Noticed Something Today That Worries Me

Steveman · January 8, 2008

I was walking to my truck a couple of days ago and I noticed the gap between my left headlight and the hood is larger then the gap on the right side! Now this is my first truck and first vehicle, so I'm just a little worried. Could I have done something to cause it to shift? Or is their some logical reason for this to have happened. I'm going to try to post a couple of pictures I took. I hope you guys can see them.

Right Side (My finger is their to show the height of the gap)

Left Side

I wish I had some calipers but unfortunately I dont.

Zembonez · January 8, 2008

Nothing "shifted".

My 07 GMC is a little tighter on the driver's side than the passenger side. All trucks have small alignment issues with body panels if you really start looking. Go walk around a new truck dealership and REALLY look at the trucks... you'll see what I mean. Every component has a little "give" in the mounting, so there is a range of movement in these parts with respect to each other. You can drive yourself nuts over it or realize that they are all that way to some extent... it's your call.

Once you start "adjusting" parts, you are doomed.

Bostonsfavson · January 8, 2008

Are both sides of the hood about even with the fenders? If so, then chances are that everything is fine and that gap falls within the acceptable tolerances of GM's quality control criteria.

Jim's right about adjusting things. I had a Firebird and the hood was a little uneven on one side, so I adjusted it. Well then the one fender was off, so I adjusted that as well. Of course then the door didn't line up right... By the time I was done I had a pretty good mess on my hands

Steveman · January 8, 2008

Nothing "shifted".

My 07 GMC is a little tighter on the driver's side than the passenger side. All trucks have small alignment issues with body panels if you really start looking. Go walk around a new truck dealership and REALLY look at the trucks... you'll see what I mean. Every component has a little "give" in the mounting, so there is a range of movement in these parts with respect to each other. You can drive yourself nuts over it or realize that they are all that way to some extent... it's your call.

Once you start "adjusting" parts, you are doomed.

Ok well thanks a lot. I guess it just seemed a bit odd considering my dad has a 2001 Sierra and I never noticed anything like this before. But it does make sense that the parts can just have alignment issues. It just seemed to be a pretty big difference in the heights but I guess it could be worse

fbachman · January 8, 2008

You got my curiosity up. I went out and looked at mine...

I have what appears to be the same sized gap that you have (from what I could glean from your pics, btw).

My driver's side seems a LITTLE tighter than the passenger side.....

Probably nature of the beast. I wouldn't lose sleep over it. More than likely normal...

Zembonez · January 8, 2008

Nothing "shifted".

My 07 GMC is a little tighter on the driver's side than the passenger side. All trucks have small alignment issues with body panels if you really start looking. Go walk around a new truck dealership and REALLY look at the trucks... you'll see what I mean. Every component has a little "give" in the mounting, so there is a range of movement in these parts with respect to each other. You can drive yourself nuts over it or realize that they are all that way to some extent... it's your call.

Once you start "adjusting" parts, you are doomed.

Ok well thanks a lot. I guess it just seemed a bit odd considering my dad has a 2001 Sierra and I never noticed anything like this before. But it does make sense that the parts can just have alignment issues. It just seemed to be a pretty big difference in the heights but I guess it could be worse

You could start loosening bolts and moving stuff... but you can end up with a much worse situation on your hands like Boston said. All of the parts around the light are related so once one moves, the next one is out of alignment.

There is one possibility. Under the hood on each side of the radiator support there is a black rubber stop with a hex head on it. These are the hood stops. Turn one counter clockwise to adjust it up a little and the other one down the exact amount and you adjust the front of the hood. This might well be enough to solve most of the light gaps. It's easily done.

Steveman · January 8, 2008

Ok thanks for the advice. Zembonez I think I know what your talking about and I'll see if that does anything. Yeah I wont lose sleep over it or anything now, I was just worried because I have been off roading in it lately and also a couple of weeks after I got it my brother lightly scraped the front bumper on that side, so I'm just glad that it probably couldn't be either of those.

pm26 · January 8, 2008

I know I have a few gaps that are not even on both sides of the truck, but it is a truck and I have seen this on other trucks as well, so no big deal. As long as I do not have creaks, vibration and other serious problems, I can can live with a few imperfections. After all, once you get a good sized ding in the door, who will notice the uneven gaps before the ding?

