How to realign a cab?

[ryans69chevy]

I've been thinking a lot about my cab and how I can fix it. Back in high school I bought this truck and fixed a lot of the cab, but I did it in a poor manor. I left the cab on the frame and starting cutting out the front floor pans, rockers, cab corners, and front and rear cab supports. I did all this at once without bracing the cab! Pretty stupid huh? It's actually not as bad as you would think with the amount of work I did and how it actually all fit back together.

The biggest issue is the door alignment which the drivers door needs a bit of a slam for it to close all the way. I did bring it to a body shop and they did there best with the work I did. They got it pretty good, but now that I'm doing a whole rebuild on my pickup I really need to fix this problem which I know it gonna require me to take out a couple panels if not all of them.

So I'm wondering where do I start? I know I messed up and did not do my research before I dug into this rather large project. What steps do I need to take to make it worthy of hopefully a show truck.

Thanks for any advice and opinions. I'll post pics.

[ryans69chevy]

Drivers side. I can't get to the passengers since it's rolled into the corner.

[ryans69chevy]

Sorry for one pic at a time, on my iphone...

[ryans69chevy]

Not sure why these pics are turning sideways...

[ryans69chevy]

Hopefully this helps...

[Davidf]

Door appears too far forward and maybe a bit high at rear. Leading edge of door at vent window appears too close to door opening. Moving door back should help a ton. Cannot tell if front door edge is too far in , out, or if door is twisted in opening.

[ryans69chevy]

So maybe shim the door at the hinges? Do I need to take any other pics?

[71CHEVYSHORTBED402]

My LH upper door below the window frame is 2/10" using my 10ths of an inch ruler. That's from the door to the edge of the cab. However, it appears the door from the exterior should swing clockwise, by 1/20".

I'm also interested knowing how this is accomplished. The only shims on mine are for the door latch, four each top and bottom bolt.

[Rod Run]

Originally Posted by 71CHEVYSHORTBED402

My LH upper door below the window frame is 2/10" using my 10ths of an inch ruler. However, it appears the door from the exterior should swing clockwise, by 1/20".

10ths of an inch ruler?

[Raleighswb]

Originally Posted by ryans69chevy

So maybe shim the door at the hinges? Do I need to take any other pics?

I would wait until you put cab back on the frame so it is supported on the cab bushings.you will be looking at how the door sits in the opening and the body lines.the hinge where it bolts to the body will move the door up and down also front to back,where the hinge bolts to the door will move the door in or out. No shim used just loosen bolts and lift up or push down on door will not need to move much to change things a lot,take out door latch till you finish--- then put latch back in and adjust latch good luck.

[71CHEVYSHORTBED402]

Originally Posted by Rod Run

10ths of an inch ruler?

Yes. 12 inches in a foot, but inches are divided into 10 parts. It's nice to have around, and GM's assembly manual is in 10ths of an inch.... at least sometimes.

[ryans69chevy]

Originally Posted by Raleighswb

I would wait until you put cab back on the frame so it is supported on the cab bushings.you will be looking at how the door sits in the opening and the body lines.the hinge where it bolts to the body will move the door up and down also front to back,where the hinge bolts to the door will move the door in or out. No shim used just loosen bolts and lift up or push down on door will not need to move much to change things a lot,take out door latch till you finish--- then put latch back in and adjust latch good luck.

I guess right now it's on a rolling stand which the cab supports are resting on. So it should be basically the same as if were on the frame correct?

I guess after thinking about the door hinging and such I would say that it has already been worked on by the body shop I took it to. I'm sure they loosened bolts to make the door fitment more true. I'm sure there is a point where working with the hinges doesn't do anything more maybe that's what happened? Or could I be wrong?

[Davidf]

You could be wrong. Don't shim the hinges, plenty of adjustment in all directions. Keep working at it. Body shop guys are not magicians.

[snipescastle2]

I know that when I replaced the rockers and floor pans/rear cab brace on mine, I got a Cardboard template that a friend made from the pinch weld's around the inside of the cab door opening, this allowed me to "Gauge" the openings to ensure the door openings didn't move, causing me major head aches later. Once I had everything clamped into place, I would fit my template into the door opening in between the pinch welds, and if it was spot on, continued to tack weld, checking periodically to make sure nothing moved. worked out great!! hopefully, yours won't need a lot of "tweaking"
Ben

[ryans69chevy]

Originally Posted by Davidf

You could be wrong. Don't shim the hinges, plenty of adjustment in all directions. Keep working at it. Body shop guys are not magicians.

