The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Hood to fender gap

Any suggestions on how to align the hood and fenders on a 53 1/2 ton, with fiberglass fenders?
Would installing the fender braces help?

Pic:

[IMG]http://www.geocities.com/lifesshortridehard/53gap.jpg [/IMG]

Man Wayne - bummer fit up. Based on my experience, you need to raise your fenders maybe a little and lower your hood for sure.

Also, without fender braces, you are going to have a rough time keeping it all from bouncing around quite a bit. Most of the hood adjustment is done by adjusing the hinge locations (loosen the bolts and you have quite a bit of play) Also shims in the bracket in the center of the hood back near the windshield will set the tension across the top of the cowl.

Loosening up the fender mounting bolts at the cab end raising the fenders would help too - usually the holes in the fenders have quite a bit of play on the steel fenders.

I have never had a decent gap between hood and fenders without at least a few hours of futzing with it.

Thanks for the info Ken, Could you elaborate a little on your suggestion : "Also shims in the bracket in the center of the hood back near the windshield will set the tension across the top of the cowl." Where would you place these shims and how do you know when you've shimmed the bracket enough??

Thanks again,
Wayne

Wayne, you should get a reprint of the shop manual; all this is outlined with diagrams.

The rear edge of the hood is held in shape by a pair of lateral braces. By adding/removing shims where these braces meet in the center of the hood, you can adjust the hood to fit the shape of the cowl.

Of course, this assumes you've spent the previous day loose-fitting all the sheetmetal from the firewall forward. With all bolts finger-tight to the fenders, inner fenders, rad supports, etc; you can use the firewall-to-fender brace rods to "crank" the fenders into position (when the hood rests evenly). Lift off the hood, tighten the bolts, recheck. Repeat until you've convinced yourself it's not going to get any better, then attach the hood. Again, the shop manual explains how the hood is installed.

Thanks again,
I have a shop manual. Probably should have looked there to begin with. I see now there is a good illustration on page 11-6 of where to adjust the hood tension at the rear hood brace.
Thanks for the suggestions. Looks like I'll be spending a few hours (or days) to get the hood/fender adjustment done to my satisfaction.

Wayne

Say there bolter # 3560,I was up against the fitting of my fenders and hood, and once I thought it looked real good my doors were touching the aft side of the fender while trying to close and open the door.Hopefully your not having the same problem I did. I still don't really have mine the way I wan't them to look on my 55 1/2 ton. Sounds like Hedgehog has done this a time or 2. Have a good 1.. :confused: