The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop 1950 chev truck front driver side fender

Hi all I am mocking up everything and have a problem with the right fender gap at the cowl panel. I dare not tighten the bolts more or something will bend

All bolts inner and outer fender hood and rad support lose.

I may need to try to shift the cab over on the driver side but thought I would post to see if there are any other options

Did you replace the cowl panel and inner-to-outer cowl? It looks like you might have gotten the very front of the cowl panel a little too far outboard. Kind of hard to tell from your picture. How's the hood line up with the cowl on each side?
I have that issue with my truck, and when I had the driver's side fender bolted on there were some gaps a bit further back. My front clip is loose right now and I plan to make a cut and reweld the cowl to correct it. The driver's side cowl had a larger horizontal space under the hood than the passenger side by about 1/4 inch.

Yes I did replace the inner and outer cowl and just about everything else. I too have a larger gap below the hood to fender on the passenger side

Interesting I did not have the right front fender gap until I shimmed in about 3/4 shim on the driver side rear mount brace. I shimmed because I could visually see the bottom of the cab lower on the right

Could be a few causes if you used the inner outer panel that is welded they don’t fit right ,do you have some more pictures of the kick panel ,inner to outer panel.

When you installed the cab to the frame, did you measure between the the bottom of the cab and the frame at each of the four corners?
What are those measurements?

I will check tonight

I had a chance to measure before work

Rear driver 1 3/4
Rear passenger 2 1/4
Front driver 2 1/4
Front passenger 2

The clearance between the floor panel cross support and the frame at the rear mount should be 49/64" to 53/64" (that's a smidge over 3/4").

Near the front mounts, the clearance between the bottom of the floor and the top of the frame should be 1 53/64" and 1 57/64". (that's a couple smidges over 1 3/4").


You either have some more measuring to do, or you have a much bigger problem.

You need to have the cab located correctly before you even think about attaching the hood and fenders.
Errors, even slight ones, will be magnified twofold by the time you get to the front end of the front clip.

Thanks for the information. With what you describe it means the 3/4 to one inch shims I put on the rear driver side needs to come out as I assumed the slope on the horizontal bottom of the cab was low on driver side but it must be correct on the driver side rear and high on passenger side rear,

I will remeasure more carefully all four corners after shims out.

I will repost my findings

Also the picture above is before the rear passenger side
Brace bolts were inserted

Well I remeasured after removing shims at driver rear shackle

Now front driver 1.71 vrs 1.83
Front passenger 1.94 vrs 1.83

Rear driver 1.50 vrs .76
Rear passenger 1.79 VRs .76

So generally speaking I am 3/4 high on the rear

Is there a way to shim my way out of this mess.Given the front should sit 1.07 higher at the front than the rear what if I raised the front to 2.86 both sides which is 1.07 higher the the rear passenger

The rear to 1.79 both sides
Front 2.86 both sides
What would be the negative consequences?

Do you know the year of the frame? To be that far off at the rear, your holes in the frame may not be in the proper location,
If you have a '47 or a '48 frame, someone may have drilled the holes in the earlier frame to accommodate the newer design of shackle style mounts and drilled them too high.

Thanks Carl for your ongoing feedback.To answer your q uestionI do not think it is a 1948 frame but I have come to realize anything is possible when working on these beautiful old machines. I did find another bolter who took pictures of his shackles alongside a square ruler so I will do the same put the square up and see if they are bolted at the same height.

Until then here are pictures I have on my phone with my shackles and the other pictures (rusty looking ) are the other persons pictures

For height adjustment, the FAM (Section 1 Sheet 3.12) calls out shims between the shackle leg and the floor of the cab. But of course, shims can't lower the cab if the shackles are too high. Carl's idea that holes were drilled incorrectly is feasible.

Looking at your pics, I think that your rear cab spacing is close to correct. I suspect that your measurements were taken from the wrong point.
A 1" X 4" (which is actually 3/4" thick) should barely fit between the top of the frame and the bottom of that c-channel support bracket.
Did you happen to take your measurement from the inside of that c-channel instead? That would give you a much larger number.

Here is how I mount a cab:
Place a six inch long 1x4 on top of the frame near where the rear shackles mount. One on each side.
Lower the cab so that you can install the front cab mount bolts through the frame. Put the square rubber front mount pads in place and put the nuts on and tighten hand tight.

Install the rear cab shackles. If you cannot slip the 3/4" thick 1x4s out once the rear shackle bolts are tightened, remove the top shackle bolts and add a shim and slide the 1x4s out. This will get you real close to the correct specs.

Once the rear of the cab is spaced within specs, measure the front cab mount spacing and shim as needed to be within those specs.

Thanks Carl I will try your procedure to set up the cab

Well as far as I know my cab now sits correctly on its mounts,

But both my front and left front fenders do not press against the cowl panels .

I am wondering if the cowl panels should go straight back or not . Here is a ruler against it and you can see it is not straight, hence maybe that’s why my fenders don’t fit

The area where you've placed your straightedge seems to have a gentle convex curve. Your first picture appears to show a concavity.

Fender welting ,use the rubber type ,how well does the hood fit in there .

Fender welting, in my opinion, was used here to cover fender-to-cowl misalignment experienced on the assembly line. These trucks were essentially designed as tractors that you don't get wet in when it rains.

Kevinski . I have been so focused on the fenders that I have not put much effort into the hood.

The fender welting may just be the answer.

I will proceed with the hood and see where it goes

I am also assuming I will leave the cowl panel as is for now