Aligning body lines on a fleetside

[fabguy]

Ok all, am I being to OCD by stringing my body lines straight, and by alinging the cab left/right? My lil brother thinks i am being OCD about it, am I? What have some of you all done to get your body lines straight?

[meter swinger]

Not OCD at all. The one thing thats bugged me about mine is the box and cab alingement.
The two dont really flow that well on these the way they were designed. (imho) nevertheless GM never made a cooler looking bed, but they are a pita to get right.
I gotta do my bed soon, so ill watch what you do.
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[Kim57]

I just wish the rear fender body lines lied up with the cab.
Kim

[OrrieG]

Kim the front fender upper crease, door crease and upper bed crease all align. The spear aligns with the horizontal line above the front fender that comes off the bottom of the headlight and follows the back of the front fender. I personally think it is a lot better than the "plainer" 55-57 front fenders.

String the fender and door crease to a point beyond the back of the bed, align the bed crease at the cab, adjust the rest of the bed parallel to the string line. This all assumes you have the cab/hood/doors and fenders where you want them, sometimes the cab needs tilted a little to get the hood right at the cowl.

[Kim57]

Originally Posted by OrrieG

Kim the front fender upper crease, door crease and upper bed crease all align. The spear aligns with the horizontal line above the front fender that comes off the bottom of the headlight and follows the back of the front fender. I personally think it is a lot better than the "plainer" 55-57 front fenders.

String the fender and door crease to a point beyond the back of the bed, align the bed crease at the cab, adjust the rest of the bed parallel to the string line. This all assumes you have the cab/hood/doors and fenders where you want them, sometimes the cab needs tilted a little to get the hood right at the cowl.

You guys are talking fleetsides and I was thinking step sides, my mistake.
Kim

[OrrieG]

I guess I assumed fleetside because. like you and meterswinger said, the stepsides really have no reference points to the cab.

[fabguy]

Sorry I should have been specific about the bed Kim57.

OMG, we finally almost aligned the cab, front end, and bed. I need to shift the cab to the drivers side about a little 1/8" then I can tighten it down.
Yes OrrieG we tilted the front of the cab up almost 1/4" and that fixed it right up and eveything else fell into place, also explains why the hood was lifted at the windshield and I couldnt get it to stay down. I taped a plumb line at the headlight body line (tied it to a screw hole in the headlight bucket opening) then pulled it tight from behind the bed about 2' and just kept checking, then shifting, then checking and shifting only took us about 3hrs to get it aligned and straight, then moved onto sanding UHG....

[fabguy]

This pic will give you an idea on how I attached the plumb line

[apache200]

I love how low your truck sits.. keep up the great work