This is my first chop. Its not typical HAMB stuff, but I have a liking for 48 to 50 Ford and Mercury trucks. I'm from farm country, and this was a 2 1/2 ton grain truck when I bought it. The girder system is my idea. There is a girder on the inside of the front section just ahead of the cross cut as well as the one you see on the rear section. This prevented the roof from collapsing and flattening out. So far...it isn't welded yet. The chop method came from inspiration I got from a couple of guys I know on line. Torchie, and Gjunction Mike. Both great guys who have been willing to share their knowledge freely. I thank them both for all of their patience and assistance. This is a straight four inch chop. The roof is not sectioned into four pieces, just two, with two big relief cuts in the upper corner of the windshield. The filler strip will be two inches wide. Both the A-pillar and the cut at the back of the door have welded in reinforcement to go behind the weld joints. The top of the doors will be leaned in at the body line and the window hardware mount at the bottom of the hardware repositioned. Thanks Torchie.
I am posting this because I lurk here and have taken inspiration from some of your members projects, and I feel it is important to contribute in a positive manner to the spirit in which the site is intended. The sharing of information. This is gospel to me. A couple more shots.
looks good. I chopped the back of my cab similar to how you've done.It needed a small filler strip on each end. I cut my roof skin across the rear which worked well .
Thank you for posting this chop. I am doing a '47 right now. I have a partial roof section to make up the "gap" so I end up with only one weld across the roof. It will save me a lot of time by cutting the rear posts the way you did as it eliminates slicing and dicing of the panels. I did a '46 a few years ago but went with a competition chop with no gap. I like your "girder" method, when those tops are cut they have no support.
47 Ford front axle on suicide mount. Split the original bones. Four link in back from Welder Series with air bags. I cut up the grill and fenders to get this mock up.
Roof is coming together pretty good. Doors are mounted with the tops cut off. I needed to adjust the door gap a little on passenger side. Ready to finnish the filler strip and the windshield relief cuts. Its all just tacked until everything is in place, then I will spend days doing final weld and grind. I removed the inside girder today. The roof never budged. I will remove the outer girder once the last of the filler strip is tacked in.
to be honest Gold ,I think you've made hard work of it (the chop) in some ways...having said that ,your girder system has worked well for you. I'd leave your outer one there now until you've fully welded and finished all the welds on the front of the roof. It ought to help control any distortion/sag you may get. just my .02.
Hard work? Not really. I work alone and I only have two hands and this worked well. The girders took about two hours to make and weld in. It saved me more time than that by far. But, that's just my opinion. Torchie.... We're not in Kansas anymore...
Here is the last of the chop pictures. You can see how I did it from all the pictures posted now. I still need to do the rest of the rear cab and final weld everything into place. I will be welding from inside the cab. Makes less to grind off on the outside. Of course the girder will get removed after I weld it all up. Enjoy and happy choppin
I finished welding the filler strip. I took of the girder and it looks good. It took a bit of hammer and dolly work and all looks good. A little welding on the relief cuts near the windshield and a couple other hidden areas and it is good to go.
Nice work, but it seems that you also added work by having to lean in the door tops and adjust the window channels. So in the end not sure if you saved time or not? I did straight 4 inch chop on my 49 COE, but I quartered the roof. Kept all angles stock. I had a spare roof for the filler pieces, both length and width of course needed a strip. My roof was all lumpy already, so no need to worry about keeping it so straight, like you girder idea though. I kept rear window stock height, and took 2 inches above and below the window. Now it lines up with the side windows and is approx the same height.
The roof was lumpy when I got it. Not bad, but I straightened it before I cut it. It was important to me to do the metal finishing to the best of my ability. I felt there was less metal working involved in the method I used. It also placed the seams close to the windshield opening for easy reach with a dolly. I was able to hold a dolly on the roof through the windshield opening, and hammer with out an assistant. There are other ways to do these roofs obviously. I followed the path I did because I work alone and felt it would be easier to line up the different roof sections this way. It worked for me. The doors will take a little cut and weld to make up the change in angle. I still feel its not as much time as quartering the roof and welding it all back up followed by metal working it all. The doors have built in resistance to warping because of the body lines. Similar to the back wall. The body line prevents warpage compared to cutting across and through the rear window. The rear wall literally took fifteen minutes to dolly out the weld after it was done. The rear window now has similar reveal above and below in relation to the body line around the rear window. Again, this was my preference. These trucks had different size rear glass over the years, and I didn't want it looking stock. But not not far off of that either. It was my intention in posting this that someone could take the information and make use of it. Not many of these trucks get built and documented here as they are not viewed as "HAMB friendly", but the principles may be applicable to other projects guys are building. The 48 to 51 Ford and Merc trucks have always had a special place in my mind. Some of my first memories are of my Dad driving down narrow dirt roads while I stood on the transmission hump of his 49 Merc truck. Thanks for all of your comments.
Very nice work! Craftsman like you was my reason for joining THE HAMB. Very inspiring to see projects like yours unfold. Thanks
This will give an idea of how much I need to tip in the doors. I was going to cut all the way across the inside of the door at the body line. Now I'm not sure I need to go that far. I'm considerin( making a cut from the body line up and around to the bottom window rail. Time will tell. Busy on another project today with a wiring problem.
Thought I would update this. The doors require a little tip in at the top. Then some re gapping to get lined up. The tip cut can be seen at my hand from the body line to just before the inside skin of the door. Then it goes up, across the inside skin to just below the bottom of the window. Then up through the window opening. only the rear of the door frame needed tipping. The slider rails needed a little adjustment to line up with the window frame. This might come in handy for someone else one day.
I tipped the door top and welded it. I took a lot of pictures because I realized I didn't document the process to good on the drivers door. Pic#1 is the gap before I tip the door top. Really only the back does not line up, and that is why I used just that funny short zigzag cut. Pic#2 is the cut I made. 1/16th of an inch blade. Thats all the movement it takes to close the top of the door. Pic#3 is how it lined up with the first tip, no welding or metalworking done. Pic#4 is the cut tac'd and the spot welds for the rear window track drilled out so it can be adjusted. Pic#5 is the cut welded prior to grinding. I weld the horizontal cuts first to get the most out of the shrinkage before welding the vertical cuts. Pic#6 Is how it looks after welding and some metal shaping on the top door flange. The drip rails will need a slight amount of work to get waves worked out. The door needs to be gapped yet.
It's not everybody's thing, It was a 2 ton grain truck and this is where it's headed. It's been very educational so far. Like I said earlier it's my first chop. A lot of what I've learned I will be able to apply to future projects. It has a great running 52 Merc flathead. I would like to do a full fender build next time.
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