My drip rails are rusting very bad. To the point where I can push a screwdriver through. Ouch!!...this is not good, and probably expensive to repair. I don't think any kind of patch panel exists so, I guess its cut the roof and replace?! Let me hear your suggestions. I think I know whats coming but always good to hear what some of you have gone through. Appreciate your comments.

 

You can always shave off the drip rails, then weld metal back into the rusted out areas, BUT if you want to have drip rails, your best bet might be to do a cab swap providing you can find a rust free SC...You can also cut off the roof of the cab and replace, again providing you can find a rust free one!!?? The supercab's and crewcab's seem to have more issue's with the drip rails rusting out than a RC!

There are a few FTE threads where guys have shaved and repaired the rusted out areas, and they actually look pretty slick!!

 

Thanx scott79. I just spent the morning reading all the posts on your black and silver resto. Impressed!....and of course motivated even more lol. Yes, removing the cab is a big job, as is cutting the roof, of which one I'm afraid I will have to do. I actually have another '79 SC sitting in my yard. It's referred to as my parts truck! All intack but rusted out bad enough that I can't safely drive. However, the roof is in amazingly great shape. The problem is it's stored outside and I use the cab to store some stuff in. If I cut her up, I'm going to have problems lol...but I am certainly debating this. Was just hoping for a different way that I haven't heard of yet. Appreciate your comments. Hope to hear from you again.

 

So how it the drip rail laid out, here you go. I believe Dennis carpenter has one side or the other in stock?

 

Thanks 77&79F250 for the details.

 

If you can locate a good roof skin it's really not that bad to swap, remove the windows , drill out the welds and you can use the factory seem at the back of the roof as a spot ro re join them . It does take a while but it beats welding and filling and still having a repaired roof.

I had to take some of the inner roof too, mine was rotten to the point that a smart person would have just junked it.

 

On the regular cab, there are four pieces that make up the drip rails. Two along the top, above the door and the two pieces along the rear edge of the door.
Top RH side D3TZ-1051700-B
Top LH side D3TZ-1051701-B
Rear RH side D3TZ-1051704-C
Rear LH side D3TZ-1051704-D

No dealer or obsolete supplier has the top RH (D3TZ-1051700-B)
Dennis Carpenter has 1 Top LH (D3TZ-1051701-B)
they also have 48 of the rear RH (D3TZ-1051704-C)
Klimesh Motor Sales, has 1 of the rear LH (D3TZ-1051704-D)

Dennis Carpenter, Concord, NC (704) 786-8139
Klimesh Motor Sales, Calmar, IA (563) 562-3241

EDIT:
If this is for a Supercab instead of a regular cab, there are two additional center filler pieces for the drip rail:
RH D4TZ-1057B46-A and LH D4TZ-1057B47-A
Unfortunately no dealer or obsolete supplier has either one of these.

 

Here is a link to my build thread where I replaced my roof and shaved my drip rails. Its a lot of work but if you do it I think seeing what I did will help you out. You will have re do the gap of your doors to make it look right. They drip rail takes up more space than you'd think. https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...0-build-4.html

Also here are some pictures too.

 

So it's been awhile guys. Here I am with my drip rails. Sanded down for better inspection. The horizontals I think are not too bad, it's the verticals going down behind the SC window that is badly rusted. So I've seen many pics here with reg cabs but not enough with SCab's. Duste, you have some pics but they're not clear enough for me lol. I suppose if I've done this a few times I shouldn't have to ask this. Anybody able to post more pics of these repairs? It looks like the vertical drip rail is connected/welded on to the face, in the recess of the cab and then eventually connected/welded to the horizontal drip rail that is sandwiched inside the cab between the upper and lower roof. Not sure about the factory roof/cab joint at the upper corners. It appears not too bad, but you know rust! If I want to address that I guess I would have to cut the roof and access from the inside? Any suggestions? F5 DEEG, it looks like you welded in your joint there. Is this ok? I suppose it is what you want it to be lol. Anyways, I appreciate any more pics. Thx.

 

I'd like to keep my drip rails that's why I'm asking so many questions. 77&79F250, I got your detail but I can't tell much without pics to see.

 

Yes I did weld mine solid. If you remove the roof you will see that the seam is tack welded from the inside on a few tabs. There was no way to weld it back in the same spot so my only option was to weld the seam to hold down my roof in that spot.

 

Good to know, thx.

 

I think you really lucked out there as far as the relatively minor amount of rust. And you have the perfect solution, a parts SC with perfect gutters. You are currently using it for storage, but you can still source what you need and just get out some duct tape and plastic to protect whatever you have in there, it's double-walled where you need to cut.



Just a suggestion, but I'd make my cuts as shown, and use a spot weld cutter at the SC window. It doesn't appear necessary to cut up into your roof panel. That leaves just two small areas of bodywork in that complex window area and then easy work on those nice flat panels.

When doing any cutting and welding, of course follow proper safety precautions, but also make sure to cover your beautiful Lariat front seat and interior with welding blankets. I would really doubt that you'd need to make this a huge job if you plan it right.

David

 

Ya rougeriver. It's lookin like my 'parts truck' is going to be a donor lol. I felt pretty good once I sanded down the paint. The rust seems to have concentrated on the vertical drips only. Any thoughts on the cause? And spot welder cutter? Can't I just grind out the spot welds?

 

Picked it up for $250 Canadian lol.