I know that Henry made F-1 frames so they could flex on the bad roads of the day. Now that we drive our oldies on good roads, is it a bad idea to mount the rear solidly at the back corners?

 

Even with good roads cars and trucks are subjected to a good amount of flexing. There are things like speed bumps, driving through shallow gutters, jacking up to change a tire, etc.

In my opinion, you would have to stiffen the frame to pretty much rigid to keep from torquing the body. Then you would have to be sure the suspension had enough travel to make up for the lack of flex in the frame.

This question has come up before. Just out of curiosity, why would you want to mount the cab solid?

 

Because getting those black rubber triangles back in place is a real PITA.

 

A little glob of rubber cement will hold them in place.

 

I don't have my cab mounted to the frame yet and was looking at how easy it was going to be to wrestle the rubber situation and thought maybe using one of those small webbed racheting cargo straps to cinch the 2 mounts together then lowere the cab in place. Does this make any sense to you?

John

 

That's a good idea.

I think the biggest obstacle is making sure the pocket on the cab is spread enough to fit over the arm. Before mine went to paint (yesterday) I made sure it fit easily with the new bushings in the arm, adding just a little for the paint thickness. I would rather have to draw it back closed a little with the bolt than risk tearing the paint off trying to drive the arm back into place.

 

Lower bolt in first. Correct use of a bottle jack against the dog bone and the top bolt will go right in. Mount the cab solid and my SWAG is you'll eventually break some welds in the cab and or have doors popping open in hard off angle.

 

When Harrier and I put his cab on last week we found it was easier to install the back mounts first. We installed the top bolts first then aligned the bottoms. The Tri angle rubbers never moved the whole time. Once we installed the back bolts the front mounts were pieces of cake. After everything was aligned we tightend everything up. OBTW if you have a 53-55 the drivers side is a little tight because the fuel tank is near the back mount.

 

You are right, top bolts first. Then jack against the lower part of the dog bone, the dog bone slides along the frame and the lower bolts goes right in. ...Then the front goes in. Really is not that bad a job, even for one person.

 

I got to wondering if it would be easier to attach the entire rear mount to the cab off the frame then line up the bolts that attach the mount to the frame.... The rear sure was a bit of a bearcat.

 

My F1 build #1 I had to rebuild so much of the cab floor I ended up ditching the factory mounts and switched to S10 pickup cab mounts. I had an S10 parts truck so the stuff was on hand and free.

 

Would you be able to put a wrench in there to tighten the nut?

 

Yes. There is a square nut welded to the inside of the frame bracket. #20389-S is a bolt.

 

Mine came with nuts welded to it. I'm pretty confident my cab mounts are original. I don't know which would be easier though. You have to hold your tongue just right either way.

Now the original poster mentioned F1. Are the cab mounts different for the F1's.

Here is mine installed. One of these days, I will probably need to replace the rubber, it's pretty old. Maybe I will experiment then.

 

They are essentially the same. The repair kits and dog bones interchange.