That is true. I guess when spring time comes and I get it hauled to my house I can start to take a better look at it. Maybe it is just as simple as adjusting the hinges. Let's hope so. I'm just preparing for the worst I suppose...

[ryans69chevy]

Originally Posted by snipescastle2

I know that when I replaced the rockers and floor pans/rear cab brace on mine, I got a Cardboard template that a friend made from the pinch weld's around the inside of the cab door opening, this allowed me to "Gauge" the openings to ensure the door openings didn't move, causing me major head aches later. Once I had everything clamped into place, I would fit my template into the door opening in between the pinch welds, and if it was spot on, continued to tack weld, checking periodically to make sure nothing moved. worked out great!! hopefully, yours won't need a lot of "tweaking"
Ben

Do you have any pictures of what your talking about? If I understand it correctly this method probably wouldn't work for me since my cab is "flawed." This would only work if your replacing on a cab that hasn't been reworked or am I not understanding you correctly?

[57taskforce]

I've done cab corners, rockers, floor supports etc with out bracing anything a few times before. The way I do it is to adjust the doors to where they are the best they can possibly before cutting anything. I then make reference marks on the doors and cab where it won't be cut up. I don't touch the door adjustment at all while its cut up. I then first use sheetmetal screws to to hold things like the rockers in place. Before I lay a single weld out side of tacking I check the door gaps and how they close. If something needs to be tweaked I do it then. Once I'm comfortable with everything I'll start finish welding it. It's important to check everything as you weld too. The one place that I've had move a few times is the lower rear door pillar. I use a ratchet strap from the front bed mounts(no bed on the truck) to an area on the hood hinge to pull the pillar forward untill it all lines up. From your pictures it almost looks like maybe your lower pillar shifted. It does look like you can play with adjustment on the door to clean the gaps up tho. If yours is indeed welded back together wrong than you'd need some first need some measurements from a good cab to start cutting and re welding it back right.

[snipescastle2]

I have the template at home, I'll post a picture later.
Ben

[snipescastle2]

well, I didn't have the chance to find my template, but here is a picture I hope will explain what I am talking about....
Basically, you find someone who has a very straight truck of our vintages, you take a big piece of tri wall card board, and trace the outline of the pinch weld areas from the inside of the cab (see red arrows in the picture) once you have the outline made, you remove the card board template and trim the excess off, until you have a template that fits tight around the whole door perimeter.
if you are going to replace the rockers and floor pans any way's, you can adjust the door openings at that time. otherwise, a porta-power might help you "Tweak" the openings a little. hope this helps you out.
Ben

[ryans69chevy]

Oh yea that makes sense. That should work. Now I just gotta find someone that has a straight cab! Might have to go to the junk yard or something... Hopefully it's not too far off or I'm just gonna have to cut the panels out and redo. How much adjustment do these doors have? If the cab corners sprung by half inch or so I'm prob gonna need to cut the panels but anything less than that I should be able to adjust with the door wouldn't I? Or should I just cut them out and start over even if I'm closer than a half inch? Just using that measurement as an example. Hope that makes sense.

Thanks!

[snipescastle2]

some guy's add filler rod to the door jams to help close up the gaps, then use filler to do the rest. if you make one of these templates from a good cab, that has not been in an accident (to the best of your knowledge) once you cut the rockers loose from the door jambs/striker post, you should be able to adjust the distance pretty easy. make sure when you go to do the new rockers, that you have the doors on, or you'll have the same headache you have now. you can set all the gaps and then tack everything in place once you have verified the fitment. Good luck!
Ben

[snipescastle2]

I can probably make a paper template from the one I have and mail it to you in a mailing tube, then all you have to do is trace onto some cardboard.....
Ben

[ryans69chevy]

Originally Posted by snipescastle2

I can probably make a paper template from the one I have and mail it to you in a mailing tube, then all you have to do is trace onto some cardboard.....
Ben

Oh wow! That would be awesome! Thanks a lot! Or idk if it would be any easier to just measure the points and the distance between them and then I could copy that onto cardboard or would that be too tough?

Thanks again!

[snipescastle2]

nah, you really need the whole pattern, especially if you want everything to line up. just shoot me a PM with your address and I'll mail it out to you, just pay for the postage, fair enough.
Ben Smith

[ryans69chevy]

Ben, just pm'd you. Thanks again it's very much appreciated. Another reason why this forum rocks!