The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk seperating a 5-window cab

we have a cab that is shot, but has a perfect 5-window top, what has to be done to seperate the top, so we can put on another cab? thanks

That is a lot of work both to get the top off and to replace it onto another cab.

The top is both welded and bolted to the lower portion of the cab. Along the rear belt line you will find about 85 spot welds in addition to four bolts which cannot be access without having double jointed fingers. The bolts appear to have been installed prior to the inside top panel being installed so getting to the top of the bolts is not possible without first cutting some metal.

I have read where others have done this but having replaced the rear panel on my 54 I have been inside that area and it was very tight.

To make a '54 3 window into a 5 window, I changed the whole cab. It was kind of a big job, but worked fine.

ok thanks for the info guys

Factory assembly manual shows 37 welds on the back panel and no bolts, but I know how things can change when they are actually built. If I were doing something like this I would get a sawzall and cut across the back of the cab below the belt line seam on the 5 window so you can easily clean it up for installation and cut across above the beltline on the top you are replacing. Look for a weld at the bottom of the front pillars to cut loose and reattach in the same spot.

Go to your nearest bookstore and get a copy of Tom Brownell's "How to Restore Your Chevrolet Pickup". The whole book is great but for this project start at page 127.

I think it would be easier to piece the corner windows in than to section the whole back half of the cab. I personally prefer the 3 window trucks, the curved corner windows act like a magnafying glass on my balding head.
Scott

Do a search over in the body work forum. MartinSR suggested another way to do this that requires a little more metal finishing but doesn't change as much of the truck.

Hey OldSub, I checked out the bodywork forum for MartinSR and all I coud find were two posts on matching paint and one on tin snips. Where exactly was the post on 5-window cab separation? I'm quite interested as my 5-window cab is all rust from the bottom up, but I have a good 3-window cab for free and I don't have to worry about the magnifying effect of corner windows like 48bigtrucks. Maybe I might lose my full head of hair though from too much sun shining through those two extra windows. Might have to rethink this plan

Check out 52motorheads members link. He cut the corner windows out of a cab and welded them another cab.

http://www.stovebolt.com/gallery/melenko_jason_1952.html

The post is years old, but I've been able to find it in the past. Might need to search posts by him to find it...

Sorry I've never saved a link to it.

thanks fellas, we decided it might be more work than just putting new metal in the cab, so i think the idea is sunk, but thanks again