Front fender alignment

Hello,
My '58 CJ5 restoration was just about done when I heard a squeak coming from the passenger side front fender. It looks like the bottom of the front fender is rubbing against the frame rail. This is strange because there is about a one inch space between the bottom of the drivers side fender and the frame rail. Thought about adding a spacer where needed under the passenger side body mounts to raise the fender off the frame but the passenger side is already higher than the drivers side thanks to the infamous Jeep lean.

This is a stock restoration of a straight Jeep that did not need much rust repair. I am using the stock replacement quarter inch body mounts.

Has any one run into this issue? Any advice is appreciated. Thanks!

 

A good place to start is to check to see if the body is centered over the frame.

 

mine did that too.
it was driving me nuts because i couldnt find exactly where it was rubbing.
it turns out it was the bottom edge was barely touching the frame.
i just bent it out a tiny bit with some big channel-locs.
no more squeak!

 

Thanks for the responses!

I hate to bend my freshly painted fender. I would love to know why there is such a difference in the bottom of fender to frame gap between the drivers side and the passenger side.:?

 

Can you loosen up the bolts and shift the fender at all? I remember mine had a little bit of play in it.

 

Have you had her in a ditch lately or maybe frame twist like on the left rear frame/body coming up and pushing the right front down?

 

You could try loosening all the body-to-frame bolts and pushing hard on the wide side of the body. Get a couple of your biggest friends to help, and see if the body will rotate a little on the frame. The fenders stick out like a vector from the front of the body, and a fraction of an inch front to back could make a big difference.

All this shoving and bending is pretty typical for getting stuff to line up. Don't be alarmed.

 

i had to bend it about 1/64"
it's not as drastic as it sounds.

 

Thanks for all the information. Had to loosen up the mounts to shift the body because the clutch arm was rubbing on the tub. Now the clutch isn't rubbing but the fender is. My plan is to get the body on the frame as straight and as square as possible and bend the bottom lip of the fender as unclebill suggested. I hope to be driving it this weekend!