Front axle off set to passenger side

[bucket]

The shocks are for ride quality lol, I dropped the front axle and when I unbolted the shocks neither side extended nor retracted after being unbolted… so they aren’t doing much at all lol. The truck drives down the road fairly straight but there’s still quite a bit of play in steering, like the wheel is straight when going down road but if doing a slight left I have the wheel probably every bit of 60° rotated to left.

Generally speaking, yes, shocks are for ride quality. But when the springs are overly stiff, the shocks don't change the ride quality, they are just along for the ride.

Only gas shocks will extend when they are removed. Hydraulic shocks just stay put, usually.

 

[78C10BigTen]

from that quote I would bet your frame is tweeked.

My thought from the begining.

 

[iamtherealJayy]

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Just washed and waxed the truck and I decided I’d attempt to “push” the front clip over… gave the drivers side fender one good shove right above the marker light and to my surprise it shifted over some, it’s still off center but that does give me some hope that my frame isn’t complete junk but that the front clip could be part of the problem..

 

[Redfish]

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Just washed and waxed the truck and I decided I’d attempt to “push” the front clip over… gave the drivers side fender one good shove right above the marker light and to my surprise it shifted over some, it’s still off center but that does give me some hope that my frame isn’t complete junk but that the front clip could be part of the problem..

It is definitely not "complete junk". The truck has been like this for a very long time and can continue to be driven like this for a very long time. I can assure you there were many trucks from all the different manufacturers in that era that had frames that were much worse than "tweaked". You just made it better by replacing all those components. I recommend you drive it and enjoy it and keep making improvements when you can afford to do so.

You are doing good. Don't get discouraged.

 

[iamtherealJayy]

Finally got ahold of collision place, they do have a frame machine, I’m trying to bring it to them as soon as possible and have them check the frame and check out some rust bubbles I’m starting to get on my bedsides I don’t want to paint the whole truck I hope it would be easy to color match lol

 

[Keith Seymore]

This is a good idea. I have a similar skewed issue on the right side of my 78 k10. No accidents but since every body part and the core support have been removed for various metal work.
I assume the rear bumper is also a good reference point?
How did the factory measure or square during assembly?

Just based on the hood fit. The radiator support and fenders were slid cross car until the hood to fender gaps were even.

There were various attempts to create and use a front end squaring fixtures but because it was extra work for the assemblers they usually very quickly fell into disuse.

K

 

[RoryH19]

Just based on the hood fit. The radiator support and fenders were slid cross car until the hood to fender gaps were even.

There were various attempts to create and use a front end squaring fixtures but because it was extra work for the assemblers they usually very quickly fell into disuse.

K

Does that mean the rad support and fenders were bolted together first?
Then once the hood was square they would bolt the fenders at the back on each side?

 

[Snoots]

Does that mean the rad support and fenders were bolted together first?
Then once the hood was square they would bolt the fenders at the back on each side?

There's a pic on here somewhere of them (GM) mounting the front clip. Rad support, grill, and fenders as a single unit. I'll try to find it.

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[RoryH19]

There's a pic on here somewhere of them (GM) mounting the front clip. Rad support, grill, and fenders as a single unit. I'll try to find it.

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Ah that makes sense and what I was thinking. I'm sure it was faster to assemble on the line too.

 

[iamtherealJayy]

My rad support might be junk as well, it’s been bent “straight” since the wreck but you can tell either the drivers side fender is low or the hood bows up on drivers side. I haven’t personally removed the fenders or hood but I know they’ve been removed, all I’ve removed is rad support

 

[SquareRoot]

do you have a cat?
and did you clean any of your brake components off if you put new ones on(rotors, drums) with brake clean

Ya can't beat Taylor for her "one off technical questions" lol. At least she didn't ask about the gerbil, but that might explain the shaking?

 

[Bextreme04]

My rad support might be junk as well, it’s been bent “straight” since the wreck but you can tell either the drivers side fender is low or the hood bows up on drivers side. I haven’t personally removed the fenders or hood but I know they’ve been removed, all I’ve removed is rad support

For your steering, take an allen wrench and a 5/8" wrench. Loosen the 5/8" nut on top of the steering box about 1/2 turn while holding the allen key in place. Then turn the allen key about 1/8-1/4 turn clockwise and then retighten the 5/8" nut while holding the allen key. Then go drive it and see how the steering feels.

Keep doing that until it has almost no slop in the steering wheel but still returns to center after a turn on its own. If it stops returning to center on it's own after a turn you know you went too tight and need to back the adjuster off.

 

[Keith Seymore]

There's a pic on here somewhere of them (GM) mounting the front clip. Rad support, grill, and fenders as a single unit. I'll try to find it.

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Buck build, as shown above, vs piece meal comes and goes depending on what is en vogue at the time. When I ran the Line 1 (pickup) Fender set area it was a piecemeal installation, so there were two guys on the LH side installing the LH fender only, and then independently there were two guys on the RH side installing the RH fender. The radiator support was already loose assembled on the chassis.

In fact, when I started at Flint, Line 1 (pickup) was piecemeal, and Line 2 (Blazer/Suburban) was buck build. Same product, same plant, two different processes.

In either case, the rad support was loose on the frame and could be slid side to side until after the hood was fit to the fenders. At that point the whole thing was tightened down.

K

 

[Keith Seymore]

Ah that makes sense and what I was thinking. I'm sure it was faster to assemble on the line too.

Faster? I'm not sure. The line rate on Flint Line 1 was 60 jobs per hour. Line rate on Flint line 2 was 36 jobs per hour. I think that's why they did the buck build on Line 2 only, because they couldn't keep up on Line 1.

Harder? yes. Definitely harder to do buck build, because there is more wrasslin' involved, but I do notice there are only two guys rather than four guys for piecemeal (ie, two on LH side, and two on RH side). Buck build saves you two guys.

 

[AuroraGirl]

Ya can't beat Taylor for her "one off technical questions" lol. At least she didn't ask about the gerbil, but that might explain the shaking?

iirc he was asking about smell (?) and he had new brake parts. if he didnt clean the surface of rotors, maybe that was burning off