Howdy Hambers I am getting ready to replace my 1954 dodge pickup windshield and I’m going to have to patch the A pillar skin and the vertical windshield pinch weld flange. Lotta work but no big deal. The drip rail over the door goes down the outside of the pillar and I found the pinch from the roof to the door frame was crusty so I zipped it off so I could insure that my truck wouldn’t leak after all the work doing the glass. Well that area is fubarish too. So I have a bunch of work to do. I have the original drip rail that could be repaired but it’s tired and beat up. I’d like to buy some replacement steel gutters to weld in. I know that whatever I get will need work to fit my one year only dodge but I don’t have a brake so making new gutters out of some fresh stampings would help out a lot. Doesn’t matter if they are for a ford F1, chevy pickup, muscle car, 1992 lebaron haha I just want to buy maybe a left a right and a spare so I can bend and weld some pieces to fit. Anybody know where I should be shopping? I’m cheap by the way Also I love junkyard crawling but I want new parts to work with. Thanks! Radar
Expect rust to show at the roof/cab back joint as well. I suggest a rust free roof skin/A pillers. [email protected] supplied me with front roof half/windshield opening, complete dash and cowl vent opening plus misc. for a rusty 37 Dodge Brothers recently.
Cheap? Do a search for "draw forming" - there's a thread here on the HAMB showing how a person made his own drip rails. Involves sheet metal strips, making a set of steel dies, a Come-Along and some cable to pull the strips of sheet metal through the dies to form the drip rail shape. https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/making-parts-on-homemade-draw-dies.376591/
I’m not that cheap! I know how to draw wire from annealed metal but I think I’d rather hammer fold a gutter over a piece of angle iron and make curves with piecuts or visit my buddy’s shrinker/stretcher. I don’t mind spending a couple or few hundred bucks for something nicer than I could make myself but I’m not looking for a quick fix or a hackjob. I just figured that since people here have probably restored tens or hundreds of 50s trucks somebody would have bought some repop drip rails they were happy with. And I don’t want to pay a premium for exact perfect resto parts since I’ll be hacking and bending them up anyway. I figure if they are bigger than mine I can buy 2 and reshape them or if they are smaller I can buy 3 to have enough material. I am confident that if I do it in smaller sections so the panels don’t pop apart I can get a clean enough result welding in a new outside corner. Especially since the seam will be somewhat hidden under the gutter which will get replaced last. The rear and fronts of the roof seam are surprisingly in awesome shape.
As John said, a whole roof swap would involve a lot less welding, and maybe less $$ too. And for sure give you a better result in about an afternoon's time.
Go to the wreckers and look at what there and find a drip edge or gutter that will work for you. hammer forming Bead roller Metal brake Or that pull through die link @Yutan Flash posted are all viable options. mother then a complete roof. Money is money, anything can be purchased. Your time is somewhat “free” so start hitting things with hammers and see what you come up with.
I've never seen rain gutter available. Too many shapes and sizes. It's usually not circular in section but somewhat "U" shaped and compound curved which makes it difficult to shape without collapsing the "U" I think that you will find paper thin rusted metal where you plan to weld. Remember that the gutter to roof joint has to be sealed above and below. Gutters are usually sandwiched between roof metal and door jamb metal which adds to the difficulty.
Maybe start with a piece of tubing that is slightly larger OD than the gutter's dimension. Bend the tubing the get the curve you need. Then slice it open with a 1/32nd wheel on a die grinder. Tune the cross-section with a hammer and something clamped in your vise to serve as an anvil. 1/2" thinwall conduit may be close or 1/2" steel tubing.
The gutter is the easy part. You've already sliced the edge of the roof off, right where a complex curved fold comes off the top roll and returns under the edge to the inner jamb. Then the gutter is welded to it. Try to fix the top before you worry about the simple gutter.
Well the roof was pretty easy. Still gotta finish the A-pillar repair then I get to make new gutters. Some good ideas here- thanks!
I'm in the same boat with my 41 chevy truck and I've often wondered if I took the window glass frame and make them out of it. https://www.chevsofthe40s.com/dept/Glass/cat/Window+Channel+Kits.html .
Neat idea. Maybe almost as much work as starting from scratch? I am back and forth about it with different ideas. I like the idea of making a wooden buck and hammer forming them but that is so much woodwork. I do care how it comes out but it just has to look stock enough to not draw your eye. It’s funny since I got this semi rare one year only truck I found out two people I know within 20 miles also have 1954 dodge pickups! Guess it’s like when you learn a new word and start hearing it everywhere. But mine has a big block and its dropped louvered and channeled- I have no goals of being stock. And most folks in the public just barely have an inkling that it’s a 50s truck. The point is I don’t need original but I do want them to work with the body lines and keep the water out of the top door edge. I like the idea of bending a piece of tubing then splitting it and using half for each side for the radiused look, but I think splitting it might be a nightmare even though it sounds easy, not to mention bending it without kinking. I like the idea even better to make the rail on a buddy’s brake or have some bent up out of 16g to 90° then hammer forming the top outside edge over a chunk of round stock. A bunch of pie cuts would round the corners and weld back up clean without too much drama. I am a half decent welder but I’m also sweating how to stick them on. The factory spot welded them every couple inches under the roof/door pinch weld. In the 70s I’d expect a slathering of seam sealer but in 54 I dunno- didn’t find lead. Not a ton of room behind them to stick a finger for wiping goop. I don’t really relish the idea of overhead welding them on all the way around. Maybe spot/rosette welds and seam sealer is not a bad idea but water sure loves cracks and tight places. Thanks for the reply and I’d love to hear any more comments. I always overthink this kinda stuff then when I get after it everything works out but with an internet full of people that have been there done that it’s stupid to reinvent the wheel.
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