How do you fix this??Repo body parts.

[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.

[awbrown]

Well I will have better welding skills after this project is over .. I will just have to use half of the panel for now...That being said , i deal in crankshafts and have a machine shop , I only deal with one supplier because their quality is far above the competitors.. All these body panel suppliers have to do is institute a quality control program ,it shouldnt be rocket science to catch some of the flaws we have seen here lately ... maybe some of the suppliers could chime in ...
If one suppliers quality outshines all the others , it wont be long before they all raise the standard.....

[padresag]

Originally Posted by awbrown

Well I will have better welding skills after this project is over .. I will just have to use half of the panel for now...That being said , i deal in crankshafts and have a machine shop , I only deal with one supplier because their quality is far above the competitors.. All these body panel suppliers have to do is institute a quality control program ,it shouldnt be rocket science to catch some of the flaws we have seen here lately ... maybe some of the suppliers could chime in ...
If one suppliers quality outshines all the others , it wont be long before they all raise the standard.....

but not every one wants to pay for quality and that is where the system breaks down.
ron

[dthela]

i didn't see any shims in any pictures! also where inner fenders meet rad support they were caulked, they will pull in when bolted. first and foremost is inner fenders and support install, measure and square, them everything else! look in assemble manual for clearances and shim locations. any questions, dthela@verizon.net

[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.

[rustbucket66]

Next, I got the fenders and header panel on the floor to try and align them, and put the bolts in the backside. Each side takes 5 body bolts, and not one lined up....not one. After a lot of clamping and unclamping, a whole lot of opening holes with a die grinder, and ran a thread chaser through each hole, I finally have it sort of lining up. One of the weldnuts was so far out of place, that I can't use it at all. Will have to grind it off and weld a nut in the right place , I guess. It still isn't great, but at least it is bolted together. The inner lip on the front of each fender is very crooked, but I'm not sure if there is much I can do about it. Also look at the missing metal in the corners of the lip where the previous pics showed the light coming through.................... I've been scratching my head, believe me, as to what I am doing here and why. In a nutshell, I already paid for these things, and threw the boxes away. I have made some alterations, as you can see, and they have some scratches in the primer. I can't really take them back now, after all that, and I can't justify spending more money on parts that I already have. I am slowly running out of patience though, and one day, I might just give up, and try repairing some originals, or find some good used pieces somewhere. LT1 Burb says he has some parts, maybe calling on him soon.

[rustbucket66]

I think I wight be getting somewhere. I've drilled the spotwelds out on the hood spring braces on each side, bent the inner fender towards the outside, and now the fender bolts are in a place where they don't crush the lip. I held a screwdriver against the bracket to show where it will live now, and by the non painted area showing, you can see how much the inner fender needed to move outwards. I will weld it back up in this position.

[rustbucket66]

Next, the header panel. I drilled the spotwelds out on the bracket that runs along the bottom of the rad support. Upon mocking it up on the front, I found the top of the panel is pushed up way too high, and the splashpans on top won't bolt down. No adjustment on the top splashpans, as they bolt to the top of the rad support and the top of the header panel. Drilled out those spotwelds also, and removed the whole upright bracket from the backside on both sides. Now the top of the panel can be pushed down where it belongs, and the splashpans just contact it. The upright bracket welds to the other bracket I took off. So, if the rad support bracket was too high, then this bracket would have to be too high also. A quick tip on drilling spotwelds. I bought the drilling tool for it. Get one, if you are doing this job, it works nicely. Keep the bit from getting too hot, stop after each hole for a little while to let it cool down. The bit will last a lot longer. I thought about using some cutting oil, but I will be welding it soon, and the oil will cause a lot of problems.

[rustbucket66]

Now, I might be going the right direction. I fit the header panel back into place, with no interference from the backside mounting brackets. In the ballpark now. It fits reasonably well on each side, top and bottom. Will have to tack the brackets back on, in the position they should be, get it all back off, and start welding and grinding again. Same for the inners, some welding and grinding there also.

[rustbucket66]

Now that the header panel is close to where it has to be, I have a new can of worms open. The inner panel on the front of the fenders doesn't line up at all. Remember the previous pics with the light coming through?? On the left side, the inner lip panel sits too low on the top and the bottom. The whole panel can't move up or down much , as it is close to it's position. Am I going to have to break the welds on this part also to get it to move???? My god. The plot keeps getting thicker. I'm ready to hit my head against the wall. I'm in too deep to turn around. The same problem exists on the right side. It seems anywhere there is a weld, suspect a problem. Jeez.

[gofastnut]

rustbucket, I can only say that I really admire your stick-to-it-iveness. I hope, for your sake this comes out OK.

