I knew it was bad.. But I really didn't know it was THIS bad..

For example... I thought I could fill some metal in the channel... I didn't know that the bump that goes along the circumference of the rain gutter is entirely gone.
Also... the channel that's 'sposed to be sandwiched between the roof skin and the cab frame on the pass side was rusted SO bad that it was loose.

Another example... the roof is only really held on at the back of the cab. There's a 1" wide foil-thin section of steel up front. I'm pretty sure that if you had this thing on the freeway at speed... the top would fold up like a convertible.





Yes, I'm serious.... there was roughly a 1" section that still connected the skin to the channel.


The drivers side was the 'better' side...lol



Would you believe that the rest of the cab is nearly rust free???

 

You're right, that does look bad.

On the other hand, (from the viewpoint of a complete NOVICE) it looks like you could patch it up in sections, with strips of sheet metal 8" to 10" long and maybe 2" wide....by never really detaching the roof completely. Cut/weld - just a few inches at a time, like how you are supposed to remove the drip rail, but in reverse.

I can't really tell what you have to weld to on the bottom side, on that drip rail...I've got a few bubbles on mine right there, and I'm sorta afraid to hit it with the strip disc, out of fear of what I might find.

Good luck, and please update the thread with how you fix it!

 

I'm not positive how I'm going to go about it... but I'll take pics along the way. The hell of it is that I have a 55 cab in the backyard with a perfect roof/gutter channel.

 

Speaking from limited experience, it looks like you'd need about $8 in sheet metal and about 20-30 hours labor to fix your roof. (Labor is free, because we love working on these things, right?)

Or....butcher a perfectly good cab that is worth about $2k as it sits, and spend about 20-30 hours labor to graft it onto your truck.

If you aren't a welder yet, AXracer has a great instructional thread going right now....(short story: 1 hour of reading, ~$300 on a welder, and 1 hour of practice....you'll be melting metal like a champ.)
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...-practice.html

I want to talk you out of using your spare cab for sheet metal patches...to me...that's another truck., but really, it's up to you.

Hopefully the body experts will be along soon to make a fool of me or encourage you some more.

 

If it were mine i would find another roof and graft it on, kind of in the same way as doing a chop top. Surely theres a roof out there on a damaged or very rusty cabin.
Trying to graft in patchs and strips on your existing roof is difficult and doesnt really work because of all the layers involved at the gutter line itself.
I bet you will be adding LOTS of rust preventative after it is fixed. LOL John

 

Good morning,
I live in Elliot Lake Ont. Canada and the roof collapsed at the mall sending two cars in to the food court.google it I think that is worse then you.

 

the 55 cab roof is all different as the door and window top on the 56 are changed.

its been repaired before.. lots of work.. either way.. small repair at a time, or find another cab with a bad bottom ad good top..

or find another cab.

sam

 

Hey Mike,
You win the worst roof contest!

Ok - Now what? If you want a picture perfect cab you'll have to get another one. If you want a nice functional roof that keeps the rain out then go for a nice solid repair job. A lot of people take those gutters off - seems to me you would want to just take all that rusted gutter off of there. Weld something functional in place - you are taking a F500 down to a F100 anyway - not going for beauty points - a nice useful truck.

Good luck over there! That's one serious Bowie knife you have there.

Ben in Austin

 

Thats not a roof - it's a lid .LOL

 

Hahahaha... that a can opener's already been around too! That's what it reminds me of.

I know.. that's why I put the lil shaking head smiley... it sucks that they're mostly the same trucks, 1 year apart.. and yet that roof is pretty much useless to me. I could cut sections out and use those... but there's not even enough. The 56 roof is larger in circumference (to account for the visor portion)

I cant stomach the idea of another cab. That's the only reason I bought this one. The interior has remained so nice and is so nostalgic. I bought the truck for next to nothing, so it's an 'interesting' project in that light. But I don't have time for drawn out projects.. so if I was shopping, it would be in the $5-10k for a turnkey truck.

fixed that for us John..

 

I've got some welding experience.



Got a little 'roofing' experience too...

 

What I figured I'd probably do is have a metal shop fab me up some cheap L shaped sheet, probably 1" tall x .25" wide at the bottom. Slip the tall side under the roof skin, set the bottom of the L into the channel and weld her up.
Then take some round stock, dunno, maybe 1/4"-3/8" and bend that to fit/weld along the channel to create that 'bead' that the factory had inside the gutter.
Then All-Metal (pricey-bondo) to create a smooth transition on either side the the round stock.
The other idea would be to see if a metal shop could give me a bead rolled piece... but that will probably be more difficult, and expensive... at that point, I might as well get a fiberglass roof cap.

To me, the biggest surprise was just how high up the rust ate it away. The only area that I chipped away the fiberglass to inspect happened to be the best spot on the roof! It still had the bead portion somewhat... so I thought the repair would be a much simpler affair for that.

 

If I came upon a cheap 56 roof skin, I wouldn't toss out that idea either though. I'm good at metalworking... suck at filler/finishing.

 

New roof is your easiest option, IMO.

Using a donor roof will save you hours of filler work.

Pull the windshield and rear window. Buy a good spot weld cutter (not harbor freight) and go to town.

From your other pictures it looks like you have the skill.

 

That's the key issue from my perspective...

So this is what "clean California sheet metal" looks like?! LOL Seriously, I'd find a whole new cab, it will save you a year of agony and it will be right.