The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Reassembly

Hello people,
I'm working on a 1950 Chevy 3800. I just bolted the cab back on the frame, and also used cab mounting kit from J.Carters. I ran into a clearance problem between the cab and clutch/brake pedals. Factory Assembly manual shows 1.83 inch between floor panel and frame. Does anyone think that a total of two inches between frame and floor panel is too much? I've looked at four other cabs for a solution to this problem, but they have all been notched, and this wouldn't be original. Any suggestios? Thanks in advance.... Clint

Is it riding on rubber things? If so could you either run it down to get that .17 inch, or maybe shave em a bit?

I just went and measured my stock '49 3800 and the right side shows about 1.5625" and the left side right at the brake cylinder shows closer to 1.5" even. Brake and clutch both operate fine without any drag. I expect that my cab mounts have settled/worn that much.

The only problem I can foresee is the front sheet metal alignment as it indexes off the core support at the front and the cab cowls are the back. Until you hang the sheetmetal you may or may not have a problem for your particular truck. They all have their unique qualities and attributes when it comes to reassembly.

The cab does rest on the rubber pads, I untightened both front cab mounting bolts and lifted the cab. It would almost take another rubber pad and shim to get the right clearance so the cab doesn't touch the brake and clutch levers. I could shim the core support the same amount,that way the sheet metal would be in alignment, it sounds good on paper anyway. Any other suggestions?

I haven't been there yet but if you shim the front by some amount, it is really pivoting on the back shackles, I would think. Therefore because the fenders add another 3 1/2' or so, I would expect the core support to need twice the shim depth.

Two things:

First, my '51 1/2 ton and the '49 2 ton I got a donor cab from both had shims below and above the front and rear mounts.

Second, is there anything you can do with the pedal mounting/installation?

I just put the donor cab on my 51 fram with new mounts etc and have no problems with the pedal levers interferring with the installation of the cab, and put them on the spindle after mounting the cab.

If you shim the front cab mounts to prevent rubbing you should put the same amount of steel shim between the rear mounts and the floor to maintain front/back tilt. If not you could have poor hood to cowl fit. Mine had shims in the rear mounts with 2 holes in them which I assume were for that purpose.