So I pulled all of my cab mount and rad mount bolts and tried to align my cab. It wasn't moving, so I loosened the three bolts which hold each of the inner fenders on the 'horns' bolted to the firewall. Then I loosened the column bolts at the firewall and the dash support. Lastly I loosened the two bolts which secure the fenders to the cab in the door jambs and at the rockers.

I tried jacking the cab and got all four mounting points to lift off of the frame brackets. But the cab wasn't really wanting to move much. There's not much of anywhere under there to pry, so I cobbled up this contraption:

I used the open end of my 7/16ths" wrench to turn the jack input!
This got it to move, but as soon as I'd loosen it, the cab would move back. I also pried gently with a 2X4 between the bed and the back of the cab. So I cranked on it until the cab was a little past where I wanted it, and then tightened down all four mounts. When I checked, the cab is still maybe 1/16th" to 1/8th" too far toward the passenger side, but it is not as obvious as it was before I adjusted it. It does look better.

I also adjusted my driver side fender, which I'd had off of the truck before the cab swap, so the whole truck looks better than it did.

I also lubed all four door hinges and latch assemblies, and adjusted the passenger side striker, and now both doors close much easier. The driver side is better, and the passenger side is way better. Before you really had to slam the passenger door, to power through the sticky hinges and the misaligned striker. Now the doors will shut and fully latch with a normal push. Don't know why I didn't do that sooner. I lubed the hood hinges too, so that's working mint as well.


Lastly, here's one for the electrical books: I'd unbolted the voltage regulator when messing with the rad support mounts, and then I tightened it back to the rad support with its one bolt. I need to dig up a second bolt, I'm sure I have one... But I know I had it tight. I was driving the truck tonight, and I could see the headlights flickering - not off and on, but dim to bright. The gauge lights were doing it too. I turned on the dome light and could really see the flickering.
Knowing I'd messed with the voltage regulator, I opened the hood and tried pivoting the regulator on its one bolt. It was still tight, and I only moved it a very small bit - I could feel it scraping on the rad support.
After I did that, the lights didn't flicker anymore, and the gauge lights seemed a little brighter.

So I need to go through my bolt stash and find a matching bolt. I also want to sand the bolt 'tabs' on the regulator, and sand the rad support around the bolt holes - maybe even put a little NoOx compound on those mating surfaces as well. Not sure if my rig still has the breaker point controlled regulator or if it's been replaced with a solid state job.

 

Thanks for the cab adjustment walk thru and all the other input.

 

What were you measuring the cab to to see that it was off?
Was it the bed of the truck? Then why not move the bed?
Off the rocker to the frame rail? How do you know the rockers where the same side to side?
Why worry about the 1/16" to 1/8" side to side when you have a rusty floor like that?
Beside how far off do you think it was when it left the factory?

Remember this was built on a line to get as many built as they could in a short time.
Not one of them car shows on TV where the car or truck is going to a show where everything is measured and has to be dead on!
I know you are not building a show truck so it must be a driver, don't worry about it being off and if so move the bed.

BTW everything is set off the cab and the rest adjusted to it.
Good luck
Dave ----

 

Holding a straight edge to the sides of the bed and then seeing how far/close they were from the corresponding areas of the cab.
The truck looked to be well aligned when I got it, so I figured the bed was in the right spot. You can remove my rusty bed bolts, and then I could move the bed.
I wasn't measuring there, it was the only solid way (within my means) to move the cab. I knew how far I wanted to move it over from comparing the cab corners to the bed. And the bed has had body work...
That's undercoating flaking off, not metal. My floors are pretty solid.


Less than I had it when I put the cab on. The factory wouldn't've sent it out like that. It was probably a quarter inch over toward the passenger side, and it was twisted a little, so the cab was facing 12:01 while everything else was facing 12:00. The space between the cab corners and the bed were the most obvious sign that it was off.

If you would've seen it, you would've noticed that crooked cab right away.

Like I said, the body components looked to be well aligned when I got it. After I R&R'ed the driver side fender, and then swapped the cab, it didn't look much aligned at all. It looks much better now.

 

Here's another variable to consider. The bed is bolted directly to the frame and there are no rubber cushions as there are with the cab and radiator core support. Those rubber cushions deteriorate and get deformed and sometimes that is in an irregular pattern. Thus, the bed is usually the better reference point. For our trucks, I would use the dent as the key metric. Getting that to line up straight across fenders, doors, cab and bed would be my leading criterion.