bigragu

Just curious about others trucks as far as the "fit up" of the bed to cab. Was coming out of the local Safeway walking up to my rig, and admiring the fact that it sits there, unique, in that all the other trucks in the parking lot are not as old as mine, and upon true, honest evaluation, it seemed like the bed to cab on my single cab has a very so slight "V" at its point of fit up. It is slight in appearance, but nevertheless there. Is this normal? Or has my a$$ gotten so heavy over the years that the shear weight of it has caused the back of the cab to tilt down, giving the look of the "V". Seriously, though, I'm not schooled at all on body alignments and what to look for, and if it's something I need to catch now, I'd like to have it fixed in the form of a shim or something. Truck has never seen an accident other than that sight rear end bump from last month by a hit n run dude. Looking at other angles, the bed is not tilted at all side to side. The gap between the cab and bed, by measurement of eyeball, seems proper. I dunno. Maybe that slight "V" is the norm? I am planning on getting my truck repainted entirely in the next few months, and I figure when it came to the body, it all should be proper before paint

oliver foster

There are flat metal shims that have a slot in them so they can be slid into place while the cab or bed bolt is still attached, for fine tuning the body lines.
Basically you just loosen up the bolts, jack up the cab and/or bed, insert a shim or two lower it down and see if the V is gone.
It is a little game trying to get all the body lines and gaps to be perfect.
I can dig up a few up spares shims, on the house, if you want and send them along with those washer nozzles and temp sender you are getting from me.

OR you might have a cab mount rotting out, but that is more what I look at ,everyday, then you in sunny Cali..

patdaly

Little game? Egads, thousands upon thousands of Body guys are now going to be gunning for you.

Easily the biggest understatement of the year........

A guy can go to the loony bin getting panels and gaps straight........................

oliver foster

Great, I am busy making friends again...

It depends on how perfect you want it.
It is just shims…How bad can it be?
To get rid of that growing Vee in the cab to bed line, add a shim under the rear cab mount and one in the front of the bed, stand back and see if it looks better…
No special tools needed and you can quit anytime as the truck still runs fine.
Sounds like a pretty safe project for the day off in the driveway, beer in hand.

I am just trying to help.
I am not trying to send Augie to the looney bin.

j.fonder

i'll play the evil role here, haha. your rear cab mounts are collapsing or your front bed mounts are collapsing. haha, highly doubtful. it could just be an optical illusion.

oliver foster

If he wasn't on the West coast I would think rotten cab mounts too.

If it makes you feel any better Augie, next week I am pulling a 8ft by 8ft metal flatbed off my '95 dually and putting the stock dually bed back on it. Then dropping a capper on it.
I am pretty confident I will not end up in the looney bin.
I don't really like flatbeds as all my stuff is in the winter weather.

bigragu

. My cab mounts are about a year and a half new. I put in energy suspension bushings. Never did the bed mounts.... This is what may be wrong, huh?

mknittle

Nothing wrong with the way you did the mounts. Just production torlances on body parts are huge compared to say engine parts.
First off when you do any body alignment the truck needs to be parked on a nice level spot. I like washers better than shims for the cab and bed adjustments. I have had shims work there way out and disappear.

j.fonder

well new cab mounts and old bed mounts could certainly be the culprit. worth looking into

mknittle

When I changed my cab mounts the body line sits higher on the cab than the bed All the metal is very solid. So that isn't' the problem. I think the urethane bushings are just thicker.

bigragu

Forget if I already have the bed mounts- I'm thinking I do, cause the previous owner handed me a bag with a chock full of energy suspension bushings made for either my 1993 truck or a 1993 Ramcharger. Even came with new radiator bushings. Will check this weekend. Thanks, all, for the tips

dodgenstein

There are no "bed mounts". Except for shims, the bed bolts directly to the frame.

patdaly

LOL, Just funnin ya. Seriously back in the day I would do a rear clip at the shop before I would line up a set of doors or fenders........ Some guys just have the knack for it, others like me can't grasp the fluid nature of body panels when tweaked.......... Get the bottom in line, the middle hangs out and now the top is low, address the top and now the bottom has moved and the middle is in............. I swear if I wasn't so **** retentive I would just do a swipe of bondo to get it the rest of the way......

oliver foster

I pull the doors off my Pop Top Ramcharger sometimes for the summer.
It hasn't had the top on it in years, and with the doors off it is kinda fun to cruise around in on warm days.
Getting doors and fenders to line up can be much more of a pain.
Lining up the cab with the bed is a lot easier as you only have the one line between the cab and the bed.
The doors that needs to be spaced out perfectly all the way around can be a struggle.

There, now the body work guys aren't as mad at me.

jimbo486

Check the floor pan above where the cab mounts are. I read of one incident from a member here who had installed polyurethane insulators only to find later that the floor pan had begun to crack. Coincidence? I dunno. I don't recall which mount(s) he said had cracked but regardless, it wasn't good. I don't recall who it was either but I'm glad I stumbled upon it.

I had just installed the insulators from Energy myself then. Having read about the experience, I immediately went to the dealer and ordered OEM rubber insulators and tossed the Energy's aside for a last resort, if at all, in the future.