The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Cab Rust - If you were me.

Looking for advice. I have two task force cabs. One has no rust in floor, corners, pockets etc. Only rust is above windshield inside and out. It runs the majority of the length and is severe. Other cab is good from floor up. Body man suggested swapping the tops. I'm going to visit with another Body shop but wondered about patching that area only, rather than the whole top. I'm sure some of you have repaired this area. How did you do it?

Do the rust and or pin holes extend to the windshield channel? If it does then that's a big problem. Cutting the top off and replacing it is much less a job than filling in the rusted out holes. The pitts and holes mean the metal thickness varies, so welding, grinding, and sanding are tough. All in all, anything is possible. From afar, taking two and making one looks good to me.

Yes Sir, some of the upper channel is rotten. I wondered about a one piece patch from the other cab say from the corners of the headliner toward the pillars and then on the outside just below or near the rim. I think this is going to be painful. The body man suggested a seam somewhere from the middle of the back window all the way around. I guess they do that when they chop one but sounds way tedious.

If I'm reading correctly your other cab only has floor rust & corner rust...correct? If it's a good shop or welder/fabricator who knows how to do chop tops or sections like that, then I'd trust them either way. If you're going the custom route and want a chop top, obviously now is the perfect time lol

If you question the shop or don't want any chance of mis-alignment, then just fix the cab corners/floor on the other cab and call it a day. Then there's no cutting of the top portion of the cab and no chance of mis-aligning the two pieces and having your doors or windows out of wack. Of course it'd depend on how the two are spliced together but if they are off at all, then the geometry is out and usually noticable.

Either way, with a good fabricator anything is possible and should work fine. It's usually not worth the cost to try and repair the window channels and the fabricator better be very good and have a lot of time on his hands. Although it'll most likely still cost more to repair the channels than to splice the two cabs together.

This feedback is helpful to me for when I talk to someone about doing the work. I don't know how to weld. The cab with a good top has bad hinge pockets, cowel, rust around the cab mounts, rocker panels and inner/outer corners. I thought it may be less expensive to try to repair the area above the windshield on the one by avoiding the cost of replacement panels and installation on the other. I suspect someone will say "get a better cab". One more dumb question. Would it make any sense to go the other direction by cutting out bottom rust from one and replacing the lower portion with patches from the other?

I had the same problem with the roof. I changed the roof just like your shop guy said. If you cut the good roof off the one cab & weld it to the other it is easier and cheaper than the other way around. I have a lot of PICTURES HERE from when I did my roof. You can PM me if you want to ask any questions about it.

If it was me, I'd fix the cab that needs the bottom replaced. I have personally replaced the rear inner & outter corners, the rocker/steps, lower hinge pockets and front corners as well as small patches in the floor on a cab I'm working on now. I'm not a welder, but got pretty good by the time I was done.

If finding a better cab is out of the question because of availability (you live in the rust belt), fix what you have. If it's a money reason, save your money and then buy one, in the end you will have spent more money patching your rusty cab than it would have cost to buy a good one. I bet you could buy a good rust free cab from half way across the country for around $1000 and spend about $500 to have it shipped. How far will you get with that same $1500 in the body shop? My guess is not very far...

Good luck...

Mike B

Just throwing this out there. Where are the problem areas that are the least noticeable? I'm eyelevel to the seam that would be created to put a new lid on it. You will most likely only see the floor patches and cab corners while laying on a creeper.

Plus, those patches are more manageable and would be much less cost for shop labor.

im junking a reg window 57 cab to fix my 1957 cameo back window cab im sawzall in out all the floor braces and etc so i dont have to buy new ones and i wasnt going to fix it but i figure im reserecting a big back window cab and to me there worth it cause there hard to find im a certified welder and body man there aint to much i caont do with metal

Thanks to all for taking time and providing this information. The problem is, each of you who replied, make good sense with your response. I'm going to have another body man take a look and try to get estimates and make a decision which route to go. Please feel free to jump in this thread if you've had a similar issue.
Thanks again.

If you look BOTH inner and outer roof skins are aviable. Just a comment if you had not looked.
I have two cabs and am cutting steps from one and fixing the one with some minor roof damage. Mine would cost 3k in sheet metal due to an accident and severe bottom rust. Thats why I am cutting up one with a good roof. For me its a $$$$ decision.

Good luck with your whichever way you decide.

Brad