Hood fender gap adjustment.

[AdamHarris]

I teach Collision repair as a profession. Easy thing that any ranger owner can do their self os get a 10 mm and spread your fenders out by hand to improve the gap between the hood and fender. The fenders are mostly drawn in too far on the vehicle from the factory for some reason. Improves the look.

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[Rinn69]

There was a post about this waaay back in early/mid 2019 ( ) after some of us got our new Rangers. I did this to mine about 2 weeks after it was delivered in May 2019. A simple "mod" that the factory QC folks should have caught.

 

[Dr. Zaius]

It doesn't mess up the alignment of rear of fender/front of door?

 

[AdamHarris]

Yes that’s correct these gaps never should’ve arrived this way. No it doesn’t mess up fender to door gaps. There are other bolts and tabs holding that gap in place.

 

[Steve23]

I'm guessing loosen to push them out and tighten to pull them in?

 

[t4thfavor]

Just an FYI, on resale, some people (dealers, etc) will see that those bolts have been removed and treat it like you had an unreported accident and body work. I'm not saying it's 100% going to happen, but it's little details like broken paint on fender bolts that can tell you this truck has been apart and it wasn't reported. (In this case it would not be correct, but nobody who does this will believe you when you say it hasn't)

That said, I'm going out to do that now.

 

[Rinn69]

I'm guessing loosen to push them out and tighten to pull them in?

I loosened the 3 bolts noted in the pic above, pulled it out so it lined up, then tightened them while holding it in place.

 

[NvrFinished]

It was the first thing I did when I got home with my truck after purchase. The only nit picky thing I don't like is how doing this actually creates a small gap at the top leading edge of the fender where it meets the headlight.

 

[Steve23]

I loosened the 3 bolts noted in the pic above, pulled it out so it lined up, then tightened them while holding it in place.

Oh okay so you adjust it yourself then just tighten things back up. Got it. Thanks!

 

[NeptuneRanger]

It was the first thing I did when I got home with my truck after purchase. The only nit picky thing I don't like is how doing this actually creates a small gap at the top leading edge of the fender where it meets the headlight.

That is exactly what I was thinking... living in the desert it is sure to bring dust into the engine area. Good to know it can be done, so thanks to the OP for the tip. What I love about this forum is that I realize how low on the OCD spectrum I am..lol

 

[AdamHarris]

I’m glad this is helping some folks out. Yes loosen all three bolts and pull outward carefully on the fender as you tighten the bolts back down. I would tighten the center one down first. Might be helpful to have some gloves on and have a buddy to help you. Yes it’s true someone could notice but you can take a little black touch up paint and cover the newly exposed primer up.

 

[AdamHarris]

That is exactly what I was thinking... living in the desert it is sure to bring dust into the engine area. Good to know it can be done, so thanks to the OP for the tip. What I love about this forum is that I realize how low on the OCD spectrum I am..lol

Don’t pull the front of the fender so far out as to change where it meets the headlight. You’re mainly just concerned with the central part of the fender

 

[treimche]

I should go do this to my Ranger. When it went back to the local Ford body shop for some warranty paint work, they were supposed to fix the hood/fender alignment, but they claimed that some part of the fender was glued on so there was no adjustment. I think he was taking about the fender to door junction, which is off a little on mine as well.

 

[Msfitoy]

I had to do this too...pull it out as much as I could but there's still room for improvement...

 

[AdamHarris]

I should go do this to my Ranger. When it went back to the local Ford body shop for some warranty paint work, they were supposed to fix the hood/fender alignment, but they claimed that some part of the fender was glued on so there was no adjustment. I think he was taking about the fender to door junction, which is off a little on mine as well.

Yes they are often “glued” at the door or lower mud flap area but not at the top.

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