The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk 1946 - Mouse damage to the cab! Help please?

This is a duplicate of the post I put on the Paint and Body Shop board but I thought more of you all hang out here and I need all the help I can get!

Been working on stripping my 46 deco down to the bare bones to get it ready to repair/repaint and while I knew the windshield header panel was bad I didn't know how bad. I thought it was just the panel above the windshield that covers the wiper motors. I was wrong. Mice or rats at some point had completly filled this area with a huge nest.

The result of this was that the header and windshield hinges are gone! I think I can save the actual roof panel and the sheet metal cover over the wiper motors will be easy enough to fabricate but that header and the windshield hinges and pockets could cause this project to stall out for quite some time.

I need help. My thoughts are to either find a source for these parts re-popped or find a cab which is beyond repair but still has a good roof and cut mine off and put the better one on.

Anyone know if these parts are available?

Anyone have a junk cab with a good roof?

Any help greatly appreciated.

Wow.. that's some serious infestation!

My '46 was chock full o' mice stuff.. the little buggers had taken the stuffing out of the seats and made nests right in that header above the windshield.. when I took the inspection plates off, they were just packed full of mouse nest.

Haven't ever seen one so bad that it rotted the hinges, tho.. that's hard core.

I don't know that anybody sells a repop replacement roof, tho. You'll probably have to either replace the cab, or find a donor cab and chop off the top and graft it in on your cab.

I think theres a cab in the swap section. If not, look for somethin cheap in your local paper...sometimes farmers let em go cheap. I'm looking for a cab to replace my rear beltline and if I do you can have the rest (not sure when it will happen tho) but how to get to michigan???

Thats usually the problem I have. Anything I find that I need is too far away to be economical or practical to go get. I do know of a couple trucks in salvage yards relativly close to me, weather may be a problem for a while though and I'm not sure they are still there. So many have gone to the crusher since the price of scrap went up its just sad.

Just remember that all the '41 thru '46 cabs are the same cab.. a 2 ton cab is identical to the cab on a 1/2 ton.

You can find people letting the 1.5 and 2 ton'ers go real cheap or even free.

If you do happen to find an old cab at a good price, consult the 'hauling board' over at YesterdaysTractor.com i've sold lots of complete trucks, as well as just cabs to guys who got really low rates on freight from people they hooked up with off YesterdaysTractor.com

The last one was when I sold a 1.5 ton International KB-6.. the guy couldn't find anybody who wanted to mess with it.. but he found a guy on Yesterdays Tractor who showed up with a brand new tractor trailer and a low boy trailer who took that KB6 to Tennessee for $600.

The last cab I sold was off a '39 GMC, it went to a guy in Alabama I think.. he had a regular freight company pick it up, I just had to sit it on a pallet for him.. and I think that only cost him $300.

A local junkyard has a few 41 to 46s in it. Jeff

I have a lead on a yard about 30 miles from me that I'm told may have "a couple of old trucks like that". This from a fella who stopped in my shop today and saw mine. I'm not really sure he even knew it was a chevy but its a lead to a yard I previously didn't know existed so I guess I'll try to go and get a look this weekend. Who knows I may get lucky and find something worth using without having to pay big shipping costs.

Most of the scrap yards around here sent all their '40's thru '70's stuff to the cruncher a few years ago to make room for newer, more profitable, easier to sell stuff.

Locally, nobody wants the stuff.. except the guy paying something like $30 a ton for it.

Same around here. The state started cracking down on the little yards years ago and now the old stuff is all but vanished. Every once in a while though you hear about a small pocket of old stuff somewhere. Sometimes the rumor ya hear is just that, rumor. The other 1 out of 100 times you find something that makes the 99 disappointments worth it. I'll let ya know if this is the one or 1-99 after I check it out.

hay i know of a local yard that has those pices i can get them for around $100.00 dollars for you

Let me check on this local guy this weekend and if it turns out to be a dud I'll get back to you. I was looking at it today and thinking the easiest way to get the parts I need would be to get a roof cut off as low on the winshield posts as possible and then just cut it about 8-10 inches up over the tp from the windshield. Could possibly ship that size piece easier too.

How did you make out with the roof header? I was checking my 57's roof rust around the top of the windshield. It is rusted through the outside above the glass in the center and a small spot near the right windshield post. I took a screwdriver and pushed on the inside header in the same area and sure enough it was all rot. It is also fulled with chewed up seat cushion and mouse crap. I think I will try to find a header cut from someone and weld it in. Have you made any progress on yours?

I recall that one of the vendors has that piece as a patch panel for your '57 Alan. Might just be easier.

Haven't seem it for CayoRV's '46 though.

Good Luck.

A bit off topic but to keep mice and rats out of your truck while its in storage or awaiting restoration, put in a few handfuls of moth balls. That will keep them away.
Bill

I looked at a couple trucks in the local junkyard that has older trucks and they were bad in that area too but there are a bunch more that I did not see. Jeff

Dryer sheets keep the mice away, too.. and won't stink up your truck as bad as moth balls.. but you have to change them regularly.

Once the smell wears off the dryer sheets, the mice will come back, and end up using the sheets for bedding.

Thanks Colin. I had not seen anyone with that piece as a patch panel, but I will sure check with some of the vendors recomended here by stovebolters.
I don't have to worry about the mice now that the truck is inside my garage. It had set out in a field for 30 plus years until I got it in December.

Well our weather turned and not for the better! We had been having a very mild, dry winter here in Southwest lower Michigan. The key phrase being "had been". 2 and a half feet of the white stuff and still comming down. Oh yeah, the temps have gone from the balmy upper 30's to the chilly single digits and low teen's. Suffice it to say I have not gone out wandering through any yards yet but just as soon as this wether breaks I will be. In the meantime I'm just working on all the other things that need attention. Sounds like that is a problem area in general though.

I'm trying to find the catologue where I saw that patch panel, Alan. Coulda swore it was in LMC or Classic Parts of America.
If you can't find it, it should be fairly easy to fab up.
I'm sure others have replaced that panel here, so if you can't find it, or need some tips from those guys, start your own thread in the P&B shop and see what comes up.

Good Luck.

CayoRV, My ’41 was also filled with a nest along with both headlight buckets, the left door, and the interior panel that surrounds the back window. Luckily I was able to save all. There are fiberglass units from most of the parts houses and I have seen several go through this site. Try posting under parts wanted.

Similar thing to both our 3/4 ton and our 2 ton. Mice had filled that panel with relocated seat filler as well as the doors. We salvaged the 2 ton's but the 3/4 ton's was rusted right through and the nuts are solid. We cleaned the whole cab right out and the mice still like it! All there is left is the cab I can't figure what is so special there for them now...

i can still get those pecies if you want me to