Mine is a 54 panel. I've had it since Christmas and have been selectively dissecting it. There's some serious rust rot in the lower sheet metal. The front of the cab is not real stable as you can see below.

This will be a body off restoration. My question is: Am I batter restoring the front corners on frame and then removing the body, OR should I tack weld some bars in the door spaces to stabilize it and fix it while it is on a dolly?

The upper part of the cowl is solid and stable, so it appears that is the point to rebuild from. What I'm working with is:

Passenger side rocker - lower cowl is rusty and loose


Driver side rocker is rusted through


The gusset is in reasonably good shape. The wing is solid and the rusted mass around the bolt is pretty solid also



The right mount is pretty solid, but the bend where the toe boards slant up is rusted through



Any suggestions are appreciated. Given my druthers, I would have gotten a truck with a little less rust damage, but after all -- it's an effie panel and somebody needed to save it.

Thanks,

Jim

 

Personally, I welded supports across the door openings and replaced the rockers while the cab was on the frame. Then double checked the fit of the doors before I removed the cab and replaced the floor pans and cab corners. In my case, the floor pans had to go and I didn't want to deal with trying to keep the cab squared up with everything removed at once.

 

So -- even on frame, it's best to stabilize the door pillars and cowl before starting to cut out the rust and rebuild?

 

The bracing is a good idea. I would try to do as much repair on the frame as possible.
However, you must make sure the cab/body mounts are sound first....the body could be sagging if the mounts are rusted. Also get the door gaps right before you brace it.

 

if you just do one side at a time it will be fine, dont go cutting out every rusted out section you see all at once . do one cab corner at a time, and if your a beginer I suggest starting with what ever side or area you think is the easiest, cause if it turns out like @#$% you might just want to let someone else do it , but it will get easier as you learn . then save the rocker panels last . your floorboards lookk bad and those I would definatly do while it is mounted! you dont need to brace the cab ...it is a https://post.craigslist.org/u/ngXkbt...SZhGGzTA/pvfqd
ery rigid cab

 

wow thats wierd why did it post a link to my craigslist add...well theyre fstill for sale if anyones interested
so

 

Maybe your control key was stuck pressed or you subconsciously wanted us to find the add.

Jim, good luck with that panel; Seems you're in for some fun. Just don't let it turn into too much of a puzzle by pulling too many parts away at the same time.

Nice to see another panel making its way back to life.

 

Just like effie and tinman said, add the support bracing first. That will keep it from spreading and save you a head ache later.

 

If you decide to brace make sure that the cab is SQUARE...as tinman offered, cab mounts will rot and cause the cab to sag. Bracing a tweaked cab only ensures that it will remain tweaked after your repair work has been completed. I may be a little spoiled but I think that I would have had to pass on that truck...not to say that it can't be saved, but you will be spending a lot of time and cash to get it back on the road. Good luck!

 

It's surely going to be a project. Still dissecting, but I can see it will come back together. I'm more likely to jump into something like this without too much critical thought and then figure how to work out f it.

I'm thinking the approach will be to be sure everything is square to the frame, make sure the door holes are lined up and then brace across the doors. I'm fearful that the front will sag when I start to take out the front body mount bolts, even one at a time. I'm thinking to pull the engine and trans and then to weld a brace from the upper firewall forward to the frame on both sides. Assuming everything is square when the braces are applied, I should then be able to replace the floor pans, the lower cowl and the front mounting brackets without anything moving.

Thanks again for the input.

 

Here is a pic of one of my cab projects, notice there are no braces. I took measurements of the diagonals across the floor pan and corner-to-corner at the door jambs and then made sure that when I welded in the new panels that I held to these measurements. The door itself was used as a guide for the openings in the cab.

I would offer that the cowl and associated windshield sections of these cabs are extremely stiff. When I had the floor and rockers completely removed to where the cowl section was seperated from the floor, there was only a slight amount of flex. Once the new metal was tacked in place the cab came right into alignment. The second and third pics show the completed repairs.

 

i like your cab support stands ...tidy cat

 

Yep, those Tidy Cat buckets come in pretty handy for a lot of things; wet sand buckets, storage for sand blast media, nuts & bolts, seating/footrest, etc. I prefer to recycle at home...

 

I for one agree with bracing, especially since a panel body is far bigger than a pickup cab.
I'd square up the frame and body, fit the doors then weld a 1" square tube across the door openings at about latch height, carrying it all the way to the back. Add a brace horizontally across the truck behind the front doors and one diagonally from bottom of the front door post to top of the rear post on the other side. Finally I'd add an X across the rear door frame. The dashboard and firewall is structural, so the cowl will not distort. now remove all the doors and start replacing rotted metal starting with the floorboards then rockers, lower door posts inner structure and then outer skin. Now you can remove the body from the frame and roll it over on it's side to finish up the bottom. Meanwhile clean and paint the frame after making whatever mechanical changes you have planned. Now marry the body back to the chassis. Do whatever repairs the doors require and refit, then remove your braces. Do whatever body work is left, paint it and upholster it and go out and drive it!

 

AX -- you make it sound so easy... I was just thinking about the order of how to attack it and there was your response. Thanks.