To fix smooshed cab, or replace?
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Elder User
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 655
Likes: 1
From: Clearfield, UT
To fix smooshed cab, or replace?
I've got a 2002 F350 that was laid over on it's right side. I already changed the front passenger door, front bumper, grill-guard, and the bed (Here:https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/9...pictorial.html). I still have to get a new passenger rear door. My original plan was to try to pull the dent out with a stud welder and a slide hammer, but my efforts were less than acceptable. My "Plan B" was to have a professional pull the corner of the cab square, cut out the dented sheet metal and weld in a new piece of skin. Recently I got to thinking that even if the bodyman is talented and thorough, I'm still going to not be satisfied with the finished product, knowing that my truck was wrecked. I've been kicking around the notion of buying a stripped cab, having it painted while stripped, then swapping it onto my frame. I figure that it would probably cost me about the same either way (admittedly with a lot more work to swap cabs), but I'll be a lot more satisfied with the swap option.
What advice do you have for me?
What advice do you have for me?
Fleet Mechanic
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 1,800
Likes: 52
From: Southern Colorado
A cab swap seems like a tremendous amount of work - I think I'd have the right body guy fix the pillar area and leave it. Since you're in Utah, you shouldn't have huge rust issues with the newly welded in panel. In some states, you can hardly keep paint on a new panel that doesn't have factory primer on it. I don't see how the bodywork would be the same cost as a cab swap, with all the paint and labor - discharging your A/C, etc. If you had a free cab, the story might be different, however.
Lead Driver
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 6,757
Likes: 5
From: Corvallis, OR
I just did a cab swap on my '03, and it was a huge amount of work. I made it a little worse by having sound deadening applied over everything in the old cab... Depending on your state you can run into problems with changing cabs because of the VIN tag. Looking at your pictures, it looks like a good candidate for just a new cab corner, but I can't tell if the roof or the overall cab shape is distorted or not.
Posting Guru
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 1,176
Likes: 4
From: Indiana
As a veteran of quite a few cab swaps, and judging from what I can see in the pics, I'd fix the existing cab if it were mine. If it is done right, there would be no reason to be unsatisfied just because you knew it was wrecked. Technically, with all the new parts, it will still be a formerly-wrecked truck, right? A good body man will do it right for ya.
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Elder User
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 655
Likes: 1
From: Clearfield, UT
Thanks for talking me out of that! I'll just pay someone to fix it for me. I get no enjoyment from doing bodywork, like I do with mechanical stuff. That's probably where this wild hare came from.
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