Factory Body Shimming

[A1971Blazer]

Originally Posted by Keith Seymore

I had "as required" in quotes, because it was a bit of a misnomer.

What we used to do for fender shims is tape a packet together, like 3 shims, and we would run those all day whether the truck we were currently building needed it or not.

Eventually the final repair supervisor would call back and say something encouraging, like "SEYMORE!! YOU IDIOT!! WTH ARE YOU THINKING?!?! ALL THESE FENDERS ARE RUNNING HIGH!! ARE YOU EVEN LOOKING AT THESE TRUCKS?!? TAKE A SHIM OUT BEFORE I COME BACK THERE AND SHOW YOU HOW TO DO THIS!!" I can just imagine the spittle flying into the phone mouthpiece.

So we would start running a new shim pack, like 2 shims, until he called again with his latest observation.

Basically it was to address "macro trends". You had about 45 seconds to complete the truck in front of you and move to the next one; that's not enough time to fit and re-fit each individual truck.

K

I always wondered how the assembly line managed to get them as close as they did..... knowing that there was so little time to do so....that method makes sense...but where did the final fit take place...final repair?

I know that fit and finish on trucks, back then, wasn't as much of a priority as it is now days...'cause after all, it was "truck"....not a mall crawler...

Good info K...!