Bed/body alignment issues

[87Skier]

Originally Posted by hemi43

You first need to find out if these measurements were out of spec right from the factory, or if you have rust issues causing these. Obviously if it's rust, no aligning in the worls will fix it until the cause of the problem is repaired. These old trucks had huge tolerances, so being out 1/4" isn't that uncommon.
As far as pulling the panels back in alignment, a hydraulic ram (push and pull) will be your best friend. Unfortunately to move something 1/4", you will need to pull it 1" and this may cause paint cracking.
I had to do this to my truck also, but I did it before paint. My windshield header was too far rearwards and I was able to push it back into place, but it took a huge amount of force.
Your striker area should be strong enough to pull on, but just make sure you use a plate that uses all the bolt holes, dont pull on just one bolt.

Thanks for the reply.

I did some inspection and rust is not the cause of the misalignment. There is some rust in the front seat area near the rocker panels, but everything that supports the front corners of the bed is in good shape. I might have an easier time bringing mine into alignment because the rocker boxes have been cut out.

I hadn't considered possible paint cracking issues. Where might cracks show up? If they do show up it will kind of suck, but it was last painted in 1988 and I have several common spots around the Jimmy to fix (door sills, rocker panels, front corners of bed...) that will require removing the paint anyway.

I'm planning on making a plate out of 1/4" steel or some thick steel box to pickup on all the bolts.