The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Are cab two piece?

My teacher always told me that if one person didn't know the answer it wasn't a dumb question, so here goes.

Are cabs on the '47-55's two piece?

On the inside of the cab there appears to be a flange holding the roof to the lower portion. On the outside the roof section appears to indeed have an unfilled seam where the two meet. However at the windshield post it all appears to be one.

That Ebay truck with the tree damaged roof is starting to look better if they are two piece.

Thanks for any knowledge on this that you can share.

While I dont know the exact answer to your specific question, They can be as many pieces as can be cut, and re-welded back together. This is why you see "patch panels" for sale. To replace rusted or otherwise damaged sections of the vehicle like rocker panels, fender tips, cab corners, floor pans, etc. The entire roof can be cut off, and another one put in it's place.
The most pertinent question then becomes one of economics, is this a job you can do yourself, or how much will it cost to have someone do it for you, VS. how much $ can you buy a truck without a bad roof for to begin with. HTH

yeah they are two pieces. the factory assembly manual (sheet 36.00 covers the "a" pillar assembly and finishing. essentially they would weld, solder and finish a section of the "a" pillar between the cab base and the cab top.

on page 37.00 and 38.00, they cover the assembly of the rear of the cab top to the cab base. it's welded along the seam you discovered.

if you don't have a factory assembly manual it might be worth getting one. they have a lot of good information about how stuff went together, or at least how it was supposed to...

Windy,
The cabs are stuck together with 300 million spot welds. GM stamped the cab in pieces and put it together. Unless you are a glutton for self punishment I would pass on the mashed truck.

There are straight rigs out there for sale all the time. I just chopped up a junk cab I had and the area around the "unfilled" seam is full of bends, blind panels, welds and flanges! Not a nice area to get into to. I think the ChevyDuty catalog has a page that shows "typical" spotweld locations on these trucks..it'll make you nervous. Keep looking.


Stuart.

Thanks, those answers told me my answer. I figured that there had to be more to it than bolting them together.

I have been preparing an order from a couple of catalogs and the assembly manual is on the list. I already have the shop manual. Knowing what is in it makes me want it more and now.

The damaged cab truck on Ebay appears to be pretty much otherwise a really decent truck. I do have an extra 5 window cab that I could use, but it has rusted out cab corners. Corner patches seem pretty reasonable and I can weld.

I basically bought the 5 window for other parts and discovered that other than the cab corners and another spot or two it really shouldn't go to the scrap yard yet. Perhaps it'll become my cheap-o daily driver. You know, Rustoleum paint, no interior, and the cracked block engine that was repaired with JB weld. That sort of thing.

Thanks for the quick replies. I'll not get out the socket set.

Just my 2 cents That beltline seam and all the spotwelds that go with it is why most people doing a 3 window to 5 window graft opt to cut the cab way down in therear floor area and the 2 "A" posts. You end up with the entire cab rear wall and roof grafted to your existing floor and cowl Regards Steve Sr.

That "beltline seam" Steve Sr. mentions is the only place on my '49 GMC where I've found any body cancer. Two shops I been to to get it fixed want to do a bondo type repair. I don't want to go that route, but haven't found anyone comfortable doing a metal repair on the beltline. I've not found any patch panels available for this area from the popular shops (Carter, Chevy Duty, etc.) Would appreciate any thoughts or sugggestions.

Itcmikem,
If you can find a cutaway or crossection of it you will undersand why it holds moisture
and rusts so badly. As I stated earlier, I just cut up an old cab and I wish I had taken a picture of a "slice" to show you. My rig was rot free in this seam area, but after I saw how it
was assembled I really don't know how a person would fix it properly. I would guess that you could sandblast it clean, treat it with a Rust Mort type of coating then glass/bondo it up. Find a picture of how it is assembled before you tear into it so you will know where and how to excise the cancer!

I don't think you will find a patch for this area as it is made up of multiple pieces, but I am sure that at least one of the guys on this site has been down this road before!


Stuart.


Stuart.

if all the cancer is removed filler will work fine by the time it fails youll be ready for a repaint again good luck