The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop 1950 Chev truck hood gap

I have between 1/2- 3/4 inch gap between hood to fenders

How can a lower the hood more?

Don't lower the hood, raise the fenders. It looks like your hood-to-cowl fit is pretty good so lowering the front of the hood would mess that up.

Yep, raise the front fenders and grill. The radiator support to your cross member can be spaced up with rubber washers.

I will try putting
some shims in the lower rad support

You might not need to shim the radiator support, but you can raise each fender independently by loosening the bolts holding the inner fenders to the radiator support and the bolts between the inner and outer fenders.

I would start by removing the bolts which hold the inner fenders to the toeboard on the right side and the parking bracket on the left. Just loosening them doesn't provide for freely moving the fenders up. It is easy to put those bolts back in once everything else in the front clip has been adjusted.

I just came in from the garage and just seeing your post now Carl so that might be my next move is to loosen both fenders at the back

Here is where I am at now. I maxed out on the radiator shims and it helped . Right now all pictures are without the coiled hood props attached. I am still 1/2 inch at the highest point on both sides between hood and fenders

If the gap between the fenders and the hood isn't relatively even, it may be that the fenders need a little tweaking to get more arch to match the hood edge. That's accomplished by putting a few crimps on the flange where the inner fender attaches to get the gap at the center closer. You may notice some of them already. If there is more gap at the ends instead of the center, then flattening the crimps that are there on the flange will reduce the arch in the fender. You can put in the crimps by grabbing the flange with some needle nose pliers and twisting. What you want is more bend at the edge of the flange than near the top of the fender.

Thanks Kevin I will give that a go.

How much gap is reasonable between the hood and fender

The hood should be pretty close and should contact the bumpers that go between it and the fenders. I don't know how close that is, but less than 1/2 inch for sure.

You definitely need to have the rubber bumpers on the hood when adjusting the fenders upward to contact the bumpers front to back.

I have shimmed to max at rad support and even with rear fender off at firewall hood gap still exist at front of hood

Rick - Just a suggestion, but I think it would help if you could post more pics and angles of how the hood is in relation to the fenders and grille. Can't tell much from here with just this picture to offer any better info. Also, is the hood latch engaged and holding the hood down?

Here are some more pictures.latch is present but bottom plate off so it does not lock in

What was done so far ? Did the front sheetmetal fit before repairs and what was replaced ,were the cowl area replaced floor ect .Are the fenders and hood aftermarket or from another truck .Do the fenders by the cowl have any room to be lifted up ,the original holes for both the fenders and were they bolt up to were quite large .did raising the front make a difference because that seems like a lot of shims .How is the front cab mount space maybe to much space on cab mount .

Well Kevin the question is what part of the cab sheet metal was not done probably the roof .

Yes in original it fit well, the fenders and hood and cab are all original. Doors fit well. The front cab mounts seem to be the right gap the back is questionable,

Just in case I did something wrong for the fenders to rad at the top I have included a picture

The picture looks right on we’re the rad support and fender inner ,fender bolt together mine is a gmc but looks similar .I looked through some of your posts and see all you have done .It looks close does the hood go down anymore when you push it we’re it would be if the latch was on or is that as far down it goes..l see you had done some work to the rad support so that may be why you had to shim it up that amount.My truck is close also but it needs some adjusting that I need to Finnish up once the weather gets warmer .Keep at it hopefully it will work out.

Dial in the rear cab mount-to-frame gaps to within specs, and go ahead and double check the front cab mount-to-frame gaps.
These gaps are crucial for setting the radiator support gap.

I will try again to set gap

Okay I thinks may have been at this point somewhere in another post

My gap is reversed as to what it should be . I have close to 3/4 inch gap at the front and close to 2 at the back.

So if the front should’ve been an inch more than the back what if I raised the front to close to 3 inches inches and leave the back . That way the slope remains approximately one inch higher at the front as opposed to back?

If you're talking cab mounts, 2 inches is WAY too much at the back. With the cab sitting nose down, that much, you'll likely never get the hood fitted correctly.

The rear cab floor should set on 3/4" boards on the frame, then install the shackles, shimming between the top shackle mount and floor if needed. The front also may need to be shimmed, and the spec is 1-3/4" from bottom of floor to top of frame.

Yes I do mean the gap between the cab mounts and the floor. How would a decrease the 2 inch inch gap in the rea r to the 49/64 inch to 53/64

The front I can increase with shims from .75 to the 1 53/64 to 1 57/64 .

So the back I am lost

Rick - Just a suggestion on my part, but perhaps you can take pictures of your rear cab mounts and existing spacing so we can get a better idea of what it looks like? If you have a 2" gap at the rear mounts, something is significantly off from the stock setup.

Pictures will help tell you story better for folks to actually see the condition and what may be involved.

First picture is back cab mount gap between frame and floor and second is the from

Your second picture looks like your measurement is to the cab support BELOW the floor proper. Measure to the bottom of the floor itself, although that will only get you 1/16" more without adding shims.

On the rear, is it possible that the cab shackles are too long? Are they originals? Here's a picture of mine wen removed, although I can't measure them right now, yours look a little skinnier, but maybe that's just the way the picture makes them look.

The gap for the rear cab mounts is measured between the top of the frame and the bottom of the rear cab support bracket, not the bottom of the cab.
Best way to set up the rear cap mount gap is to place a 1"x 4" on the frame near the cab shackle vicinity and lower the cab.

Updated cab to bracket left then right

So this shows the driver side rear is 27/64 too high now what for trying to close hood gap

You will have to keep in mind the difference or allowance for were some of the replacement parts have been grafted in.You may also have to experiment with the gap to see if it helps with the hood.keep us posted

After you establish the correct gap for the front mounts and tighten the front bolts down, place a 1" X 4" (which is 3/4" thick) between the frame and the rear cab support bracket, then remove the upper shackle bolts so that the cab rests on the 1" X 4".
Now add or subtract the number of shims on the top of the shackles so that the shackle is flush and install and tighten the bolts through the bottom of the cab.
You should then be able to knock the 1" X 4"s out. If they don't come out easily. add another shim.

Rick - 52Carl's description of where to measure for the clearance space at the rear mounts is spot on. But sometimes a visual display may be more help than just words as from your pictures, you are measuring the clearance space at the wrong points. Continuing to measure from the same place as you've done before will leave you with measurements that seem way out of whack, but are probably pretty close to correct when measured in the spots indicated by the "red blocks" in the below screenshot from the Shop Manual.

Gives these measurement points a try and come back and let us know your numbers.

Thanks Carl I will give the 1x4 a go then post the outcome.

Yes Gdads51 I will give your diagram from cab manual 1-2 with the nice red block visual

Here are the new measurements as per the suggestion.
I am about 3-4 inch and 1 inch respectively

Looks like I should have measured to the right to the floor not as I did to the support bracket which would add an additional 1/4 inch ?so if it is to the floor bracket am way to high so I do I lower? If it is to the bracket I find another reason why the hood has too big of a gap. Feels like a Humpty Dumpty truck