Working on my cab floor. I am thinking of replacing the section where the large "X" is with just a flat piece. Does anybody know if the X serves any purpose?



Whats the "X" for?

 

A really cool song by ZZ Top. But really it's purpose it to add strength to the floor. It keep's it from what's known as "oil canning". Maybe you can save it and put it in the new piece.?

 

It does add some structural rigidity to the cab floor. Doesn't have to be an X necessarily, If you have access to a bead roller, you can add some structure to your flat piece. I have to ask, why are there so many holes drilled in that cab floor? Just curious. Nevermind, looks like drilled spot welds.

 

The drilled holes are the spot welds drilled out where the center cab support once was. It was so rusted I had to remove it. The holes in the area of the X are just rust holes. The truck was from MI and has some substantial corriosn to it, which is why I removed the cab and tipped it onto it;s side so that I could work on restoring the floor.

 

I am thinking of just welding a flat piece from the bottom, just to cover up all of the holes. I am not loking to make a show truck, just a weekend driver. I dont need the floor (which will be covered with carpet) to look pretty.

Mainly need to somehow cover up all of these small rust holes.

 

are you thinking cutting that out and replacing with a flat piece of steel or leaving what you have and adding a flat sheet?

the first option will likely result in the "oil can" effect where you hear (and likely feel) it move every time there is any change in force on that area. i think you'll be really disappointed if you do this.

if you are thinking the second option, that will work and shouldn't have the oil can effect... one potential concern might be that you'd be creating the type of situation that is very likely to rust and push those pieces of steel apart. by the time you'd notice it, it would likely be a huge issue. you can mitigate that quite a bit though by priming the sides of the steel that will be touching with weld through primer and cutting out 100% of any rust you see. you can also try not to drive it in situations where that area would get wet and don't let anyone bring any liquid that could be spilled in the truck. i think even if you went light on the ideas to keep it dry, it will likely take decades to be a problem unless you live in a state that salts their roads in the winter.

its probably more welding than it would be in total in either case to do this than to just cut patch panels out for each of those holes and even though it looks like you'd have some interesting bends to recreate to make this look factory, i don't think it's necessary at all. you could use all flat pieces welded together and hard angles... it will all be covered by atleast a rubber mat and a seat if not sound deadener, carpet and a seat.