as possible or move the tub to try and get my gaps right. Maybe find a place where you can measure side to side in all 4 corners from a given point. Maybe from the body edge to the frame. And from the firewall lip to the front body mounts. At the rear, maybe from the back to a body mount or the frame. If you have some measurements, this might be able to give you an idea if this is your problem or not. I've noticed that the body mounts have about 1/2" of movement in them or more, and that can get things out of wack in a hurry!

[Rochlow]

Originally Posted by Dieselwrencher

The position of the body will greatly affect the alignment of the front sheet metal. I've fought this a few times. Think of it like this, if your frame has been hit in one corner pushing one side straight back, what would happen to the alignment of everything? It would push the one side back causing narrow gaps on the hit side and wide gaps on the other. I'd atleast try to take some measurements and make sure the tub is as close as possible or move the tub to try and get my gaps right. Maybe find a place where you can measure side to side in all 4 corners from a given point. Maybe from the body edge to the frame. And from the firewall lip to the front body mounts. At the rear, maybe from the back to a body mount or the frame. If you have some measurements, this might be able to give you an idea if this is your problem or not. I've noticed that the body mounts have about 1/2" of movement in them or more, and that can get things out of wack in a hurry!

Great advice! I'm going to take measurements and see if that is my issue
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[Fesser]

Well, at least I'm not the only one. Lots of good input. Probably won't get too much time to work on it until Tuesday but we'll see. Maybe I'll wait for Rochlow to go first and then do what he does/did. Frank

[Bentblazer]

I assume the top is on? We all know what how much that changes everything

[Fesser]

Same here.

[Bill P]

So how could this have been avoided? By squareing up the body with braces before removing the body off the frame.
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[Fesser]

Originally Posted by Bill P

So how could this have been avoided? By squareing up the body with braces before removing the body off the frame.
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Well, in my case, I should have had the windshield frame replaced with the doors on it, and I should have bought an assembly manual before I started to mount the body and front clip with no knowledge. Frank

[Rochlow]

Well, that didn't work out.. When I measured from certain points on the body to the frame there were only about 1/8" off. I figured that wouldnt throw the front sheet metal that far off. Look for other options now. The entire front end except for the hood is after market.. So I figure that is part of my problem. I mean the doors still fit ok at best
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[PHAT TONY]

Have you cross measured the front clip?

[Rochlow]

Originally Posted by PHAT TONY

Have you cross measured the front clip?

I have.. Thats when when I moved the radiator support to one side. I think I'm going to try to move it more.

[red71cheyenne]

I had to pull the radiator over to the driver's side too just to get my hood to close, but all is still out of whack. I can't even mount the cowl.

Have you thought about trying this: Loosen all the body mounts and take a prybar and push the body forward or rearward on the offending side. I want to try this and see if it helps any but I'm going to wait until I can cut the firewall loose from the runners it is welded to and move it where I think it needs to be.
I think that may be the basis of my problems getting it aligned. I had every piece of this thing apart and when I welded the firewall back in, I may not have gotten the windshield frame in the right spot. I'm going to cut both sides loose and move the drivers side forward and down and the passenger side rearward and up.

As far as the assembly manual, about all its going to tell you is to shim body mount 2 for door gap clearances. It does show you how it all goes together, but there is not much in the way of instructions for building one.

[PHAT TONY]

Whatever your measurement differs, move half that to center it. I've got aftermarket everything on my Blazer as well; fit is mediocre at best after HOURS of cussin...I mean fitting.

[Dieselwrencher]

I have had to move cabs before more forward and to the left before on a truck that I helped a friend build. I think at some point the truck was wrecked but we never took it to a frame shop. We just kept moving the support and cab until we finally got it close. Then we had to get the box to match. What a night mare it was. I think the best thing to do is just keep trying and don't give up. You may have to enlarge some holes here and there to get your fit back too.