Fender to grill fitment

[Dave72dt]

Doing a '52 1/2 ton and working on panel alignment. How well did the front fenders match up to the grill panel? I had one side that fit acceptably well with little work (driver) but the other (pass ) required re-arcing the fender out by the headlight and re-arcing the grill panel in at the headlight. It originaly had about a 1/4 inch of mismatch.

[grey beard]

The area of which you speak does take a little "English" to get things to huss just right. I found that it worked best for me to cinch the top innermost bolt closest to the radiator first, and then do the rest in sequence, moving down and out, trying my best to get each part to mate properly. To do this I remember using lots of force and the handle of my 3-lb dead-blow hammer, which is pretty soft, to get the two panels in alignment, along with several pair of welding vise grips. In one or two places I also used my dye grinder and a rotary burr to elongate the fender holes.

My own truck had major rust-through near the bottom on both sides, to the point where someone had coat-hanger welded the two panels - fender and grille - togeher for a few inches near the bottom. I had to use a whiz wheel to cut the two panels apart, and then before I started doing body work I had to make up and mig in new flanges on the two panels in this area. I then drilled new holes and used stainless steel 3/8-inch sheet metal screws with bolt heads for the bottom three frasteners, using welding vise grips to get things positioned. Lots of labor involved in getting a good fit here. AND I had painted all my panels before I put them together, which took a little extra frinnesse.

There may be a better way to handle this area, but this is what worked for me. I felt that if there was going to be any misalignment, I wanted it as far below eye level as possible. Actually turned out pretty good, IMHO:)

[Dave72dt]

I was more curious about how common the mismatch was and the average amount of mismatch. I had to split the flange in about 5 places on the fender to bring the height up in the corner and re radius it but the grill still had a high spot. Just too much metal. I split that section almost to the headlight with a 1/16 inch cutting disc, ground it wider a little more than that on the fender end. Pushing the metal down closed the gap and was migged back together.

[carl b51]

Well Dave I thought my truck was the only one with those kind of problems on the fenders , But I thought it was because it had been in a wreck. Sorry to here you had the same problem. Good to see you found a solution. keep at it. Carl

[Merle Coggins]

Mine isn't anywhere near perfect either. I got them as close as I could without doing a lot of extra work and decided that since it's not going to be a "top notch show truck" I'd just live with it as is.

Merle

[grey beard]

My own B1B had been hit very hard on the grille panel - lotsa body work and red putty in there I had to grind out before I could even begin to straighten and repair. I'm guessing these panels didn't fit as well as most of us might like from new. And, as I mentioned earlier, there was much rust in the flange area and some welding and cutting required, but I'm pleased with the results.

On the same subject, I used 3M black caulking cord in the seam - just push it on one side or the other, and clean off the excess after all the bolts are tight and you have your best fit. Worked well for me . . .

[Dave72dt]

This only took 2 to 3 hrs to fix, most of which was taking the fender on and off at least a half dozen times. Another 8 to 10 hours for each fender repairing rust and stripping paint. Probably another 10 hours or more doing patch panels and flange repair on the grill panel and after that another 30 for mods to the grill panel. It's not a show truck by any means but I get fussier with each vehicle I build.