Stepside bed does not sit level!

[Rc 415]

As you can see, the passenger side is sitting much higher than the drivers side, and I know what you are going to say, the ground isnt level, well I had it parked in my level driveway, and it sat the same. What can be casusing this and how do I fix it?


Drivers Side

Passenger Side

[bigblock73]

First thing I would check are your rubber cab mounts. Are they deteriorated causing the cab to lean? How about the cab mounts themselves, or the cab floor where it mounts to the frame, any rust there that would cause the cab to sit crooked?

EDIT: From the looks of it (using my un-trained stepside eye), the passenger side bed/cab relationship looks good, it looks like the drivers side is the one that is off.

[ureckme]

get a picture from each side and I might be able to tell you

[Rc 415]

[Rc 415]

Originally Posted by bigblock73

First thing I would check are your rubber cab mounts. Are they deteriorated causing the cab to lean? How about the cab mounts themselves, or the cab floor where it mounts to the frame, any rust there that would cause the cab to sit crooked?

EDIT: From the looks of it (using my un-trained stepside eye), the passenger side bed/cab relationship looks good, it looks like the drivers side is the one that is off.

The mounts and bushings are looking good as far as I can tell. There is no rust at all.

[bigblock73]

Perhaps this will help determine which side is off. Compare the top of the bed with the recessed in the back of the cab.

[Rc 415]

definately looks like the drivers side is low, like you said. What can cause this though?

[Srubydo1986]

well if you go with exstream the frame could be twisted. But i dout that cause the truck must have been used very hard or had a very powerful motor and so she doesnt look hard worked and she only has a 350 so that not it.

Hmm my long bed did this but it was all in the mounts. Ill keep thinking

alost looks like a low front passanger tire or the tire on the driver sod being bigger then the one on the front passanger.

or a bad shock or spring.

[AspecialZ]

I'm still going with the cab...

[strokd 84]

Mine sat a little crooked (not nearly that bad) before I changed out my front coil springs. If I remember correctly my driver side front coil spring was bad and caused the passenger side of the bed to sit higher. It's been a while, so don't hold me to that...

They make cheap little spacers you could try out to see if that's the case, rather than actually buying coils until you know you need them.

[Ivan D.]

Rc415, park yer truck on flat solid surface (paved level driveway) and measure the distances between the ground and the cab's rear bottom corners - if it's the same left to right ya have a problem with the bed, if the tape measure shows less clearance for the driver side and more for the passenger side yer cab mounts need attention. The bed attaches solid to the frame (no runner mounts), so if cab is straight then probably a bed crossmember rusted out internally and collapsed.

[ureckme]

I do frame straitening for a living and if the frame was strait the bed would be level from the front of the bed to the tail gate. Look at pic 1 and 2 the bed is not square to it's self. The drivers side gap at the bed to cab looks OK from what I see. The pass side I can't see but the cab leans to that side and the right rear corner of the bed is higher then the other side so I would think if you look at the grill and front bumper they proly look level to the ground. The frame is bent under the cab on the drivers side. Not bent just miss aligned it happens to the frames on these trucks.
But first check the cab mounts
Matt

[87 STEPPER]

Have you had the bed off lately?

If so it could be the cross bars that go across the frame rails and allow the bed to set level on it.

They may be out of place or missing or bent.

Have you tried to lift up on each corner of the bed? maybe one of the mount bolts has departed the truck and the bed is floopin' around.

If your bed floor is still wood is it in good shape cuz that can be a problem.

It would help alot if you could get us some better side view shots in good light conditions and maybe a few of the bed floor.

[larry may]

One of my ole heaps did this very thing , but not as severe. We found the read cross mount under the cab had been patched on that corner with a peice of construction U channel like unistrurt . It was too narrow to bring the cab up high enough to match up the bed. We put some washers on top of the neoprene mount under the cab. To get the right hight. Then with that measure ment fabed a peice to take place of the washers. Did correct the leanin issue. The bed was right the cab was goofed.my .02%

[Rc 415]

Originally Posted by Ivan D.

Rc415, park yer truck on flat solid surface (paved level driveway) and measure the distances between the ground and the cab's rear bottom corners - if it's the same left to right ya have a problem with the bed, if the tape measure shows less clearance for the driver side and more for the passenger side yer cab mounts need attention. The bed attaches solid to the frame (no runner mounts), so if cab is straight then probably a bed crossmember rusted out internally and collapsed.

The cabs rear corners sit @ 13 3/4" off the ground on each side. Also, I have been undur the truck a lot lately, and all the bed supports look surprisingly good.

[Rc 415]

Originally Posted by ureckme

I do frame straitening for a living and if the frame was strait the bed would be level from the front of the bed to the tail gate. Look at pic 1 and 2 the bed is not square to it's self. The drivers side gap at the bed to cab looks OK from what I see. The pass side I can't see but the cab leans to that side and the right rear corner of the bed is higher then the other side so I would think if you look at the grill and front bumper they proly look level to the ground. The frame is bent under the cab on the drivers side. Not bent just miss aligned it happens to the frames on these trucks.
But first check the cab mounts
Matt

How does that happen? How can it be fixed?

[Rc 415]

Originally Posted by 87 STEPPER

Have you had the bed off lately?

If so it could be the cross bars that go across the frame rails and allow the bed to set level on it.

They may be out of place or missing or bent.

Have you tried to lift up on each corner of the bed? maybe one of the mount bolts has departed the truck and the bed is floopin' around.

If your bed floor is still wood is it in good shape cuz that can be a problem.

It would help alot if you could get us some better side view shots in good light conditions and maybe a few of the bed floor.

I unbolted the bed recently, and pulled it ff a bit, but it had this problem before that even.
I'll get some pics in a few minutes. The wood in the bed is bad, really needs to be replaced.

[benoit454]

There's a stepside k10 by me that sits the exact same way yours does, bed all crooked or something. I think maybe it's the bed floor cross sils maybe they are bad or something, our 86 k10 fleetside had bad sills and the front DS was starting to sag.

[Rc 415]

More pics!!!!!!!!1

[Rc 415]

[82c10]

cab mounts, or a cab mounting problem, did you have a fat lady in the passenger seat for a while by any chance?

[bigblock73]

You know, from the looks of it, I would say it is the rear of the bed/frame that is off side to side...not the front of the bed or the cab. I would start by looking back there. If it is off, it can cause the front of the bed to be off slightly as well...depending on how bad the rear is tweaked. Check the frame back there, hell, pull the bed off...I bet you will see whats going on then.

[benoit454]

Well anyone see what I see???

Looks alot better in the latest pics, not as badly off, now it's just slightly off.

It also looked like the cab was tilted towards the bed a litle more at top then on bottom. I'm not too sure though, maybe somebody got something under the pass. side rear of it making it higher then it should be, or the rest is lower because of cross sills or something. Just crawl under and take a look at the supports under the bed, they run from DS to PS, maybe ones gone, or rotted out. They space the bed up off the frame.


Now on a side note,

That's a really nice looking step side. What color is that? I like it. Looks sorta coppertone or something to me, like bronze????

[bigblock73]

I think if we had good pics (full side shots, etc), with nothing in the way of the view of the truck, and on level pavement...we could better asses what is going on. With the truck being parked in the grass, being blocked by objects, and shadows casting over parts of the truck...it is really hard to see what is going on.

I agree too, nice truck thats for sure.

[benoit454]

I retract my previous statement, the cab and bed clearance looks to be equal all the way up.

Agreed with the above, could be unlevel ground.