I have a 93 crew cab f350.

Long story short, I pulled the cab for some body work. Only to discover that there is more rust than metal (maybe exaggerating a touch, but still pretty bad). I only had to remove one of the cab mount bolts. The other 3 mounts have rusted away.

The back two, I can deal with. They are rusted out on the crossmember. The front two, however, are disappearing (from the cab, not frame) with the cab floor. The previous owner even used 2x6 lumber to support the driver side floor pan.

Next I looked a little deeper at the rockers, and the drivers side is pretty bad. The rear Piller (C, I think?) Isn't even attached to the rocker panel any more. On both sides the inner cab corners are gone.

I can post pictures in a day or two when my account matures. Until then, what do you guys think? I had high hopes for repairing this truck but am starting to second guess myself.

 

Sorry, I suppose this should have went to the body work forum.

 

Its going to really depend on whether you ability to fix it yourself or not and how much the truck is worth to you, both financially and emotionally. You must care a bit since you took the time to look it over and pull it in the shop. Body work isn't hard to do, but paint can be expensive to fix to the point of not knowing a repair was done when looking at it.

 

The front cab mounts and floor pans are reproduced. They can be found pretty inexpensively if you shop around. The rear cab mounts you probably have to fab yourself because I don't think anyone reproduces them. The rockers are reproduced as are the cab corners.

If you have a welder and know how to use it, it can be done. It can be a lot of work, so if you aren't in love with it or sentimentally attached to the truck it probably isn't worth it. If you decide to go for it, make sure you use a seam sealer around all of the patch panels.

 

I knew getting into that that I was going to have to buy a welder. I do weld a little at work. Mostly thicker steel, but have welded as thin as 16ga. I'm confident that I can tack sheet metal together.

As for patch panels, I've been looking at lmc and more recently, tabco. Aside from the obvious like rocker panels and cab corners, it can be hard to picture where some of the panels go.

 

LMC is probably going to be the most expensive source. See if you have someplace local. I was able to find the patch panels for my truck for about 1/3 of the price of LMC from a local source.

 

Depends on a lot of things, namely how easily can you find a nice cab to swap. If money is no object and the cab sentimental, send it out to a shop and pay the invoice. If you are doing the work yourself, compare the cost of tools and your time versus buying a clean cab on craigslist or junkyard for a few hundred dollars.

If you are planning on changing other things about the truck such as drive train or accessories the cab swap may or may not make sense. If you really want to get your hands dirty, I'd say go for it.

First, check the the roof and inside cowl before you bother with the truck, if those are bad-- consider passing on this.

 

I think I need to give the back story. Bare with me.

About 10 years ago I started off with a 97 f250 PowerStroke 4x4 automatic supercab. After a few years of abuse (I was 20) the transmission started showing signs that it was heading south. So when my brother mentioned selling his 93 f350 IDI 4X4 ZF5 crew cab (with a problematic motor) I scooped it up.

About a year later my transmission in the 97 finally went out. I sold a 3rd truck and the IDI engine went with it. It's not like I bought the 93 planning to fix the motor. I always planned to stick my 97 PowerStroke motor in it. It was the logical move. I had a complete donor and I would be upgrading from a 3/4 ton to a 1 ton. From a super cab to a crew cab. From an auto to a manual.

I had the 93 in the shop with the motor and dash out, got to drinking with a buddy and started talking about big plans for the truck. Regrettably, he talked me into cutting the back of the cab off so that we could add the back of the super cab to it. It will be fun he said. It will be AWESOME! He said. Well when I sobered up I found that I was in over my head. I felt overwhelmed and disappointed in myself and just let the truck(s) sit.

I couldn't just put the zf5 in my 97 either because I also cut that cab in half just before the door Piller.
Fast forward a few years, I'm married with 3 kids and money is kind of tight.. BUT.. I have experience in metal working and feel that I can maybe accomplish this cab stretching.

I got my 97 started the other day and listening to the motor running got me feeling excited to get this ball rolling. So I proceeded to pull the cab on the chopped 93 crew cab. And that's when I discover all of my rust. So it's not necessarily sentimental to me, but I've made enough bad decisions that I am not in a position to buy a 3rd cab. To be young and dumb, huh?

So that's where I'm at.