The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Cab alignment with pictures (51 half-ton)

I've pretty much got my cab stripped down and it looks pretty nasty just looking at the rust and hafassed repair work by the PO. Beyond that I'm seeing something that could indicate something a bit more serious. Things don't quite look like they are where they belong.

For instance the steering column is not in the center of either the dash or the firewall.
PHOTO 1
PHOTO 2
PHOTO 3

Also, the clutch and brake pedal arms are rubbing against the top of the holes in the floorboard which would appear to be symtomatic of the body mount failure causing the cab to "sink"
PHOTO 1
PHOTO 2

I know I'm in for a lot of work but before I get started I'd appreciate any advice/observations/help of any kind that you might care to share. This truck has had more than its fair share of abuse from those who have owned it before me but it's in my hands now and I intend to restore its dignity... The doctor is in.

If you want to see the whole sordid mess, the pictures are HERE You can click the SLIDESHOW button in the upper right corner of the screen if you like to speed things up.

Oh my. You have your work cut out for you. It's one thing to replace original rusted panels.....it's quite another to replace someone's replacements.

Begin the treatment doctor.

Paul

If there is one bright spot in this whole mess it's the fact that the patches are welded over the original rusted out parts so at least I have some point of reference to work from.

My column was not out of whack like that but my pedals are the same. I found that as I went to replace the floor over the cab mounts that the rubber inserts and any shims that were original were completely gone. After replacing them I got about half of what I was hoping for on the pedals. I am going to now try shimming the cab mount a bit as it shows in the factory assembly manual. I would guess it will take about a 1/4" of shim.

In your case I would definetly reccomend the complete toeboard pc. (full width) Assemble it with sheetmetal screws or rivets first so you don't have to grind welds to tweak it. Don't forget the bracing and make sure you fit the doors and even the clip before welding it up. That column/dash fit tells you alot about where it needs to go. Good luck.

Curt B.

Not sure what you mean by the "clip" ???

The front sheet metal, fenders etc.

Okay... Hadn't heard that term used that way, but an excellent idea that was on my list anyway... I didn't want to overload you guy with pictures of the way the hood and fender fit

That is a pretty good specimen to work on. That is an interesting arrangement on the steering column. In the end you want everything to fit including the doors. If you get in to replacing the inner to outer cowls, you will find that they will need to be modified to fit. Also you should check to see if you have a lot of play in the pedal bushings. It is good to know that now!

The cab will eventually come off and I'll be as thorough as I know how to be inspecting for worn, broken and missing things, but it sounds like you are saying that if the bushings are worn that could be exaggerating the reason the pedals are rubbing the tops of the holes?

How much of this should be done with the cab on the frame? I would imagine that as much as possible to be sure everything else fits properly? Or at least get everything tacked down and lined up and then tip the cab back on the frame for finish welding?

Any help from anyone who's actually done this would be greatly appreciated. I've done searches here and found several good tips and did find one that shows how the cowl parts have to be modified. From what I can tell so far, just the lower parts will need to be replaced.

I know I can do the work but I don't want to paint myself into a corner because I screwed up something that I didn't know was important in the beginning.

I have posted some new pictures to my webshots album of the work on replacing the entire corner on my 1950 3600. After finishing this work and shimming the cab my pedals fit perfectly. With some really simple modifications I strengthened the corner area significantly from what it was.

http://community.webshots.com/user/RugerWSM?vhost=community

Nice work!

Brad,
Nice work indeed! I just got a big box of patch parts yesterday and will be digging into mine as soon as I get my engine to the point where we can test run it before the warranty expires.

When you say you shimmed up your cab, could you be more specific? Like how much, where, with what, etc.

Some have warned to be careful because there might be problems getting the front fenders and hood to fit after this kind of surgery. Please keep us updated as you get to that part.

BTW, Good on you for using the TIG welder. I wish I could afford one.

On the shimming aspect I bought a kit with all the nuts, bolts, etc from Classic Parts. My pedals were off about 1/4" or so in the holes. I noticed that the rubber pad that goes between the cab and cab mount was completely gone. In reading the factory assembly manual I noticed it calls for a shim here in some cases. I put the rubber pad in and then made a 1/4" shim out of plate to go on top of it as shown in the manual. This proved to be too much so I ended up using a 1/8" shim and the pad which brought the cab up to what appears to be perfect alignment. I also added a couple of 1" x 1" x 1/8" (about 3" long) angle iron stiffeners ahead and behind the inner cowl support to tie everything together. One other thing I did to get the cab mount to go level before I welded the floor down was to put a 1/4" self tapping screw in the bottom of the cab mount and took it into the master cylinder bracket (this is just visible in the picture on my webshots dscf0009), this really stabilizes the area around the transmission cover to let you weld things up. I am going to remove the cab and finish the frame so I will drill and plug the floor so I can remove this bolt now welding is complete. By doing it this way when I pull the cab mounting bolt it now drops right in and the cab/frame is aligned perfectly.

Excellent information... Thank you.

the clutch and brake pedals rubbing may be due to very work hard rubber/padding under the cab.
when i replaced my hard rubber i used 2'' wide strips about 10'' long that give more support along the cab frame to chassis frame where they meet.
sorry no photos ... my film did not advance when in the camera during that process of my resto work.

Agree, very nice work. I'm starting on my 53 with similar sheetmetal concerns. Curious, did you get your sheetmetal from Classic? I can't find the inner/outer cowl closure (as in #31/32/43) in their catelog.I think Brothers has them, if the picture is right. Also where did you get the side kickpanel(as in #34)? The only one I can find is part of the door frame assy. Ain't going there. Thinking about making them if not otherwise available. Appreciate any info.

All of those parts can be gotten from Jim Carter. The "kick panel" comes in two sizes. The ones in the photos are the "deluxe" ones.

Yes they can. Thanks for the info. This was my uncle's truck, been in the family since 1956 so I want to get it right. I hope I last as long as that truck and get restored when I rust out.