Door/fender alignment

Since I got my truck it has been like this. Looking at the hinges there doesn't seem to be an adjustment that would bring the door out to match the fender. The truck has never been wrecked that I can tell or was told about. Maybe the fender was removed and never put back on right. The second pic is hard to tell but there is a gap between the plastic and the body. Door seems to be seating properly and no air leaks can be heard. Everything seems to point to the fender but I haven't had the time or weather to crawl under and check the fender mounts. The third pic shows the whole line from straight on, hard to tell since the flash got in the way but the pinstripe line is about a half inch higher on the fender than the rest of the way back. Any way I can fix this if it turns out to not be the fender?

 

[MONMIX]

Well actually there is a significant amout of adjustment in the door. That said I think the issue is in the fender.

Two 8mm bolts on the bottom under that clading and one up near the top through the door opening.

Break them loose set the top first then the bottom. It will take a cupla' tries since it will involve opening and closing the door several times to set and check.

Good luck.

 

[ErickSaint]

Thanks for the info. Looked like fender to me too. Since we actually go a bit of snow last night I'll have to wait a while to play with this, no garage to work in, but at lease I know what to look for now.

 

[Anime]

Wow, looks like something might have nailed the fender behind the wheel to make it move out like that. Hopefully not, though. There are washers that are held between the fender and the body with those 8mm bolts on the bottom- usually one thick washer and one thin one for each bolt makes the right spacing to get the fender/door lines right. If theres some huge thick washer or something in there, that's what's causing the gap. If the passenger side is ok, use it for reference on what the bolt/washer setup should look like.

 

[ErickSaint]

Yeah, passenger side is fine. Got another 4" or so of snow yesterday, so this may have to wait until spring. But it's no big deal right now, nothing is rubbing or catching anywhere, just looks bad. Hope I don't find any concealed damage under the fender where it mounts. Maybe it was an aftermarket fender slapped on after some kinda damage was done up there. But from the looks of the pin stripe it's all original, not like the fender stripe is any newer than the rest of the body.

 

[ErickSaint]

I'll drag this way back from the dead. I found the problem here after my roommate bought a 96 and his had the same exact problem. Seems like the previous owner (or somebody) thought that would be a good place to jack up the truck. Looked underneath and the whole pinch weld is folded over on top of itself.

I used my buds truck as a guinea pig, using a hardwood 2x4 and a 3lb sledge I was able to knock the weld back close to where it should be. It's not perfect, but all the panels are back in alignment on his. Took about 5 mins of pounding. I'll do it to mine next time I get to my folks house and grab that hardwood 2x4, not sure regular pine would hold up the the reefing i was doing on it.