Projects fixing a smashed 31 model A pickup cab.

all the pieces I have came from the same log. maybe the position it was sitting in the pile. top of the log saw more sun?
I am just curios to see the difference over time and I wish I had checked it when I first cut it.

 

Been following this, looks like fun. Here is mine with a two & half inch chop. Good luck

 

I just went back and looked at the photos, I tested all of them at the end but the one that read the highest in the middle. maybe that is why?

 

I just went back and tested the end of the piece installed across the back of the cab. 24% at the end.

 

Charlie and I spent the day working on the truck today. we made a piece of 10 gage to bridge the two rear pillars. we pushed the posts apart to get the right shape. this will be used along with a new piece of wood .we then jacked up the post on the passenger side and cut a relief to take the bow out of it. matched the shape to the door and welded the cut back up.

 

we put the outer front post back on and then we made some angled pieces to connect the top of the windshield post with the back of the cab. this will hold the top of the door opening at the right width. we fit it to the doors.

 

cab is squared up and the doors fit well. we also did some more shrinking of the rear panel.

 

next step will be to repair the sills. we bent up a new rear crossmember.

 

the slacker put in less than a 1/3 of a days work................7.5 hrs with a short lunch break.........

 

Looks good for a Chevy guy!

 

You are getting the cab back into shape & looking good. Enjoying your process to coax it back into shape & generous of sharing of the process. The perfect irony of using the tree for the cab wood.

 

TB33anda3rd, is thanks a bunch for sharing!...very educational for backyard hacks like myself!

 

It's come a long way and looking good!

 

Love this. I hope more people take the time to look and understand what is going on here. Like I've said before "If it wasn't created, I'm going to try and fix it".

 

Finished yet?

 

rusty old truck cab =$250
pile of 10-18 gage sheet stock= $75
welding gases and wire= $80
chain saw fuel/oil=$3
spending time with the slacker.............priceless.

 

Them slackers sure seem to get some real nice work done when they have a mind to!

 

nice work Ted.

 

worked on the cab this morning. Charlie was painting his patio so I was by myself. I ground the heads off the rivets holding the cross member and posed them out with the air punch.

 

once I got it out I matched it up to the one I had bent up. I made a template of the out side edges and cut them out.

 

both ends are bent down to follow the sill so I bent the edges down. I then test fit the piece before making the curved edge.

 

of course I screwed up and had to add a piece to follow the body correctly. I fit it again, then made the outer returns by bending a strip of the same material and then forming it with the shrinker. once trimmed I welded it on and cleaned it up.

 

nice job

 

so after I got the new rear sill in, I noticed the door on the passenger side met the rear of the cab low. I thought I may have the sill mounted wrong or something not right under the post. the problem was the front windshield post. that door had a slight bind and the gap , even tho all the measurements were right, was tighter at the top and bottom than in the middle. the slight dip in the original rear panel compensated for the tilting door. there was a dent in the windshield post jamb, I decided to just cut it and pull the post straight, then re-weld it.

 

once that was back into alignment, I cut out the sill on the passenger side and trimmed down the Tudor sills that were given to Charlie. once that side was fitted, tightened down and the door gaps checked, I made a new middle crossmember. I fitted the crossmember, tightened it down and checked the door gaps. gaps still looked good so I removed the driver sill, fitted, tightened and fitted it.

 

charlie showed up after lunch and we took it all back apart. Charlie cleaned up the new sills and I cup brushed the mating surfaces on the body . I also removed the two rear post brackets and sand blasted them. we then brushed a weld through primer on all the mating surfaces.

 

we put all the pieces back on and fitted and checked all the gaps. I then welded all the joints. the truck is really solid now!

 

I need to fix the front two "feet" next.