Why doesn't the body sit straight?

Now that I've got the front end mounted, it is very noticeable that the right side sits about 1/8" (or more) higher than the left. When I put the passenger side fender on, the bolts essentially had to draw it up to meet the body whereas the driver side fit square, and this is the result. The body is a Repli-Tub but the grill, fenders, and hood are all original.

I'm using original style body mounts (the flat rubber pieces) and the tub appears to sit the same height off the frame all the way around. But the driver's fender sits lower than the passenger's. I thought about double-padding the driver's side to left that side of the body up. But I don't understand why this happened or how to properly fix it.






Here you can see the driver's side fender sits almost down on the frame but the passenger side fender sits up higher off the frame.




Driver's side body mount


Passenger side body mount

 

a couple observations...I wouldnt worry about 1/8"...thats better than most and certainly better than when the jeep was new. There is a problem with your front bumper though...it looks high on one side to me...If it were mine i would shim the low side until it was satisfactory to the eye and call it good

 

Hopefully the frame isn't tweaked. Mine had a twist from the midsection back and I had to have it straightened twice because it bounced back a little after a few day. The body should straighten out as it is bolted down to the frame and you can fine adjust it with body pads. My tub also had a twist that matched the frame and it straigtened out as I bolted down the rear of the tub. I hate to say it but it does look like the frame to me.

 

It's actually more like a 1/2" after I measured from the top frame rails to the bottom of the grille. I didn't notice this before I took the old body off, which is why I was hoping it is not the frame. Although when I had the bare frame on saw horses, it did wobble a little from corner to corner but I don't believe it was a 1/2" worth of wobble.

I put a bottle jack under the low corner of the bumper and jacked it up until the right front wheel was off the ground. Then the grill sat flat and ran parallel to the bumper. This would be an indication of frame?

Assuming it is the frame, what does that mean? Do I have to remove the body again or can a frame shop work with it as-is?

 

did you measure from the grond to the fenders? then maybe from the ground to the bumper on both sides? maybe just the frame up front.

 

If you take it to a frame shop they will need the body on. They will twist the frame till it looks right.

 

I played around with it a little. I put the engine hoist on the right front frame where the bumper mounts and jacked it up until both front wheels were off the ground. Then I tightened down the grill mount. It now sits straight in the front but I don't know if it will go back into its desired position after driving it.

 

And no guarantee the frame will stay put afterwards..the frames on these jeeps are flexy and its going to be hard to find one that is perfect or even really nice...mine is decent but I have learned to embrace its bumps and bruises

If it bugs you take it to a frame shop and see what they say...I understand you have put time and a lot of money into this project and can understand you wanting it as nice as possible

 

X2 on very nice looking jeep. After my frame-off, I had that famous JEEP LEAN which is the lower drivers side. I put a half inch spacer between the bottom of the right spring and spring plate. I had tried everything else but to no avail.

 

Thanks. When I first looked at it, I thought it was the JEEP lean problem but this isn't in the springs, it is definitely the spacing between the body and the frame. It was never that noticeable to me until I pulled it out of the garage to wash the dust off of it.

 

I agree with napaguy - the bumper is exaggerating the visual misalignment. Fix that and things won't look as bad.

 

Well my jeep lean wasn't due to weak springs either because I swapped them to see. I thought it was because I had over torqued some of the body anchors but the measurement from the tub down to the frame was the same front to back and side to side.

 

I know this is late in the game, but originally you said the fenders bolted up correctly on drivers side, but had to draw up the fender on the pass side. Were the bolts holes in the tub pre-drilled? If so did you check the holes in relation to some common reference point on the tub. ie. the windshield support? The grill looks not only out of level but pulled over to the passenger side. Is the center bolt in the bottom of the grill at the extreme end of the mounting slot? If the holes for the fenders where off on one side, then the fenders where mounted to them the grill would by default be pulled off. I personnally would take the fenders grill back off and do that part again, try to see when it gets out of whack.

But that is just what I would do based on the info presented.

It is beauty anyway. You are doing a great job.

 

Yeah the grill is moved off to the passenger side a bit. This is a common problem with the Repli-Tubs and I have communicated with several others who had the same problem. The Repli-Tub bodies aren't made straight and there is really no way to fix it. When I was fitting the tub, I tried making it straight in the front and the problem just transferred to the back only way exaggerated and none of the body mount holes lined up. So I have to live with the grille being off center and just hope nobody notices.

Believe me, I've had the fenders and grille off so many times to make adjustments that it has become an exercise in insanity.

If I can get the darn thing to sit level, I can live with the off center.

 

Did you measure the frame with a plumb bob when you had the tub off?

 

No I didn't. When it was bare frame (no springs or anything) and sitting saw horses, I knew it wobbled a little so it did have a slight twist to it. I was hoping once I got everything buttoned back up it would shore up (in retrospect, of course, I should have addressed that at the time.) I'm going to keep tweaking it with the engine hoist on the corner of the bumper in hopes that I can bring it into submission. It is definitely making a difference, I just don't know if it will stay.

My garage floor slopes drastically toward the center drain so it is very difficult to tell anything in the garage, I have to move it to the driveway to really know for sure.

 

If it's the frame, I would have it fixed. You did such a nice job I figure you take a lot of pride in your work so why not just finish it up right. The only advantage to bringing them the frame only is cost because I think it's easier to fix when it's just the frame.

The tweak in my frame was obvious as it rocked on flat concrete. The plumb check is to transfer frame points down to a flat surface and check for parallel. A tweak or twist is best detected by running a level up length of the frame. The body shop will know what to do.