Zembonez · January 8, 2008

You wanna know what I think is sad?

I absolutely love my GM trucks and will probably always have one but you can walk around my wife's 06 Accord SE with a caliper and see precision like no other... AND it's built in the USA. The door gaps and trim are darn near perfect. Everything fits with precision and it gets over 30MPG.

I am not talking bad about Gm here. I love my GMC. My new GMT900 truck is by far better in the fit and finish department than any truck I ever owned prior to it.

We can do it. I know we can. But we have a way to go to catch Japan.

fbachman · January 8, 2008

We can do it. I know we can. But we have a way to go to catch Japan.

We're making progress, but here's the catch.

Honda proves, and so does Toyota, BMW and others, that the American workforce is able to put a WELL ENGINEERED product together that is better than ANYBODY'S.

The WELL ENGINEERED piece here is the key. We have the best engineers on the planet. Unfortuneately, we also have uselss MBAs running around that engineer to short-sighted cost, not functionality and longevity

What it comes down to is letting ENGINEERS do ENGINEERING and putting a size 13 on the rump of every over-priced pansey-a$$ MBA in the whole company. Just take a look at all of the non-value added salaries at the Big 3...

When I worked as an enginneer for one of the Big-3, the title of "Engineer" was a joke. They presented a problem. The engineers proposed a (good, correct) fix, then the MBAs and accountants changed it all to save $0.05 (without going back and asking one question), and, well, you know the rest.

Need proof? Look at Ford today.

I think GM has made the turn. I can't see that Ford ever will.

Just my $0.05 !

Zembonez · January 8, 2008

We can do it. I know we can. But we have a way to go to catch Japan.

We're making progress, but here's the catch.

Honda proves, and so does Toyota, BMW and others, that the American workforce is able to put a WELL ENGINEERED product together that is better than ANYBODY'S.

The WELL ENGINEERED piece here is the key. We have the best engineers on the planet. Unfortuneately, we also have uselss MBAs running around that engineer to short-sighted cost, not functionality and longevity

What it comes down to is letting ENGINEERS do ENGINEERING and putting a size 13 on the rump of every over-priced pansey-a$$ MBA in the whole company. Just take a look at all of the non-value added salaries at the Big 3...

When I worked as an enginneer for one of the Big-3, the title of "Engineer" was a joke. They presented a problem. The engineers proposed a (good, correct) fix, then the MBAs and accountants changed it all to save $0.05 (without going back and asking one question), and, well, you know the rest.

Need proof? Look at Ford today.

I think GM has made the turn. I can't see that Ford ever will.

Just my $0.05 !

Very well put and I agree with most of it. Nobody outdoes the American worker if he is placed in a supportive work environment. Labor unions have diluted our workforce by telling them that they do not want to excel because they might outshine their coworkers... this is wrong. We need to reward excellence in our workforce and increase our productivity in the process.

I still believe in the USA-1 motto. We are simply the best when properly motivated.

thecraft · January 8, 2008

But we have a way to go to catch Japan.

Impostor! Is that really you speaking, Jim?

redvett · January 8, 2008

All vehicles regardless of make or model have those issues some are more noticeable than others.

badmeds · January 8, 2008

We can do it. I know we can. But we have a way to go to catch Japan.

Unfortuneately, we also have uselss MBAs running around that engineer to short-sighted cost, not functionality and longevity

What it comes down to is letting ENGINEERS do ENGINEERING and putting a size 13 on the rump of every over-priced pansey-a$$ MBA in the whole company.

Useless MBAs...That hurts, what about us MBAs who also have an engineering background? Glad I don't work in the automotive industry...(walks off muttering to self about finding a new job.....)

Draenor · January 8, 2008

There are adjustment stops for the hood. Pop the hood and look on top of each light. There are a rubber stop threaded to the front support. Just tighten it down a few turns till the gap is where you want it.