Cab rust repair.

[Mike_The_Grad]

Since I'm this far into the repair work, I'm going to fix the pillars on both sides of the cab. I have the doors somewhat acceptable for gaps and latch engagement. But I'm wondering if I start banging the pillar back into shape might that mess with my hinges on the cab side? Should I brace the hinges together with some strap material? Probably not because I would think I want the pillar to not be in a bind while trying to knock them back into shape. I have all the patch panels for replacing: inner/ outer rockers, floor sections, even lower kick panels. Both sides of the cab.
And just to avoid this now, sure I'd love to have a nice straight rust free cab to swap everything over too. Anyone seen any lately? Not me. Oh wait, there's a couple out there, but they want all the money for them. Not like $1,000 or something reasonable. You get what you pay for and factory sheet metal is hard to come by nowadays in usable condition. Example, local Craigslist ad for cab. Cut stereo in the dash, cut doors for speakers, rust in all the corner and rockers bare bones other than the doors attached. Guy wanted $2,500. And no title for the cab. So I said, I think I'll take my chances with patching the metal myself.

[Gromit]

Here are three photos from that Aussie Gal who rebuilds a rusty cab similar to the 67-72 piece by piece.

She has the roof skin off in the first 25 seconds of the video easy as can be (for her).

I'm wondering how the innards of my cab pillars look after seeing what was exposed with the roof skin off. If it is that rusty, it might not be as strong as expected in event of a rollover accident.

[Mike_The_Grad]

I removed all the old carpet and "sound deadener/insulation" I installed about 7 years ago. I used windshield sun shades I bought at the 99 cent store and spray adhesive them back to back to make panels and then double sided tape and spray adhesive them to the floor. All after spraying about 4 cans of rubberized undercoating to the floor pan inside the cab. Truck was pretty quiet. Except this constant wind sound like a window was still down. Ha ha. I'm pretty sure the Flintstone floor was the source of the noise and the rusted out cab corner on the passenger side. Anyways. It's pretty bad in my opinion. Not enough to warrant a floor pan replacement, but enough that it's going to be a lot of work.

Should I just cut out all the bad on one side of the cab and not worry about bracing anything? I don't usually see anyone brace while doing rockers or cab corners or even pillar repair. Usually the only brace when doing a complete floor pan replacement or chopping a roof. I don't have a sand blaster. I do have patch panels though. And a cutoff wheel.

Input?

The first picture is the door opening pillar of the cab next to the dash pad on the drivers side of the cab. Where I was I planning to do my next patch repair and then continue down to the kick panel, floor, pillar at the floor, rocker, and cab support.

[raggedjim]

Good to see you getting on with it, nice work on the doors. As far as bracing goes, all I can say is it is cheap insurance. I have done it without bracing but it involved taking the doors on and off more times than I could count. And it was also mounted to the frame with the opposite front fender and core support bolted up. My theory was that the opposite fender would help keep the front of the cab in position. Not sure if it worked but everything went well.

Short answer, brace it!

Good luck, Rg

[Mike_The_Grad]

I cut the section out of the front pillar next to the dash on the outside of the door frame. Then I realized I didn't have a patch panel the same shape to use. No biggie, I'll just order one.... uh oh. They cost $400 for the cab hinge pillar. And they don't sell the door frame section separately. Ok, I'll just use some scrap material and weld it in. Oh wait, it is part of the pinch weld and it's got a radius on it. Hmmm.... I found out what a shrinker/stretcher is. And figured it is perfect for what I needed to accomplish. Instead of pie cutting and welding all in that tight of an area. HoboFreight for the win. $150 for the sheet metal shrinker/stretcher combo. Now, I need to mount them. Vise for that. Done. We'll now I need a way to fold sheet metal with a flange for the pinch weld area. Damn I wish I had a sheet metal brake. Cost is outside my comfort zone to buy one so let's see what the internet has to offer. "DIY sheet metal bender". Cool. I can make one of these. So I spent this whole week clearing off my work bench, mounting and bolting a piece of sheet metal about 13"Wx70"L to the bench top, fabbing some angle iron with door hinges and building a sheet metal brake just to flange about a 1 foot long piece of 19 gauge sheet metal nice and straight to put into the shrinker to make the radius for the patch panel I need to weld into the pillar section I cut out of my cab. I was able to experiment with the shrinker a little this morning before I had to go help a buddy with his 70 suburban. So my plan is to make at least 2 practice patch pieces to get a hang of the shrinker. Then go for the real thing. Here's some pictures.

[slikside]

Fab'n on the Fly! Gotta love it!

Great work, keep it up!

[Mike_The_Grad]

I think i got a good one this time round. This originally started out as my second practice piece. But I felt I got it right. So I went with it. The more I do this kind of work the more confident I feel about it. Just another piece of the rusty puzzle. Here's some pics. The radius took some time to get right without over shrinking the metal. But the piece clicks right in and stays in the opening all on its own. Happy about that.