[rustbucket66]

The suprises continue!!! Upon putting on the splashpans, the weldnuts on the top of the panel are nowhere close to aligning with the holes. UUGGGHHH. I have painted the areas in the holes with a white felt pen to show the area where the weld nut should be. A couple of the holes have the weldnut just peeking out, some have the nut not showing at all. The splashpans have to be in the right position for the hood to close. You can see the centre hood latch panel is in it's slot where the panel indents a little, but the holes are not anywhere near aligning. Can there be anything else?? Both inner fenders needed some serious changes, both fenders, and the header panel is the worst one of all. Not to mention I couldn't use the rad support at all..... This TriPlus stuff should all be shipped back where they came from, and stuffed in a scrap bin. The worst thing is, even if I can make this stuff work, I've still got junk. I hope this thread saves some other people the grief I am going through. Maybe if no one else buys this crap, they will have to make a better product.

[jbgroby]

After reading all of your post and ONLY have to fight the inner fenders, I give up and will put the OEM ones back on after re-painting.

[rustbucket66]

It's been a couple days, but I have some more done. The header panel sat upwards too high across the top, and had to drill out the spotwelds to push it down where it has to be to install the splash pans. Then, upon mounting the splashpans, none of the holes with the weldnuts underneath the header panel, would line up, as per previous pics. Ground the weldnuts off the backside, and welded up all the holes on the top of the header panel. 14 holes in all, 6 weldnut holes, and 8 support brace spotweld holes. Ground fairly smooth, then reinstalled the brackets on the backside that I had removed earlier (4). Lots of welding and grinding there also. I think the thing should be ok to use now, hopefully.

[rustbucket66]

Some of you might think I`m overly fussy and anal about how it fits. Not the case at all. I showed my bodyman some of this and he was rolling his eyes. I have at least 60 hours in these things and there is a ways to go yet. Just getting things to bolt together at all is a challenge. Whew. The inner lips of the front fenders are way out, so I decided to take that panel apart also. I`ve drilled the spotwelds as you can see, and ground the spotwelds on the inside with a die grinder to get it apart. I welded the top and bottom corners that had fresh air where there should be some panel. Some of the previous pics show the triangle shaped holes on each corner. Here it is installed on the truck, and it is in the ballpark to line up with the header panel.

[rustbucket66]

On the other side, which is just as bad, I have taken these pics. First, it is clamped in the position it was in when it came off. You can see where I have drilled the spotwelds out. In the next pic, it is close to the position it should be. Note how much it has had to shift to be in the right position. There has been some lovin with a hammer and folding pliers previous to clamping it in here. The open corners still need welded up also, and ground. I think this picture shows it a little better.

[rustbucket66]

Just when I thought I was getting somewhere. We hung the doors last weekend, there may be some minor adjustments, but it is very close, all the gaps are pretty good. I mount the fender where it will live, and check out how the gap continues to open as it goes to the bottom. Could it be the door, I wonder. Well, the door and front of the rocker line up pretty good, so I am assuming it is the fender. Forward or back, up or down really makes no difference on the gap at the top of the fender, and how it keeps opening at the bottom. In this pic, it is almost touching the door at the top, and look at the space at the bottom. It can`t be tipped up or down with the front of the fender and header panel lined up, and bolted together. Looks like a bunch of welding on the rear edge of the fender. Oh boy...Stay tuned.

[jbgroby]

After reading your posts I decided to NOT use the after market inner fenders and go with OEM one from a dealer.

Jake

[Shooters_7]

I would have bought a southwestern front clip from a parts truck and shipped it. I hate to see you wasting your time on sub-standard parts when you could be doing something else! Good luck to you on your build.

[rustbucket66]

Thanks for that, I wish I would have done that from the start. Maybe a couple patch panels, and I'd be done. Unfortunately, I'm in so far I can't turn around. To order a set from down south somewhere wouldn't be so easy. First, find a set, make arrangements for payment, then ship a couple thousand miles, and over the border. I would have a set here, albeit junk, that I couldn't use. I can't afford to spend money on parts I already have. I think I can make it work, with some more messing around. I started this blog so anyone thinking of buying this stuff would know what they were up against, and have examples of why this stuff is so poor. Hopefully, it will save a lot of folks a bunch of grief, and money. It should make you rethink what parts to buy, and which parts not to buy.

[rustbucket66]

Been a few days, but I think we are getting somewhere. After repositioning the inner panels on the fenders, and filling the corner holes, I reassembled the header panel and fenders on the floor. Most of the bolt holes had to be repositioned, after shifting the inner fender panel. Opened up holes, and weld and grind where the holes used to be so all the bolt holes would line up. I think there is something good enough now for the bodyman to work with. Repositioning the fender inner panels made a big difference. I feel a little better.