The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Rear interior panel removal

Just wondering the best procedure to remove the interior rear cab sheet metal. It appears to be fastened around the rear window and the doors. Is it possible to remove and reinstall without damaging it beyond repair? Thanks.

Well it would really help to know what vehicle you are talking about. If it is a Farmall tractor, I can't help you.
Carl

Sorry I was referring to a 1952 2 ton Chevy truck.

A spot weld removing drill bit will be needed. You are going to be there for a while. There are a bunch of spotwelds there.

Thanks for the advice. Will hopefully be able to remove and replace without too much damage.

Just wondering, are you removing this inner panel because of rust or damage? The reason I'm wondering is I have a 52 2 ton also but left that panel alone. I wondered about removing it but figured it would possibly cause too much damage, the one in my truck is in good shape. I do have a couple dents in the roof area behind it but am going to try a stud welder and puller to remove them.
Steve

I am trying to remove a couple of dents that are behind it. But am open to suggestions on not to do it. The liner is in good shape so I don't want to damage it trying to take it out or reinstalling it. Thought it might be easier to pound out the dents than to try and pull them.

I wasn't trying to second guess you or anything, was just curious. I guess it depends on the size of the dents, mine has a couple where I think the cab hit a combine auger. I am going to try to use the stud welder and puller, really don't know any other way. Like you I would rather use a hammer and dolly to get dents out but with the inner panel in place that isn't an option. My only thought is cutting the welds loose is going to do quite a bit of damage unless a person is real good at welding and repairing the spots. I had to cut the floor out of mine, was rusted bad. Didn't turn out too bad but was a pile of work. Some of the more experienced guys on this site may have other ideas. Obviously you can do whatever you think is best on your project. These things are a bunch of work, I have been working for weeks on the doors from mine. Good luck on your 2 ton.
Steve

I appreciate any input I can get. I have restored several tractors, but this is my first attempt at a vehicle. I'm looking for advice from someone who "has been there, there done that" That's what I like about this forum, it is a wealth of information from those that are very knowledgeable. I think your idea of pulling the dents will make for a lot less of a headache.

I'm like you, this is the first vehicle I have ever attempted and I am very much a novice. The stud welder and puller I have is from Harbor Freight but I know Eastwood and others sell these. The HF set doesn't work all that good. I don't mind the mechanical work on these since everything is fairly straightforward. The body is something else, I have never done any body work, for me the toughest part of body work has been painting. I can really appreciate the professional body guys and what they do. I have been working on this thing off and on for several years, am wondering if I will ever get done. I have some pictures posted in the DIY section of the welcome page if you are interested. I can say it's important to take pictures and take good notes while you are taking things apart. I made the mistake of not doing this right at first. I found that I couldn't always remember how to get something back together. I was lucky that I have several other old pickups and one parts 2 ton to look at.
I don't know how much work your truck needs or how far you want to go on the restoration but if I can be of any help let me know. The good thing is the cabs on the bigger trucks are all the same as the pickups so parts are generally not a problem. However the gas tanks, radiators, and many of the suspension parts for the 2 tons are bigger and are not reproduced. Same with fenders, grilles, hoods, and apparently the hood emblem as we both know. I don't know much about restoring tractors, I had an old IHC M built in 41. It needed a bunch of work, ended up trading it for some rifles. Bought a new small John Deere instead. Anyway good luck.
Steve

Before I would try to remove the inner panel to push the dents back out (are they severe?), I would drill holes in the inner panel to facilitate pushing the dents back out. It will be much easier to weld up a few holes than cutting and re-welding the spot welds.
Carl

Looked at your pics. Nice job on the restoration so far. It is inspiring me to get over my uncertainty with this project and tackle it head on. The tractors that I have restored all had nice sheet metal on them and were not that much of a challenge. To me the body work is the most daunting, the least forgiving, is what everyone notices first and is most critical of. I would like to do a frame off restoration, take my time, get it done right and do the work as time and money allow. I noticed that your truck has the passenger side mirror. Mine only has the one on the driver's side. Another part to search for. Will try and post some pictures so you can see what I am up against. Don

Thanks for the nice comment, it is an amateur job for sure. Know what you mean about the challenge of body work, I had my doors painted and ended up sanding off the paint. My spray gun plugged up and I had what looked like paint boogers on the doors. Sanded back to primer, added another coat of primer, then 2 coats of paint. Still not too happy with the way it looks. This truck will be a 20 footer, looks good from that distance but get up close and see little screw-ups. The floor was a real job but I think the worst thing was the cab windlass, ended up just screwing it onto the cab. As far as removing the cab I wish I had done that, it would have been way easier. I had to replace my mounts anyway. I pulled the cab on a 52 half ton I have so I could get the cab into my storage building since I didn't have room for the whole thing. Might be a future project, is real rough. Found once the doors, gas tank, seat, etc is out of the cab the cab doesn't weigh all that much. Lifted that one with the loader on my tractor. The right mirror on my truck is not original I don't think. It appears someone welded the bracket to the cab with a stick welder. They did a horrible job, that is something else I need to try to fix. The hoist also needs to come off, need to find someplace that will rebuild the cylinder and pump. Lots to do. It keeps a guy out of trouble for sure.
Steve

I would not go to the trouble of drilling out a bunch of spot welds to hammer and dolly. If it could come out easily that would be one thing, but that is a lot of work.... Trust me on that one. The stud guns from HB are ok, but the actual puller kinda sucks. Purchase a decent one and save yourself the headache and trouble of drilling out all those spot welds and then trying to get it back in correctly.

Thanks to everyone for their input. I think I will leave it in and attack the sheet metal from the outside.