Line up doors

[Max]

Whats the best way to line up the swage lines on a 33 pickup?
I have heard that its best to bolt down the cab on its mounting pads and then use a couple of porta powers to jack diagonally across the door openings to line up the doors. Other people say to shim the cab to get the swages to line up. The rear of the doors need to come up around 3/8ths of an inch.

[Ken Crans]

Use shims on the hinges or use a rubber hammer placed near the top or bottom of door and use your hands to bend the door slightly to line up. Good luck

[David J]

Before you do ANY BENDING of ANYTHING you need to figure out what the issue is . I have fixed many late model wrecked vehicles and I still own a 5 tower frame rack . The first thing to look at is the gap between the front edge of the door and the cowl . If that is good DO NOT start bending hinges as you will create a new problem as you fix the other . IF the gap is tight on the bottom and wide on top then you need to address the hinges . If the front gap is good look at the gap between the rear of the door and the cab . If it is tight on TOP AND ok ON THE BOTTOM then you need to move the top of the cowl forward . Do not do this IF THE GAP IS GOOD . If the vertical gaps front and rear are good all you need to do is shim the front of the cab up . Real simple stuff if you have done it a few times . Seen many botched jobs because the fixer DIDN'T figure out what the real problem was before bending stuff . ALSO it could be mis-alinged due to a sag in your frame side rail . Good luck and be PATIENT .

Originally Posted by Max

Whats the best way to line up the swage lines on a 33 pickup?
I have heard that its best to bolt down the cab on its mounting pads and then use a couple of porta powers to jack diagonally across the door openings to line up the doors. Other people say to shim the cab to get the swages to line up. The rear of the doors need to come up around 3/8ths of an inch.

[Max]

All done, no problem really.
Bolted the body down onto the mounting blocks and jacked the cab diagonally forward, with the doors open, this lifts the doors at the rear and now the swage lines line up. evidently these pickups suffer this quite often due to the mounting blocks breaking and falling out, the cab then sags and after fitting new mounts the doors do not line up.

[David J]

What you did there is what I call move the top of the cowl forward . The cowl is of course the attachment point of the doors so they come along with it . If this cured all problems you should have had a tight top rear of door to cab vertical gap before fixing it . Another term that is often used for this type of issue is that your door opening was slightly " diamond " shaped . Really simple stuff if you understand it . Modern frame printouts have all the dimensions for checking door openings so it is really no mystery . Glad you didn't start bending hinges and whatever before really understanding the problem and congrats on your good results .

Originally Posted by Max

All done, no problem really.
Bolted the body down onto the mounting blocks and jacked the cab diagonally forward, with the doors open, this lifts the doors at the rear and now the swage lines line up. evidently these pickups suffer this quite often due to the mounting blocks breaking and falling out, the cab then sags and after fitting new mounts the doors do not line up.

[Ken Arms]

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This is a good thread, Dave you sound knowledgeable on this subject, here are two pics of my 34 tudor, first is drivers side bottom hinge area and second is pass side, both doors fall at latch side when opened, body is off frame but it did this when it was on as well. Notice the drivers side has zero gap at bottom where as the pass side has what I would consider a correct gap. Suggestions? Ken

[David J]

Looks to me that your driver side needs the lower hinge tweaked to get the gap right . That will probably cure most if not all of the problem with door " drop " as you open it . Common problem and it is usually the lower hinge on the door is bent forward causing the door to hang low in front . It can also be the lower hinge on the body is bent back . Check against the good side to see what need fixing . You should wait till the body is fully and securely mounted to fit doors with the exception of setting the gap between the rear of the door and the B pillar as this is simply a function of the hinges and is not affected by body mounting changes . Simple way to adjust this is to use a thin block of wood between the door and B pillar and GENTLY and CAREFULLY closing the door onto it . Go easy and keep the block inboard and ON the hinge as you do this . Putting the block on sheetmetal will just crush it . I cannot stress enough the importance of being careful here and if you go easy at it you will see the changes and find the best spot for the block and the force required to bend the hinge slightly . The pass side looks to have decent gap . Is it the same all the way up ? If yes the fix for that side is a shim under the B pillar to raise the door . Simple rule on fitting doors - get the gap right with the mounting post first and then address the fit .

Originally Posted by Ken Arms

This is a good thread, Dave you sound knowledgeable on this subject, here are two pics of my 34 tudor, first is drivers side bottom hinge area and second is pass side, both doors fall at latch side when opened, body is off frame but it did this when it was on as well. Notice the drivers side has zero gap at bottom where as the pass side has what I would consider a correct gap. Suggestions? Ken

[Ken Arms]

Thanks Dave, good advice. Ken