Lining Up Doors and Fenders?

[muddpile]

I am in the process of lining up my doors/hinges/fenders so I can weld my new rockers and cab corners in, but I am having some problems. Are there any tips anywhere on how to do this job? Also, has anyone ever had to make some of the hinge holes bigger for more adjustment? The doors, fenders, rockers, cab corners, etc are all Goodmark pieces if that helps. Thanks!

[Aarons72s]

Hi muddpile. You are going thru waht I just went thru. Yes sometimes you have to inlarge the hole on the hinges. And sometimes you have to shime them, i did. Its a trial and error thing. first bolt the hinges just snug to the doors. Bolt the hinges so the hinge is farthest in on the door, ie when bolted to the cab it pushes the door out from the cab. It is best to have 2 people to help. Have one hold the door while you bolt it to the cab. Then just try to lign the body lines up and then snug the bolts. If the door sits out to far then just loosen the hinge where it bolts to the door. If it sits to far in then you will have to shim. I use grade 8 washers for shims. Oh be careful and not to strip out the threrads in the mounting plates, I did and it is a pain to fix. Once you do that then put your cab corner on in temporarly and hold in with screws. Try to make the cab corner fit the door. Once you do that then put your rocker in temporarly and hold in with screws. Try to make the rocker fit the door. Then mount your fender to make sure it will line up to the door and rocker.
Aaron

[Huck]

One other area of importance in welding your rockers in place is the alignment of the inner edge. You need about 1/2 " of space between this inner top edge and the floor (this allows room for wiring on driver side). If you get this too wide, You will have problems with the door closing against the rubber weatherstrip. I have had significant problems with goodmark doors --hinge plates not in correct position for door hinges once attached to the a pillar.
Easiest alignment of doors has been by using rear door edge to b pillar and window frame alignment to windhshield frame/roof. Get that and the rest is pretty basic. Huck

[muddpile]

Thanks for the tips guys. The goodmark doors look nice, but they sure don't fit as well as I'd hoped they would. The fenders seem to be pretty decent, as do all the weld-in cab patch panels. So, I just use washers in between the cab and hinges and the doors and hinges if need be? This works alright does it? Looks like I have a bit of work ahead of me this weekend. Thanks!

[Blue85]

if you want i could come down and help you, your in nokomis right?

[muddpile]

Yep, I'm in Nokomis. I'll give it a try over the weekend and see if I can make any headway. If not, help would be awesome! I've seen pictures of your truck and it looks nice and straight, and black shows that. Hopefully I can get it, but if not I'll let you know. Thanks!