Well, after a long Summer and Fall break from my 65 F100 project, Im starting in on the cab refurb. I have it off the frame and rolling on a nice dolly set-up for easy access. I had thought I could save the cab mounts (the steel "pyramid" brackets") but after removing the first one, it's clear that they need to be replaced.

Im in Alaska so getting any of these resto parts companies to ship anything to me is totally ridiculous. Seems they avg about $100 to ship me 2 of these brackets. And I know for a fact that it doesnt take nearly that much to ship a medium sized box weighing 20 or so pounds via USPS.

The only company that seems even remotely reasonable on shipping is LMC. And the brackets they have are the single piece kind that are I think meant to be welded on over the old rusty ones. I cant imagine anyone doing that and I know lots of people have used these after removing the old mounts.

So my question is, how do they hold up? And how is the fit? Im being pretty careful about the mounting of the cab because I am going back to 3 on the tree shifting and I dont want any cab height/linkage alignment issues.

If money were no object, I'd get the heavy duty ones from DC. But they cost 3 times what the cheapies do and the added cost of shipping makes the pair come in at $250-300!

 

I have seen the single layer ones in person, and all I can say is, they're SHYTE!!

There are places to shave a buck, this is not one of them. Ford wouldn't have used multi layers if a single layer would do.....

And adding a new layer over the old rusty metal gives you a rust sandwich, not your end goal, I would hope

Suck it up, and buy the factory style ones, the $$ you spend now will save you from having to this job again far too soon if you use an inferior quality, less expensive replacement now.....

Just my $0.02 CDN
James

 

Thanks James...for your .02 cents CDN ...Although, I actually need 3 cents CDN to equal 2 cents US I concur with everything you say but let's "unpack" some of those assumptions. From what I can tell, the original style looks beefier for sure. But my thoughts are...

• The main reason the original mounts rotted out is precisely because they were made of 2 pieces. Mine and all Ive seen rotted plum thru both layers where the 2 parts are welded together. Obviously, water finds its way in between the 2 parts and corrodes it from the inside out. In effect, Ford designed them to be ...rust sandwiches. A single piece of sheet steel might eliminate that problem down the road.

• Im sure Ford made them 2 pc for a reason but...it's not like Ford never came out with a bad idea.

• There probably doesnt need to be all that much beef in that structure to begin with. The cab and it's occupants probably dont weigh but about 1200 lb max. That's only 300 lb per mounting point ...static. In my case, it's a light duty classic truck that wont see any hard work or off roading.

• If a person doesnt abuse the single pc/"lighter duty" mounts, and keeps it clean under there, it seems reasonable theyd last another 30-50 yrs...especially the way a classic truck gets driven. And Im cool with that.

So I guess my biggest concern is the fit of the cheapies. And maybe would like to hear from some who have run them in their trucks for a while to see how they hold up.

 

The one thing you are over looking here is shock loading. Yes the weight of the cab is not the much but under shock loading it can be ten times the weight on the mounts. The single piece units are under engineered in this engineers opinion. Do it right and use the OE style brackets.

 

There is another choice. If you are handy with a welder and don't care about originality. These are the mounts that were on my truck when I got it. The PO said they were on it when he bought it in 1985. They are 3/16" plate. These were bolted on. I replaced them because I needed new floor pans.

 

Hey Crop D,

Where are you located? Im from Kingsport orig.

 

Just outside of Elizabethton. I just looked at your weather looks like you're going to have a lot of indoor working time.
Have you talked to Carpenter to see if they would ship those mounts USPS. I sold a magneto to a guy in Anchorage, it weighed more than those mounts do and seems like it was only around $40.

 

Yep, the weather stinks up here 1/2 the yr. Ive been here a total of 23 yrs. Im ready to start flying south for the winters.

Im going to try DC for just the mounts. I checked a while back and with floor pans in the order, it was truck freight $$$. So maybe I can leave off the floor pans and see what theyd charge. Otherwise, Ill have to get them shipped to some body down there and have them re-send them on to me. It's another big pain in the *** living up here. Shipping anything up or down costs more than the "thing" is worth.

PS: Do you fly or an A&P? Im an A&P and was a safety manager for a little airline. Hoping to get into the flight ops side before I get too old but Im in my mid 50s. So that door is slamming shut.

 

Yes I have an A&P. I flew spray planes for 30+ years then spent the last 9 years that I worked flying Single Engine Airtankers on the fires, out west mostly. I got to the age where making an old man mistake and ending up in the bottom of a smoking hole was a real possibility. So I hung it up.
At 50 you got plenty of time left, go for it.

 

I bought a set of the mounts from DC recently and I know they are the best on the market but I was still a little disappointed. They were a fair bit lighter than the original ones on my truck, and did not fit exactly the same. I ended up unspotwelding my original mounts and patching them. I suspect the mounts they make are actually correct for 73-79 if I had to guess but they will work perfectly fine in the 65-66's. We will have to give up a nickel now that we no longer have pennies!