do you have a picture with the truck painted

 

Randy thanks for the detail of the drip rail removal. Questions, are the 56 and 53-55 cabs the same at the top of the front window? The reason I ask is, there is discussion around building up the front lip and I didn't see that with yours? Looks like there is a factory built lip there.
By leaving the spot welds in-tacked until the end is a great idea but when you took those off to loose the edge what happens?

 

I think I will make the corner of the door round to

 

I shaved the drip rails on my 55 when I chopped the top. I created a character line where the drip rail was by welding in a steel rod. I shot a few pictures but the detail is really hard to capture in light gray primer with lots of sanding dust.






I let the the character line fade out just as it turned down the at the rear of the door.

 

The 53-55 are very different from the 56, which has a "brow", or overhang along the front. Having a 56, I am unfamiliar with how to build up a slant cab.

As to removing the rail, you can see in my gallery that I did it in sections. Once I re-welded the upper and lower cab sections thru a removed area, I removed the area next to it. You need to make sure that the cab retains its structure thru the operation. If the entire drip rail were to be removed, the cab would shift and tweak. The likelihood of of getting the geometry back is remote.

 

mine is similar (without the chop).

Sam

and I wish I had rounded the door corner

 

I've entertained rounding the door corner for a while now. I'll probably go ahead and do it while I'm trying to adjust some of the door gaps. For some reason the door gaps on the passenger side are really large.

 

I have noticed that my passanger door gaps are a little larger than the drivers as well and with little adjustment it means filling those gaps with steel. I did oblong my door bolt holess to give me about another 1/8-3/16" movement but still wasn't enough.
So back to the drip rails, am I right to think that the front brow is then total fabricated with metal/filler the complete length of the front windshield? There is no raised edge at all?

 

I thought the gap problem might have been the door, but I got another door and the gaps were too wide with it too. Guess I'll be doing a lot of welding and grinding. Have I mentioned how much I love grinding.

With the drip rail, I'm not sure that I understand what you're asking. I did something a little extra on mine to create a defined character edge that is not in the stock panels. Maybe I can blow some of the sanding dust off my truck and put some extra lighting on it so that a photo might show better detail.

 

Drew on your character edge that you enhanced, would there have been some kind of a ridge with from just removing the drip rails? I hope this makes more sense??

 

I cut the drip rails off my truck over 20 years ago right after I chopped the top. As I recall, once it was welded up, it had no ridge. (Keep in mind that I suffer from CRS from time to time.) Sam's photo shows what you have after welding and finish work.

I know it's hard to see in my photos but if you look close you can see the added character line.



I'll try to look through my old F100 show photos to see if I can find some other treatments. I've seen a few that were really different and looked really good. I don't know if you're looking for a different treatment or not.

 

Thanks again Drew, if I get the look that is on Sams truck with just taking the drip rail off I'm good as gold! (Slight massaging where need)
It's hard to see that with the drip rail in place and once one starts there is no turning back, my reasoning for all the clarifcation...a little gun shy here!

 

the drip rail is slightly below this line, so you have to be careful to cut back far enough to be able to make a flat face.. here is the best pic I have at the moment..
(altho this cab is still out in the shop)

notice the ridge line just above the drip rail, as it turns towards the front.

Sam

 

Here you can see it

 

Here is a nice article for rounding the doors

Putting A Curve In Square Door Corners - Tech Articles - Custom Rodder Magazine