Fixing quarter panel spread

[jckkys]

After temporarily pulling the top to replace the windshield frame, I noticed the top of the rear quarter panels had spread out at the top. Of course the bottom of the top had spread out with the quarter panels. Why this happens is hard to say. The weight of the top, is the only reason I can see. The corner braces that extend onto both the top and quarter panel aren't enough to stop this. I pulled the quarters in at the top, with a cable come along. With several hundred lbs. pull they go back to square and more. But when the the tension is released, they go back to initial spread. Do I need to pull them in further till they only return to square when not being pulled? Is there a risk of damage to the tub or top? Has anyone found a long term fix for this? A family bar like the one by WH that works with the San Felipe role bar and through bolts securing the quarter bed rail to the bar is all I can think of.

 

[JAFO]

I've had the top off mine most of the summer. I hadn't dropped my tailgate in probably months. This past weekend I went to install the top and the tailgate would not go down. After much examination it seemed to me that the tub sides had spread slightly at the top. You can see a tad bit wider gap at the top between side post and tailgate. And this spread was sort of jamming up the latches. Seemed more spread on the spare tire side. Anyway, after some careful work I got the tailgate down and readjusted the latches so the tailgate works smooth again. Got the top on OK. But it did bug me the sides seem to have moved slightly. I was also looking at my four point cage wondering if I should attach the side rear posts at each corner to help support the sides. Seems like a good solution to me. I guess attaching at both front and back of cage would make the tub that much more rigid.

If you ratchet yours in so that when they spring back things are square seems like it should work and not harm stuff, but I guess it will just sag again over time. I'm thinking I will look at some type of bracket to the roll bar.

 

[Rustytruck]

With all the holes in just the right places on the bed corners You could rig up some nice marine cable and polished stainless steel turn buckle to make a cross support when your top is off. This would be easier to remove than a solid bar if you needed to load something big. A bolt in cross bar would be better. If you have a family bar in your roll cage you can reposition the bed post and weld in a bracket to the corner post and bolt the corner post. It will make it tougher to install your top but it should help hold it in place. When I bought my Bronco over 38 years ago my Bronco only had 10,000 miles on it. The spare tire was factory mounted inside on the tailgate so no swing away tire carrier. The factory hard top was never off but the passengers side at the tailgate was sprung out almost a 1/4". I pretty sure it left the factory with most or all of that push out. The gap didn't move up until I parked it 5 years ago when I cleaned up the truck and repainted it. At that time I resquared the tailgate opening. Most of the trucks life was spent with the top off after I bought it and it was rode hard offroad and I later added an outside tire carrier with 33" 12.50 15 tire hung on it. If anything I think the tire carrier helped to keep the bed from spreading further. But I have a pretty much no rust California Bronco.

I will tell you that on my Bronco after I resquared the bed post, it made it very hard to put the tail gate back in. The new coat of paint was thick enough to start to wedge up the pivot brackets for the tailgate. The extra spread in the body may have been there for a reason.

After 40 years of dealing with Broncos these old toys have their own individual character, some built in by the factory, some by their owners and some by the ravages of time. Then there are people trying to apply modern fit and finish to a piece of farm equipment built and designed 50 years ago. Those people can have a real battle on their hands.

 

[DirtDonk]

Never thought about it until now when you brought it up, but I wonder if you could pull it tight with the cable idea, plus a little past square, then just start banging sheet metal in areas like the floor, body mount areas, wheel well and other lower support parts. Kind of like a "hammer and dolly on steroids" method of releasing tension in those areas.

That would only work if those areas were part of the problem of course. And not even sure it could help given how and where the body is mounted to the frame. But you never know.

Mine stayed pretty square over the years luckily, but I did finally attach the tub to the points on the roll bar that you mention. Only in the front on mine though, as the rear bars are modified from the original Smittybilt unit and no longer have the little brackets.
The front ones were too far inward too, so I added 1/4 flat stock as shims to make up the difference.

Paul

 

[smankin]

A hackish approach i had to this was I welded tabs on my 6 point rollbar and pulled the quarters back until the were right and shimmed it and left it. I also came into the inside of the bed rail with some angle iron along the full length of the bed so the bolts wouldn't pull through under pressure, also good for supporting bolts for top as well to get away from distorting the bed rail top.

 

[JAFO]

All good feedback. I'm gonna do something. It took me over 30 minutes to get my tailgate open on Friday. Ended up partially open which was baffling. I determined that it was not the latches that get pulled in by the handle. Instead it was the metal around those was just caught on the metal piece that is bolted to the tub. Took some careful fiddling and it finally popped free. Then readjustment and all is good.
I'm leaning towards welding a tab on my rollbar on each side and then after pulling the sides into alignment bolt each tab to the bed post

 

[jckkys]

The amount of force required to pull the sides back to square is so extreme, that I worry about some spot weld popping off. Rust isn't a factor here and the degree out of square seems to be equal on both sides. The top is spread as much as the quarter panels, so to keep the gap top and bottom straight, the correction has to include the top. I'm going to go over the whole thing with straight edges and a framing square tomorrow. I don't know if the panels are out of square at the door jambs, or if the floor is bowed in the middle. The weight of the body rides about 1 1/2 ft. outboard of the body mounts. The idea that the tub may have been made that way, is something I hadn't considered. Tho I think I would have noticed it over nearly 40 yrs. I bought this Bronco new in '77 and it had the swing away spare carrier that rattled so much, I removed it 20 yrs. ago.

 

[JAFO]

Regarding mine, I know it has moved in just one year. Because I started with below and then welded in a new rear cross member, squaring everything and aligning the tailgate. So I know it has moved at least an 1/8". Not a real big deal. What bugged me was the tailgate got stuck due to the movement. But I might have had the latches too exact and should have had a little play, which is what I have now.

 

[jckkys]

I pulled the rear quarters in till the gap on the sides of the lift gate are now the same top to bottom. The tail gate is now very close. I'm thinking the "spread" was there from the factory because the tail gate strikes rubbed on the outer edge of the tail gate. I even had to bent them out slightly to get the tail gate to close. If the quarter panels spread recently the tail gate strikes would clear the tail gate easily. In working on this, I found that the edge of the tail light buckets are far from straight, so some of the uneven gap is just how body parts were made 40-50 yrs. ago. Late computer controlled assembly is more precise. All the body sheet metal is made by Ford so I can't blame the Chinese.