to those who have done the conversion to big window advice wanted

[sigshooter]

I am wanting to change my truck over to the big window. I have most of the interior out now doing other work, so now is a good time.
I have 3 of the big window inside panels......

my questions are

what did you use to drill the spot welds out along the back of the cab so you didn't drill through?

how did you remove the welds at the top? I have heard hook knife and used a die grinder and cut the small panel away to make it easier to geet at the welds... what worked for you?

any pointers on using the panel adhesive or anything else?

Thanks

[Clyde65]

Sig,

I have not done this but have seen one done in person and two done by pictures and video.

Use a spot weld tool on your drill for those,
You should cut the inside panel with a metal shear close to the seam, then you can use the spot weld tool to remove that piece.

Good luck!

[sigshooter]

Originally Posted by Clyde65

Sig,

I have not done this but have seen one done in person and two done by pictures and video.

Use a spot weld tool on your drill for those,
You should cut the inside panel with a metal shear close to the seam, then you can use the spot weld tool to remove that piece.

Good luck!

Where is the video? YouTube?

I would love to see it. I have seen some scattered pictures on here, some by flips72

[theastronaut]

I wouldn't use a panel separating knife along the top seam, I've never had good luck with those- the metal tears around the welds leaving a mess. To put it back in, panel adhesive is your best bet since you can't get in there to weld the upper seam. The rest can be plug welded.

[McCoyAZ]

I talked to an old school body guy about this just a few days ago.

He said it was a total waste of time and energy to go through all that work when a guy could just "crimp down" the existing panel and spot weld it together.

Now I am no expert at this, just passing along what the old fella said.

And to answer the question:

I tried all sorts of ways to make this easy and found that there isn't an easy way to accomplish what you want to do.

My thinking is that air tools would be of great benefit for this task.

[clemdaddy]

i agree with theastronaut... stay away from the hook knife. just sacrifice the small window panel and cut close enough to the seam to get at the spot welds. i had good luck with the panel adhesive. used big clamps and 2x4s to squeeze the gap till it dried. chad filled the seam and i thought that was a good look.

be prepared to drill out about a thousand welds. on my truck it must have been spotweld training day at the factory, they was one about every inch.

good luck buddy