Unlevel truck bed

[DHarvey]

Does anyone know why the back end of the truck bed would be unlevel. On mine, when I view the truck from the back, I can see where the left back corner of the bed is ~1/2" higher than it is on the right side. The front of the bed is ok, but it has this twisted look to it that is driving me crazy

The truck is a 2001 3500 4x6 QC with 6300 miles on it..... and no damage... so this is not the cause. I think there is something in the 'lift' hardware from the axle up through the springs that might be causing this. I checked under the bed and it is bolted down to the frame evenly all the way around.



Any suggestions on how to fix this? Haven't tried the dealership yet, as I know they will only tell me it's within spec... ... and I'd have to de-bomb the baby too.



Thanks

 

[tree truckr]

Sounds to me like someone has jacked it up with a high lift jack before.

 

[Extreme1]

It could be a lot of things. Is the bumper crooked too? That would be the frame being tweeked. If not, then just the box is tweeked (I don't know how that could happen!).



Take some measurements, 1/2" would be hard to see unless you are looking for it. What we used to see on used trucks that would cause sag is broken leafs. Doubtfull that that is your problem unless you run heavily loaded on rough roads. It's most likely a binding shackle or a puked shock.



Edit: A puked shock would be very noticable (no movement).

 

[Big White Beast]

Check front end too.........

Neighbors S-10 was high on one side in the back. Not much but enough to notice. Turned out it was the front end being lower on one side. Don't know if he ever fixed it. We measured from the front tire to the fender to figure it out.



My 2¢ worth,



Garrett

 

[DHarvey]

Thanks all. I don't think a jack has been used on it and the bumper seems to be level with the bed. I will check the front, though... . could be something to that idea. The shocks are fine and the truck, so far, hasn't towed or hauled anything.

Will be getting into this more today and let all know if I should find out something.



Oooh! Just thought... could be excessive torque from the EZ?, hehe

 

[Steve Campbell]

Could it be a low tire?

 

[LSMITH]

There are a lot of the newer trucks that have a "tilt" in the bed. Mine has it too, and a full tank of fuel makes it worse. I think the trucks that have it are built out of square. Mine tracks perfectly and the frame is not twisted so I can't be sure what is causing it.

 

[DRR-24V]

Fender Washer Fixes It.!

Rharvey,

Every Chevy truck I have owned has come like that. I use the big fender washers as spacers under the bed bolts on the low side and you can get it perfect. Check tire pressure first and have front wheels fore and aft. (not turned)

 

[VicR]

On mine, measuring from various points on the frame, the right left side is 3/4 to 1 in higher. Just from eyeballing them on the dealers lot, 1/2 of thiers were not level either.



I plan to take mine in and at least document it, but haven't gotten around to it. Although I have always wondered if this might be a source of the steering problems so common to the trucks.



-Vic

 

[DHarvey]

Then it seems to be a common problem..... I did some further inspections and about the only thing that seemed unusal was the shock on the side that is lower. Tire pressures are good,front wheels straight forward, etc. It seems that the shock is mis-aligned with itself, ie. the smaller part that goes into the larger top part of the shock isn't aligned with with it. It could be that there is a bad shock here. I will call the dealer this week and see if they have a cure for this problem.

In the meantime, here's a picture of my truck's A** so you can see how bad it looks.



Dave

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

The mounting brackets for the bed are welded directly to the frame, and the bed is bolted directly to the brackets. So any misalignment is probably due to the brackets being poorly aligned when welded to the frame.



The cab is mounted on 6 large rubber donuts (3 per side). If the bed is square with itself but off with the cab, well that can be a fun one. Either the bed is tilted or the cab brackets are lower on one side than the other. DHarvey that kinda looks like your situation, it looks like since your bed is square with the bumper, then the brackets or the donuts under your cab are not the same height on both sides. In this case I would carefully measure the bracket positioning on the frame from side-to-side and then determine where it is too low, then add spacers there.



On my truck the bed is nice and square with itself and to the cab, however the back of the cab is about 1/3" too low in relation to the body lines on the bed. In my case I will have to add spacers to the rubber donuts on the cab of my truck to line it up. It's one of those projects that I'll get to eventually.





When I was shopping for trucks I went out on the lot last year and inspected the trucks for bed alignment. What I saw was pretty sad. At least 1/4 were off noticeably, the worst thing being the cab and bed were out of line from side-to-side (off center with each other).



I wish the D/C service manuals addressed body alignment, but it doesn't say a word about it other than door alignment.



Vaughn

 

[jsimpson]

The bed frame and frame mounts are pitifully thin material. I wouldn't be surprised to find some bent bed frame box tubing. If you did what the ad agency does to the Chevy in the TV ad, it would crumble that bed like a paper cup! Obviously, they did NOT use a production truck and bed to make the ad for Chevy!!!

 

[DRR-24V]

DHARVEY Try This !

Get 5 or 6 2" body washers, hacksaw out a 3/8" inch piece of the sides. They will now look like a C. Use a wood block under the low part of the bed and after loosening all the mounting bolts jack up the low side, slip a couple of washers between the bed and frame. (they will slide around the bolt) Check it out. If you need more or less you can remove or replace the split washers easily. When level, tighten everything up. From your photo you will only need a couple at the right rear bolt. Its a snap.

 

[BV]

FWIW my 92 was the same way and I found that the box had u shaped shims under it at the mounting points and by moving 1 shim from side to side it leveled the box with the cab. Not sure if the 2nd gens have the same deal or not.

 

[Pit Bull]

Originally posted by DHarvey

Then it seems to be a common problem..... I did some further inspections and about the only thing that seemed unusal was the shock on the side that is lower. Tire pressures are good,front wheels straight forward, etc. It seems that the shock is mis-aligned with itself, ie. the smaller part that goes into the larger top part of the shock isn't aligned with with it. It could be that there is a bad shock here. I will call the dealer this week and see if they have a cure for this problem.

In the meantime, here's a picture of my truck's A** so you can see how bad it looks.



Dave

Dave

If I did not know what I was looking for I never would have noticed. I would not worry about it. It is not that noticable.

 

[DHarvey]

You know... . I didn't even notice it for several weeks after I first got the truck. But after I did, it has driven me crazy since. I had the wife drive it while I was following her in the Motorhome... the drive was over an hour long... D**m, I hated that... staring at that the whole way!

I like the idea of the body washers and if weather permits this weekend, I think I will give it a try. Really don't look forward to it as the bed liner will have to removed to do this, but. . I definitely want it done before that new 5th wheel hitch gets put in place, which may be happening next week.



Dave