Hello fellow members! My 55 cab has seen better days. i have to replace almost all the floor, rockers, cab corners, part of fire wall. I had the cab sand blasted and is now in epoxy primer. I scored a complete cab bottom at a swap. I had that sand blasted as well and primed. So where do i begin? can some one tell and show where i should brace the cab? sould i brace?what about replaceing the floor, cut out and but weld the metal back? Drill spot weld and seperate the pieces? I have never done this type of work but i can weld so thats the easy part. Any and all help would be great thanks and have a Happy Turkey Day! RT

 

I would replace all those pieces you mention one at a time, leaving whatever sound material you have as a reference to determine reasonable fits. For example, you might replace the rotten firewall section before you cut out the floor. Then you might piece in the rocker panels, making the connection to the door pillar (if it's sound). The floor would be a matter of filling in the missing piece(s), and the firewall should hold the cab together. Then you can go after the cowl patches. I would be nervous about cutting all the floor and fiewall out at one time. Even if it was well braced, you could loose any points of reference, and in my limited experience, patch panels and replacement sheet metal may not fit exactly without some tweaking. If you cut everything out at once, you may be dissapointed when you try to make all the new stuff come together. Good luck. Post some photos of your progress.

 

When I replaced the front floor boards and cab mounts on my 60, I had to jack the cab up to the correct position before welding in the patch panels for the floor. It had sagged down around the front cab mounts over the years.
jt

 

should i do the work to the cab with the cab on the frame with the cab mounted or off the frame? RT

 

I was assuming that the cab would be off the frame when I made my comments. I think that the work you're planning to do on the cab is going to be tough enough w/o the frame and gas tank, etc. in the way. I recently made similar repairs (not as extensive) to my cab. The cab rolls pretty easily from a floor down position to a position where it's lying on its back. This lets you get at the areas that you have to without putting it up on some kind of rotisserie. It's maybe a little primitive, but it works.

 

RT

My doors would be on the truck if I made any sort if serious structural floor and rocker repairs. If the cab door opening moves a quarter inch out of kilter you will rue the day you were born.

 

ok guys i just was able to get my gallery started. not bad for only tring for about as long as ive been a memeber to this site! HA HA little humor for my inability to use this computer and digital camera. take some peeks at the cab and let me know what you think. im going to get some pics of the frame next. RT

 

rtcalabrojr: nice photos. They're reminiscent of what I dealt with last summer. If your doors closed okay and the cab sat okay on the frame last time it was on, then I still think replacing the metal you mentioned piece by piece is the best way to get new stuff back on in the right places. I think the firewall that you've got will hold the cab together while you replace/patch the floor, and a newly installed floor will hold things together while you replace/patch the firewall. If you have doubts about this, then you can tack temporary bracing from door post to door post.

 

that cab was never on that frame this is a truck being built by all parts ive bought around. the doors i have came off another truck cab i have the whole floor in that one was shot RT

 

Everyone has their own "recipe" for doing things.
I personally would do that much major replacement with the cab on the chassis so it can act as a jig. First strip and remove the cab, and check the frame very carefully for any cracks (search the archives here to see pictures of where to look and what to look for. After doing any repairs needed, next check the diagonal measurements of the frame to verify it's square. Now you have a solid straight platform to work off of. Temporarily replace the rubber mount insulators with appropriate thickness metal spacers. Put the chassis on jackstands and level it front to back, side to side. Take your time and make sure what you use for shims etc is solid, it's likely to be in that position for some time. Bolt the cab back onto the chassis through the temporary spacers.
Next work off the corner of the cab that has the least amount of floor rot or fatigue and start leveling the rocker panels and the cab side to side. Loosen any mounting bolts except the reference one as necessary. Check side to side measurements to be sure the cab is centered over the frame. I'd then replace the floor in two pieces, front and rear in that order since the front is usually in the worse shape, bolting the panels to the frame with the same metal spacers then tacking everything together as I went along. Once the floor is all in, and you've rechecked the body for level and centered I'd weld it up solid. Next I'd attack the firewall, then the door posts and finally the outside sheet metal. Every minute spent in preparation and set up will pay off in hours of not having to chase/fix alignment problems down the road or having bolt holes that don't line up, doors that don't fit right and sags that will always make the truck look "funny" in an unpleasant way. In these older vehicles even stock body parts from another truck of the same year will not necessarily fit the same way, much less aftermarket replacement parts. Good luck and have fun!

 

does anyone have prints of the parts to mount the cab to the frame? or a detail of the parts and how they where welding when the truck was built. RT

 

Look on the web sites and/or order the catalogs of the replacement parts suppliers such as Mid Fifty and Dennis Carpenter. They have a wealth of detail drawings that show where the parts go. I think it will be pretty obvious where/how the panels were joined as you remove them. A good set of spotweld drill bits and an air chisel will come in very handy!

 

I posted some graphic stuff with respect to cab mounting in my gallery under "cab pieces". Nothing too specific, but the basic pieces and their relationship to each other is illustrated.

 

so i should bolt the doors on and mount the cab to the frame than fix the cab. i thought it would be easy to do the work with out the frame under it. RT

 

It's much easier to build on a solid platform with references when replacing major structural panels. Once you start cutting the cab will start moving around like a cardboard box with the ends open. Having a different cab, doors and chassis than what came together makes it even more likely you'd have some serious fit problems later if you do it off the frame. You'll be much happier with the results doing it on the frame. You should do some close examination of the underside and even take some pictures before mounting the cab so you'll have a good understanding of what's there so you don't end up cutting off braces or something you need while you are cutting out the panels.