The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot '60-'66 Trucks cab repair...jumping in soon

Hello,
getting ready to repair my cab. It is pretty bad. Rusted out at front pillar below door hinges, small front cab mounts, whole rockers gone(both), side floor boards, rear corner.....

My plan is as follows...first remove all remnants of the inner and outer rockers since they are holding nothing in place....then to replace bottom of pillar where door mounts first. Then to put bolts in the holes for the door then lift up on the cab and replace the under cab small bracket. Not sure if the cab bracket is welded to the longer front to back bracket, or it is held in with the spot welds to the floor. After this small bracket is installed (I am not buying the sleeve over ones, I will buy the oem ones). Probably only tack it in one or two places to the old floor, since I will be replacing the floor too. When I get this close to the height, I will get inner rocker bolted to the brackets (door pillar and the cab frame bracket). Next I would tie into the rear of the truck with the inner rocker. Pretty sure this is a bolt part also, but Ill make sure I have the welder next to me in case.

Once this frame work around the door is complete, I will cut out the floor on the side I am working on then weld it to the good part of the floor, inner rocker and the cab bracket.

After that, I have the kick panel to repair then the rear of the cab. and eventually the inner rocker. Door closes well now, hoping not too much shift when I weld the rest of the structure in.

Does this make sense?

I know people are gonna tell me to just find a cab, but its pretty thin out there and with shipping, it will cost less money. I know my time is worthless.

Thanks for any input.

Find a cab. I read that the middle of the rims were rusted out so bad they leaked air. Are you sure there is enough of this truck left to save? Did you see that 64 C30 in Philly Craigslist? May be cheap and good?

The rest of the frame is solid.

One frame issue, a little bend near where the leaf springs come to contact with the frame. Was wondering what people did to fix this? Heat then straighten? Then add a couple gusset pieces and weld them in? Just loosen U bolts then put in a thicker longer piece of steel to spread out the load?

Leon, your posts are very hard to understand. To many things to follow. Also you are not using the proper names of parts of your truck. In general: The cab is the body. The frame is the chassis built from long channels that have cross members. The body/cab and the bed are bolted to the frame. The rear leaf springs have hangers and shackle brackets that attached the springs to the frame. The rear axle is attached to the springs with Ubolts. The spring sits on cradles or perches which are welded to the axle tube. If you rephrase I will try to help.

The part of the A pillar where the doors attach is called the hinge pocket.

Your posts are all over the place asking how to fix things that we have no idea what you are talking about. I suggested getting a donor cab and it may too far gone and you answered about the frame and said nothing about the cab/sheet metal.
Don't discuss a complicated explanation of a fix you have in mind until you have described EXACTLY what is wrong using the proper names. Then we can agree or suggest other ways. As far as your welding new patch and repair pieces on your cab. It's cut out the old and weld in the new. The rule is don't cut out any more than is needed and to cut and modify the new pieces to fit. If you feel the cab will not twist out of shape then no temporary supports are needed. Fixing a rusted out cab is done all the time if it's not extreme and if there is enough good about the cab to make it worthwhile and cost effective.

bartamos,

sorry for not using terms easy for you to understand. thinking I dont understand the difference between the cab and the frame is pretty funny.

I really dont need a lecture on proper terms, sorry.

I have done other restorations, so trying to explain welding principles for a restoration to me is not needed.

Was trying to explain a method of steps to follow, pretty straight forward not really confusing at all.

As for explaining the cost effectiveness, the same futility is not needed. If I know I replaced what it bad, it is worth it more to me than not knowing what is hidden in a used cab.

feel free not to try to help if you can understand the terms I use. not trying to be ungrateful, but you have suggested nothing more than just buying another one that may or may not be better than what I have. here on the east coast, we dont have the luxury of just finding a rust free anything.

sorry for everyone else having to listen to this, but really think he could be a little helpful instead of condescending.

Sounds like you know what you are asking and I don't. No offence meant. Your second post really thru me. First I thought it was a bent frame near a hanger bracket or shackle bracket somewhere....then loosening Ubolts and adding gussets and the pieces of steel flew into my cuckoo's nest.

Leonphelps,
Welcome to the site. We have a common interest. Feel welcome to checking with the old dominion stove bolt society (Odss) on this site. Their are regulars in your philly area that may be of assistance. You should be able to find the philly folks through Amtrak joe, who under suspicious terms anointed himself someone of importance. But I will tell you he is pretty regular and easy to get along with after his morning coffee. Otherwise there is a big contingent a short drive south in Va and MD.
Welcome.

Just to jump on Hambone's bandwagon... Indeed, as the discussion above partially illustrates, we much prefer talking in person and seeing the issue in front of us (far less misinterpretation of what/how things are said ... ). So if you can hook up with us, I'm sure we can help you sort this out. But pictures are always helpful in the meantime.

As Hammie says, lots of great guys in the Philly area. What any of them actually know about anything is ... subject of much debate but they're still great guys and well worth the effort to meet up with them in person.

Hope we can help you noodle through this!

Regards,
John

leonphelps,
One of the biggest things that helped me is to measure everything before you start removing anything. And when I say everything I mean everything, meaning the distance from the roof to the floor, top off the door to the floor, from door to door, diagonally across the cab, etc. You cannot measure too much. Trust me once you start cutting things away, things have a way of moving a 1/2 or more and then when things are all back together you may find you cannot get your doors to align/fit, the cab corners to fit, or a seat to fit, or you get the idea. Thing is, that 1/2 won't be noticeable until later in the build.
Then compare these measurements against what you will find in the assembly manual. If you don't have an assembly manual get one. You will thank yourself later. You should be somewhere in the range they show, if not confirm your measurements or it may be that the rusted area has moved that much. In that case you do not want to keep it the same.
Also, find a good solid point to hook up to. For my 64 I used the two inner fender attach points off the firewall and the aft cross brace that spans the cab at the rear of the cab (where the body bolts attach). This will give you a good foundation to work from.
Then confirm the parts you need. Maybe the parts have changed a bit but the floors I used came with the inner rockers so don't buy inner rockers if you are going to replace the floors.
As to your plan, I think you are on to a good start. I'm sure there may be different places to start and it probably would depend on how bad each part you are replacing is but you have to start somewhere. For me I started with the rockers and under cab braces, but then that is why I found out the floors already have the inner rockers when I went to install them. So you may want to combine the floor into your start. Just measure and remeasure as you go along.
Good luck in your efforts.

As for what I am working with...
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-YJFziHQIf8k/V_rkBKdG5aI/AAAAAAAAKes/HaPo1JYkmv82ZCzJfJIbEtfdO-rw1_y8gCJoC/w320-h180/16%2B-%2B1

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-uApqcVYBEpA/V_rj28Cr28I/AAAAAAAAKeQ/juosq27mffk10nO37b5yoQbIuqtzenQyQCJoC/w346-h195/16%2B-%2B1

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-dbWpYi78Y6Q/V_rj9DV7NbI/AAAAAAAAKeo/1Jd518hTxXkDO8B4gkkNZrArLyUCCCEdACJoC/w346-h615/16%2B-%2B1

It seems my cab brackets are ok, except the drivers side front one. It has collapsed.

I was planning on trying one side at a time, with the drivers being first. With inner and outer rockers gone and needing the cab mount, I was going to get the cab mount out first, after jacking up on the door hinge bolts. After the new bracket is in place, I wanted to weld it to the main cab support bracket. With that in place, I want to put in a full inner rocker panel. This will let me use the two holes in the bracket on the front and the two in the back to get things situated for the pocket or pillar post (depending on what you call it). I have measurements for these holes, and the repair piece will weld over the existing piece so shouldnt be too crazy. Once that is in place, I want to move to the kick plate. Once kick plate is in, I want to move to the floor repair, then to the rear cab repair. the metal under the seat all looks good, so I would only be patching the front floor up the the firewall, even though later I will be repairing the firewall.

as for my frame question, I had an aftermarket helper spring installed on the truck. guess it was normal for the time. Since I dont plan on loading the truck, I removed it.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-zywBs-zlmgA/V_rms0Ifw2I/AAAAAAAAKfk/WJLTXB9VeXASQi_Y6L3JUKaEE3upHtlRACJoC/w346-h195/16%2B-%2B1

leonphelps,
Looking at the photos, I would say that you do have your work cut out for you.
In addition to the rust-out condition of the floor I also see rust through in the cab vent. This would lead me to think that your cowl was full of leaves (or something) such that it could not drain. Please make sure that you evaluate all of the cab for rust and rust-out conditions. Rust is like an iceberg, what you see is just the surface and the bulk of it is what you can't easily see.
If you still feel that fixing is better than a donor cab, I would suggest the rocker panel (#20) shown on this link:
http://www.lmctruck.com/icatalog/cbe/full.aspx?Page=9
verses patching with the inner/outers. You may want to get these first to determine what other specific parts you need (I did not use these so I don't know if they come with the innner parts attached or if you would want to use the parts that come with the floors.
You may not need all of the floor section but you may not be able to make the intricate bends needed. Plus what you don't use you will give you extra metal to work with.
On this link:
http://www.lmctruck.com/icatalog/cbe/full.aspx?Page=11
For the floors you could get items #2/3 and #6. The other parts it looks like you will also need #1 and #7.
Take this with a grain of salt. I do not do bodywork for a living so mine is only an opinion and may not be right for you.

That was part of my plan. from the page 11 diagram, I was gonna buy #'s 10, 6, 14, 1, 7, and 9. Still up in the air about using the #3 or #2 for the floor. Need to measure the seam distance to see which covers more. An easy flange on the inner rocker then cut the floor to where I need it.

As for the cowl, yes it was full of leaves and rotted the bottom out on the dash side. Pretty easy fix once I get the welds out. a piece of steel and panel bonding material will fix it in no time, then weld the piece back on. I am sure some will cringe at the panel bonding adhesive, but I swear by it. I did lower door skins on my 65 impala. ten minutes to panel bond then wait 24 hours to cure, versus 3 hours of spot welding and half an hour of bondo.