- Joined
- Apr 3, 2022
- Messages
- 537
Unless you follow a clear process for aligning, you will chase your tail. This is how it is done right:
1. Do not put any body shims in...yet
2. Have all parts removed from body (doors, fenders, hood, grill, tailgate)
2. Snug down all body mount bolts
3. Install doors and see what you get. If gap is wide on top of rear door and high at rear rocker, add shims to rear body mounts only. This will close the gaps at the top at quarter and the rear of rocker gap. All conditions here:
4. It takes many hours to get the doors perfect. Once you get the gaps close using the body mount shims, combine that with shims on the hinges. Again, this process takes a long time especially if you have not done very much of this type of alignment before. Just keep at it and you WILL get the doors to fit perfect. A 3/16" gap along rockers and quarters is perfect, but you decide what you can live with. Just keep at it until the doors are what you want. Make sure you adjust the doors up and down to align perfectly with the top of the quarters.
5. Now install the fenders and the grill. Leave all bolts loose and you only need two grill bolts per side. The fenders can move forward and aft, in and out. Align them fore and aft to make the gap with door what you want. If your using new fenders, they may not be made correctly. In nearly all cases, the fenders will need work or you can just get them close if that is OK with you.
6. Once you have the fender to door gap correct, test fit the hood. CAUTION: do not immediately go to the hood hinges. Start by aligning the hood left right first. Don't worry about the tip of the hood at the grill until you align the hood up at the cowl perfectly left to right. Minor little nudges left or right until the gap with the fenders on each side are exactly the same. NOTE: It is possible to widen or narrow the hood to fender gap by pulling the fenders outward or pushing them inward. That will throw off the fender to door alignment but you can easily fix that by slightly adjusting the doors in or out to match the new fender location. Key is to get the fender to hood gap at the cowl correct left and right before going to the hood to grill alignment.
7. If the hood is too long (front sticks past grill front edge, all you can do is move the fenders forward. This increases the door to fender gap but short of cutting and welding, a hood too far forward requires fenders to move forward. If the hood is too short at front of grill, you can shim the hood hinges forward. If it is short on one side and long on the other, you can add a hinge shim to bring one side forward slightly. That also moves the hood gaps diagonally. Work on it until the hood front lip aligns with the grill.
8. Finally, you can move the grill left or right slightly to align the gaps at the hood. The grill does not move much, but you can move left to right a 1/16" or so. Fender bolts must be loose to do this. You can also move the body left or right a bit with the body mounts loose, but be careful doing that because it can mess up the doors and then you start over.
Finally on this...it is a long, somewhat frustrating process to get all this aligned but you must work from back to front (Doors, fenders, grill, hood). A little tweak in one place throws another gap off somewhere else, but there is a sweet spot that looks great if you just keep at it. The factory guys putting these together did thousands and thousands and could look at the gaps and know exactly what to do. They became really good at aligning...it was their job (although many of the Broncos came off the line with less than nice body lines). Point is, it can be done. Just be patient and figure it will take several days of tedious alignment to get it right. But it absolutely can be done!
If using any new body panels, you MUST align them before paint to ensure they fit without major surgery. If you paint it and think the new parts will fit perfect, you will be very dissapointed.
1. Do not put any body shims in...yet
2. Have all parts removed from body (doors, fenders, hood, grill, tailgate)
2. Snug down all body mount bolts
3. Install doors and see what you get. If gap is wide on top of rear door and high at rear rocker, add shims to rear body mounts only. This will close the gaps at the top at quarter and the rear of rocker gap. All conditions here:
4. It takes many hours to get the doors perfect. Once you get the gaps close using the body mount shims, combine that with shims on the hinges. Again, this process takes a long time especially if you have not done very much of this type of alignment before. Just keep at it and you WILL get the doors to fit perfect. A 3/16" gap along rockers and quarters is perfect, but you decide what you can live with. Just keep at it until the doors are what you want. Make sure you adjust the doors up and down to align perfectly with the top of the quarters.
5. Now install the fenders and the grill. Leave all bolts loose and you only need two grill bolts per side. The fenders can move forward and aft, in and out. Align them fore and aft to make the gap with door what you want. If your using new fenders, they may not be made correctly. In nearly all cases, the fenders will need work or you can just get them close if that is OK with you.
6. Once you have the fender to door gap correct, test fit the hood. CAUTION: do not immediately go to the hood hinges. Start by aligning the hood left right first. Don't worry about the tip of the hood at the grill until you align the hood up at the cowl perfectly left to right. Minor little nudges left or right until the gap with the fenders on each side are exactly the same. NOTE: It is possible to widen or narrow the hood to fender gap by pulling the fenders outward or pushing them inward. That will throw off the fender to door alignment but you can easily fix that by slightly adjusting the doors in or out to match the new fender location. Key is to get the fender to hood gap at the cowl correct left and right before going to the hood to grill alignment.
7. If the hood is too long (front sticks past grill front edge, all you can do is move the fenders forward. This increases the door to fender gap but short of cutting and welding, a hood too far forward requires fenders to move forward. If the hood is too short at front of grill, you can shim the hood hinges forward. If it is short on one side and long on the other, you can add a hinge shim to bring one side forward slightly. That also moves the hood gaps diagonally. Work on it until the hood front lip aligns with the grill.
8. Finally, you can move the grill left or right slightly to align the gaps at the hood. The grill does not move much, but you can move left to right a 1/16" or so. Fender bolts must be loose to do this. You can also move the body left or right a bit with the body mounts loose, but be careful doing that because it can mess up the doors and then you start over.
Finally on this...it is a long, somewhat frustrating process to get all this aligned but you must work from back to front (Doors, fenders, grill, hood). A little tweak in one place throws another gap off somewhere else, but there is a sweet spot that looks great if you just keep at it. The factory guys putting these together did thousands and thousands and could look at the gaps and know exactly what to do. They became really good at aligning...it was their job (although many of the Broncos came off the line with less than nice body lines). Point is, it can be done. Just be patient and figure it will take several days of tedious alignment to get it right. But it absolutely can be done!
If using any new body panels, you MUST align them before paint to ensure they fit without major surgery. If you paint it and think the new parts will fit perfect, you will be very dissapointed.
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