Here’s one way to chop an AD Chevy truck. Not the only way, this is just the way we're doing this one. We don’t want to lean the posts back or have to quarter the roof so, we’re going to use a second roof skin on this one. We start off by cutting the door tops off and tacking them to the cab to keep everything in alignment when we cut the top off. Unfortunately, we don’t have hinges or latches for this cab so this is the quickest way to keep everything where it belongs. A couple of pieces of tubing welded inside also help keep it square. We started off by marking the cab with all of our planned cuts. The plan is to take about ¼” more out of the front than the back. Bringing down each of the six pillars individually will allow us to maintain the angles of each pillar. Because of the taper of the pillars this leaves the hole where the removed top is bigger than the piece we cut out when it is 3 ½ inches lower so the spare roof is cut to fit the new lower, larger hole. Once the top is tacked back in place there are a few areas that have to be pieced back together and patched using parts of the pillars that were removed for patch material. Finally the door tops were cut and fitted back in place. Unfortunately, we don’t get to see the truck completed right now. We chopped this cab for another shop in town that is building the truck.
I would like to say you made it look easy. I can't do that but I sure like the way it turned out. Thanks for the detailed explanation and pictures Don.
man your shop looks just like one I used to work at, same parts racks and everything. weird. nicer work going down though
The gizmo we used to keep the roof curvature is a two by four, the gizmo we used to measure the roof curvature is a profile gauge.
Nice job and finished product Don. But I do have to point out that you did have to effectively quarter the roof to keep the stock A and B-pillar angles. Just instead of putting in long strips, to cover the increased width and length, you used the second roof for filling in most of the roof. Then just some small filler pieces were required at the edges. I agree that keeping the stock A and B-pillar angles looks best. Leaning the posts may save the roof work of required lengthening and widening, but the modified pillar angles do not look as good. I kept the stock pillar angles on my COE, requiring quartering of the roof; and I just did the long strips for filling the extra length and width, actually cutting them out of a second roof piece so they had all the rain gutters and profile that matched perfect. I considered using more full replacement, but the strips worked for me. Just different ways of achieving the end result.
It was about 3 1/2 inches. Original glass for the corners is tempered and I don't believe it can be cut. Replacement glass is laminated. My glass guy says he can sandblast it to within a half inch or so and belt sand it the rest of the way.
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