I wish I had take a picture of this before I started and didn't. But here is the scoop.

I had some lead flaking off the back of the cab at the upper corner of the door. Someone had taken a hammer and caved an area in right at the cab seam across the top and door pillar.

At first I thought the truck had something hit it and this was a body shop repair. I sanded the paint off bit by bit to find that the original paint was OVER the lead, meaning this was done at the factory. Kinda left me wondering why.

Instead of beating out the dent, I figured I'd just weld in a patch off of the other cab. That's when I figured out the problem!

The door frame is slightly twisted, pulling the flare towards the door. The new corner shows how the gap disappears. Ford simply bashed the area in behind the door to roll it back out and then leaded it up.

 

So what's your fix?
Repeat history or take it out of the door?

 

I don't want to mess with the door since it is correct.

I am either going to cut a sliver out behind the molding and pull it back and re-weld it. OR I may try to heat it and shrink it just behind the molding to get it to draw back.

 

Wow, I knew that they aren't all exactly the same, but that is quite a fix. Could you see it on the inside? BTW, your work looks great!

 

You could tell it was pushed in. But it wasnt real noticeable.

 

Using lead must have been a popular medium for such things. My gas tank has 3 spots where they applied lead to fill holes. Don't know about the body yet. Haven't had a chance to do much since winter set upon us.

 

If this will help, my answer for your question. My cousin worked for years
in the body shop for a Buick agency, and you woudnt beleive, brand new
damaged cars. The worse one was a station wagon that he had to put
a complete roof on it. Somehow on the transport- the car on top came
down and stoved the roof. The transport made good for it, so your damage
dont surprize me A-tall.

 

These wern't show Trucks they were work Trucks - They were more function over fit - The frame design doesn't allow fit to stay that way for long

 

After some more measurement today I figured out that the error was in the frame above the door. There is a rail that is spot welded in between the front windshield pillar and rear pillar. It was 3/16" shorter than the drivers side.

In order to fix it, I cut the frame above the door into and added 1/4" strip in back in and welded it up.

I'll get some pics up later.

Another low note............. I finished tacking everything in place, upper door halves everthing. Had all my gaps set around 3/16" or dang close, popped out the braces I had in place and the gaps went all to crap again.

Makes you wanna run through a fire pissin gas!

 

Here is the fix:


Before:


After: