The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop 1952 3100 Rear cab panel

I am in the process of removing and replacing the lower rear cab panel on a 1952 3100. I have cut the whole panel out except for the top 1" strip that attaches to the window panel/belt line. Any advice of how to remove.
The panel has a folded lip that is spot welded to the upper panel. It is sandwiched between the upper window panel and a brace that runs from one side of the cab to the other.
Any idea or tips of how to do this?
Thanks,
Brad

I think if I was in your position, I would drill out the spotwelds along the beltline reinforcement and plug weld the new panel in place. That assumes that the new panel has the same flange that's sandwiched in place. I think that would be much less likely to warp than butt welding the new pane on that top 1" strip and trying to dress up the butt weld.

Thankfully, I'm not in your position. It sounds like a lot of work in either case.

Good luck

Why was it necessary to replace the entire lower panel? If is because of rust, then I suspect that the pinch weld between the upper and lower rear panel will be horribly rusted as well.
Does the replacement panel have the flange at the top which is to be pinch welded to the upper half?
The problem with this repair from my standpoint is that the pinch weld is inaccessible from the inside or the outside. It is covered up by a panel on the inside.
Can you post some pics of the replacement panel top flange? (It is really easy to post pics now. Even I can do it!)
I have had to cut out and replace the entire beltline pinch weld on my '52. It was a monumental chore.
Carl

Looking at the Factory Assembly Manual, the inner panel spot welds to the turned down front of the belt rail after that, the upper outer and lower panel are welded, so like Carl said, unless you removed the inner upper body panel, the joint for the outer panel would be basically inaccessible, although it could be plug welded from the bottom. It would definitely be a PITA. Maybe a butt weld joint would be the way to go. I'm guessing the need to replace may have been dictated by the rear of the cab being beat to a nub by people throwing stuff in the bed and likely rust on the bottom as well.
[on edit] meant inaccessible above.

The old panel was rusted on the corners, and was also very dented. The previous owners had a tons of bondo covering it up. I think I will moved forward with drilling out all the spot welds on the support at the belt line. Its gonna be a lengthy repair.
Thanks for the advice!!!

Here's a thought. Maybe you could clean off that 1" of the old lower rear panel you left below the beltline, then install the flange on the new panel BELOW the joint instead of trying to sandwich it between the belt reinforcement rail and upper outer panel. You'd also need to remove the vertical flange from the top of the new lower panel That would put the new panel about 1/16 inch lower than the original. You could temporarily fasten it with sheet metal screws then go back and plug weld it to the bottom of the belt reinforcement rail. The lower position wouldn't make much difference on the lower panel. You'd need to dress up the joint on the outside with some filler, but I think it would be much easier than trying to basically disassemble the rear of the cab to weld that panel in place.

I'd recommend you get a copy of the FAM and study the related pages.