Front Fender Alignment

[GEF56]

I purchased my 56 in parts. I have the cab mounted to frame and I am fitting the front fenders. I have assembled according to the original assembly manual.
The inner fender connects to the radiator support in the front and at the rear it attaches to the cab bracket.
When I attach the outer fender to the cab and the inner fender the front is too high and I can not get the outer fender in tight enough to the cab.
Any suggestions?

[dsraven]

check the old car manuals project for the correct cab to frame clearance at the rear of the cab. it is really hard to read on the document I have. 1.xx" from the top of the floor to the top of the frame. anyhow, if you check to ensure your rear body mounts are good and the cab isn't rusted out in the rear mount area, next check to ensure the leaky cowl vents haven't rusted away your front cab mount structures under the floor. if they are soft then you will have no end of trouble trying to get things to fit. then check the rad support mounts to ensure they are not hard and squashed out. the cab sits on the hard rubber rear mounts, like conveyor belting hard, then the front of the cab sits directly on the frame mount, like metal on metal. then the rad support sits on those same hard style mounts as the rear of the cab. the front "clip" of body structure is tied together with the inner fenders being bolted to the rad support and the fender tops and bolted to the firewall down low with some more hard rubber mounts. to get things to line up you shim the front cab mounts and/or the rad support mounts.
snap a few pics of all the mount areas so we can see what you are working with.

[_Ogre]

you can shim the front of the cab up to adjust the fender/door gap

[OrrieG]

Time for a history lesson. After GM had the fender dies made and assembly started they found that there was a design error. The fender brace was hitting the cab and the fender / cab gap was wide. Rather than retool, etc. they just gave the fender installers on the line a big pall peen hammer and they dimpled the cab in the location shown on the photo. Lots of guys "correct" this "defect" not thinking thru why there would be dents in concealed places. When they go to install the fenders, they end up redenting them to fit. If yours has the relief then its another issue.

On my truck on the passenger side I had to have a helper lift and push the fender top at the cap to get the right alignment.