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Align Your Bump Side | How to Line Up Body Parts in the Right Order

Though aligning the body on your bump side may seem like the most basic thing on a build, doing so is often forgotten but relatively easy to address, even after you are “done” with your build. Body alignment can make an average build look nicer, or a nicer build look average. The biggest mistake you can make is aligning the body parts in the wrong order, making it a more challenging task. 

So, where should you start? The doors. You start with the doors because their correct position is solely based on the cab, which is not adjustable. The cab is the solid foundation that the doors, fenders, and hood must fit. The fender location is determined by aligning the “bump” line to the door, so if the door is off, the fender will also be.

Misaligned panels can adversely affect many parts of the truck, including faulty door and hood latches and proper sealing of weatherstripping and trim alignment. When aligning body panels, you must let the lines tell you what adjustments are needed. Your eye is the best tool for this because if the panels are not looking right, they probably need more adjustment. So now, on to the fun part.

The most crucial body lines to line up on a bump side door are the cowl-to-door line and the “bump” lines at the back of the cab or B-pillar for a crew cab. Once those lines are aligned on the truck, the fender and the hood can be aligned appropriately.

For starters, adjusting the door requires removing the inner door panel to access the bolts that hold the door to the hinges. Also, the door latch striker bolt must be removed. This will allow the door to be opened and closed without the latch mechanism interfering.
. If you are doing it by yourself, grab a floor Jack and a block of wood to assist with moving the door.
The first step in adjusting the door is to loosen two bolts on each hinge, leaving one bolt fully tight. I typically leave the center bolt tight and loosen the outer two.

The first line to line up is the cowl-to-door line. To line this up, if the door is too low, with the bolts still tight, use the floor Jack to apply pressure to the bottom of the door under the hinge location. Slightly loosen the two tight hinge bolts and apply more Jack pressure if needed. You should see the bolt’s move location on the door structure. At that point, snug one bolt on top and bottom firmly so the door does not move.
Repeat this as necessary until you get the door to line up with the cowl-to-door body line. Also, set the door gap to about 3/16ths of an inch as a base location during this step. This position ensures that the front of the door is at the correct height in the door opening and very close to its proper alignment location.

The next body line to line up is the “bump” line at the back of the door. Use the lower door hinge to adjust the door accordingly if the door is too high or too low. If the door is too low, you want to loosen just the lower hinge bolt on the door side and apply up pressure to the outer end of the door underneath the door handle. By loosening the bolt, the door will pull away from the door hinge at the cowl. If the door is too high, you will let the door sag a little bit once you loosen the lower hinge bolt to allow it to slide towards the hinge at the cowl.

Once you have the body line at the bump at the back of the door lined up and the line at the cowl-to-door, the door should be very close to its proper location. Now analyze the door. You want to see if the top at the roof and the bottom at the rocker are too far in or out. In this case, the top of the door is very far out from where it should be, and the bottom is also in from where it should be. The location of the door at the door handle is flush in this situation, so that tells me that the position of the upper door hinge on the cab is close to where it should be.

Once you have the body line at the bump at the back of the door lined up and the line at the cowl-to-door, the door should be very close to its proper location. Now analyze the door. You want to see if the top at the roof and the bottom at the rocker are too far in or out. In this case, the top of the door is very far out from where it should be, and the bottom is also in from where it should be. The location of the door at the door handle is flush in this situation, so that tells me that the position of the upper door hinge on the cab is close to where it should be.

Once the top and bottom of the door are flush with the cab and the body lines are straight, the next step is to ensure that the door gaps are reasonably even around the door. The hinges can be loosened slightly, and the door can be slid forward or backward to correct the gaps. Once the door aligns with all the locations correctly, the final step is to put the striker bolt back in place on the cab. Align it, so it latches appropriately when the door closes without changing its position. If your door hinges Are lubricated, and the door latch is also clean and lubricated, the door should open and close smoothly and latch easily on the two-step safety catch/latch. At this point, you can reassemble the door panel, and the door alignment is complete.

 

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