The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Cab Repair

We bought a truck in decent shape other that the hit on the back of the cab. It came with a second cab that was supposed to be better. However upon a inspection the cabs floors are toast, there's a good amount of rust where the fenders bolt on, and the dash has more holes than a block of swiss cheese. I was thinking about just swapping the roof and rear panels. Is this fairly straightforward or am I opening up a can of worms? Any thoughts, ideas, or direction is greatly appreciated.

Both cabs look pretty rough. The bed on the first one won't win any beauty contests either. Did the same thing the hit the back of the cab take out the bedside at the same time. You could swap roofs, but another option is to buy new patch panels, which would save you the effort of removing the "good" one from the second cab. Any way you go, it's going to be a lot of work. With the rear of the cab being double wall, it's a bit more complicated, involving a lot of disassembly/reassembly. Alignment of doors is going to be an issue as well. I would study both cabs and price up patch panels before doing any cutting.

If you have lots of money, you can buy a complete cab.

Welcome to the Stovebolt.

l would look for another donor cab. Might be a bit costly up front, but it will save you a ton of of headaches and work. If you have never done this type of bodywork before, it could be even more costly.

Post a want-ad for a cab here in the Swap Meet

1947-48 (probably not what you want)
or 1949-53
or 1954/55st (probably not what you want)

Put an ad in the trucks/parts wanted swap meet and I'll post some pictures there.

Don

Not heavy in the wallet from money. However I have do have time. I have never worked on an AD cab before. I have replace entire floors, kick panels, rocker panels, etc on cars. I know where two cabs are sitting locally. I'll check them out before putting up a wanted add. And yes, whatever smacked the cab took out the driver side of the bed. We are looking for a bed side and fender as well but the cab is the first on the to do list. Thank you everyone.

You live in New Mexico. There are probably better cabs half buried in dried up river beds nearby than what you currently have. Find a better cab. No need to be a hero. I have repaired a cab in worse condition than what you have. I did not receive the Key To the City for doing it. I will never go that route again. Too much work with lots of frustrating pitfalls along the way.

What Carl said.
Dried up river bed!

Thanks fellas. I reached out to the first cab I knew about a little bit ago and they literally sold it today. On to the next one.

Swap floors or buy floors. Fix dash with patches made from other truck and fab some. Same with fender problem.
All that is easier and no risk. Swapping tops has possible BIG risks, with window/windshield fits and door fits. Swapping tops is not for the faint hearted. Could end up with two unusable trucks. I don't think you need to buy any more trucks. But not enough detailed pics to say for sure.

Can of worms....keep looking.

😜

If you have more time than money what do you have to loose?Cant tell from the picture but if the windshield hasn’t moved I’d probably go for it. Still a cab swap is easier.

I think the top of the cab from the belt line is bolted with the exception of the lead covered joints on the window frame that should be the same on each truck ,and there would be a join some wear above the door latch .As for the portion of the cab below the belt line you could cut out a patch panel from the good truck as you said you have lots of time

The upper rear of the cab is bolted to the lower rear, but then the interior panels are spot welded on, covering the bolt heads. There are also some welds at the door lock pillar. It would be do-able if the inner panels are removed. The joints at the lower portion of the windshield are lapped and spot welded, then lead finished. Melt the lead out of those joints on both cabs, and use a spot weld cutter, which should get the alignment fairly close. Measure the windshield opening height prior to cutting and make that match when welding things back together.

Yes that sounds like a good plan of attack ,I would also keep the doors on and have them aligned before starting .I don’t think it would be to hard of a job but I am here on the couch

It would be HARD. Trust me. I'm in the middle of rebuilding the cowl and floor on my cab and that's hard.
I agree with either keeping the doors on or welding in some significant bracing to keep things aligned. Doors off would allow more access to the interior for the work.

I'm in a similar boat, not quite as extensive as yours. however, its isn't easy. although the metal is thick enough as i have learned that you can pound on it hard and not go too far. welding isn't as bad as the metal is thick enough to not blow through. cut a bad piece off your parts cab and take a jigsaw or sawzall and cut a slit in it. sand it to bare metal with a flappy wheel on a grinder and use that to set your welder as well as practice. get it fit with as little gap as you can, spot and dot skipping around to keep the heat down. Worst case scenario, you have some experience and need to buy a different cab. I still think you are better off buying a parts cab versus a repop cab. The repop panels i have bought aren't as right as i think they should be. I wouldn't imagine that an entire cab would be right either.

as an example, i bought new kick panel replacement patches, the originals had grooves that were angled but flat at the bottom "U" shaped... the patch panels were "V" grooves. a little thing, but still not right.