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I picked up a shortbed a while back and got her running pretty good and now I'm tackling the body. Was way more rusted than I thought and after cutting most everything out I'm left with this on the drivers side. We welded rods across the door and across the cab to keep it aligned correctly. The last bit of rusted metal barely holds the front corner to the rocker. My plan is to cut the piece just above the bottom bolt for the bottom hinge and then start replacing from there. I have that pillar piece so I know that the hinge bolt will be my base line. The start tacking everything from the top down so the step plate will get tacked to that and then the new rocker will get tacked to then. Then the riser plate, cab mount and floor pan.
Does that sound right or am I doing something out of order here?
Man I'm glad I live in California!
I've replaced cab corners. But I have never seen that much of a truck missing.
Keep us up to date on your project. Your a better man than I am.
Go overkill. I used 18g for the kick panel and 1/8 inch flat bar on the inside for strength. Looks completly stock now that its all welded together. The reason behind this is the cab mount is only as strong as what it is welded to. I also plated the outside of new cab mount and added a piece of pipe between two pieces of plate where the cab bolt passes through so the mount wouldnt collapse when the bolt is tightened down. Once I had everything welded on the lower post i clamped the cab mount on measured of the ground to make sure the cab was level to the groung screwd the new floor pan in, then jumped up and down on the floor to see if it would settle. Then just check the measurements off the floor and adjust the cab mount as needed. I had to do mine twice because the lmc cab mount started collapsing and the floor settled this caused the fender gap to open. Just finishing body should have paint on in a couple weeks.
That's what I'm most nervous about, having it all line up when its done! Having the fender off gets me to see everything and will make it easier to put it back together but before this the most I've tackled is floor pans and the kick panel. Go big or go home as they say!
Just use sheet metal screws to put your cab mount in for now. Fit your fender and the rest of your sheet metal, adjust the cab mount if the fender gap is to tight or wide at the bottom. Before you weld the mount in measure from the cab to the floor then just jump on the side of the cab a bunch. Re measure to make sure it hasnt sagged then weld it up.
Well I haven't found a donor cab so we just started hacking away this weekend! Got most everything removed but I still have about a 1" piece of the rear of the rocker panel that is still on the rear support piece. Can't believe how inter locking all these pieces are! You can see the picture of the front support at the hinge is in place but not yet welded in. Waiting to finish up the back part. Does anyone know if they repop the rear curve of the door frame? Much of that was toast as well.
The first thing I figured out is that the new rocker is about 4" to short, it only goes up to where it narrows. Thinking I either need to fab the front portion of clean off what I have and cut and weld that to the new one.
Got everything cut out and starting to fab the extra pieces. Ripping it all out was the hardest part in that you have to pay attention to all the layers. Piecing it all back together and measuring 10 times and cutting twice is the time consuming part!
I was most irritated that the rockers I got were about 4" shorter than the existing one. Had to cut off the front 4" of the old one and weld it onto the new one.
I think I got the rest of the corner fabbed up and in place. Only cut myself twice on the sheet metal edges! The inner kick panel piece is a 16g piece and that rounded front edge was probably the hardest part.
So far I've got the front corner put together and am looking at the step back and the cab mount placement. I've used a piece of 16g for the inside face, now it looks like the backing plate gets tacked to that and then the mount gets welded to the backing plate. Is that really how it goes? Seems like the backing plate is a weak link for the mount to be welded to.
You need to drill a 3/8 hole in the "step" and a 5/16 hole in the new cab mount, do four or five like this on either side of the cab mount make sure they all line up. This is how you weld three panels together. This is a pic of a demo piece i made. 3/8 and 5/16 are industry standard in canada for this procedure, on the demo piece i exaggerated the bigger hole
Ok, thanks! It also looks like its quite an angle for the cab mount to go from the a-pillar to the frame mount, going to be interesting to see how that comes together!
You would think the leverage on that cab mount would bend it once the weight of the cab is on it but the floor adds substantial strength to the cab mount once their welded togethor to.
so I'm at the point where I can weld the cab mount on so I jacked the cab corner up and put the mount in place. Problem is that with the old bushing in place and the top edge against the A pillar the bottom is just over 1/4" from reaching the A pillar. I'm afraid to jack it up to much more but that looks like the only way it is going to reach! Not sure how long it sat sagging down before I got it. Any tips?
ETA: I checked my measurements and from the step to the top of the floor is 5" on the passenger side so that is what I did on the drivers side. But the measurement from the bottom of the dash to the floor is different by 1/2". How on earth can that be? Ugh!
Last edited by DoggedTired; Jun 8, 2016 at 03:03 PM.
Reason: Added description
Comparing the drivers side from my other 64 to this one they are both 9 and 1/4" from the bottom of the vent to the floor. If I move the mount inwards and up a 1/2" on the A pillar it lines up but the lip on the step back would need to get trimmed and of course the floor won't sit right. Hope I'm just doing something simple dumb here...
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