AD chevy truck cab seam question

Ive got a 54 chevy pickup that i am getting ready to get back to work on after a extended hiatus during college.

One thing that has had me stumped for some time is how to address cab seam just below the back window. Almost every truck i have seen that has used seam sealer does not hold up. The paint shows a crack line all the way across the seam. I personally have looked at hundreds of trucks and everyone i find with any miles on it has this crack.

How would you suggest addressing this? I have thought of welding the seam and the trying to grind it back so the body line is still present. I am not sure if this could be pulled off and still look good. I have decent MIG skills but TIG is a skill that is not under my belt I dont really want to loose the
body line. Anybody have any suggestions? They would be much approved.

 

Mig it together, slowly, to minimize warpage. Grind the welds carefully. Finish with a little bondo if needed, and block sand the primer coats. The work should stay looking straight forever.

 

That's exactly what i did on my truck. I hated that seam.

 

how extensive is the rust on yours? if you must bodyfill this area, do not fill in the line...it will crack eventually. just feather it out on both sides to the inside of the seam as close as possible. i dont have any pics, but mine was pretty bad in that area. take your time with it b/c it is one of the eye catchers when complete.

 

You dont have any pics of how it turned out do you.

Rust isnt really a problem in this area for me.

Thanks for the input!

*edit*

Tony you have no idea how long i have been searching for pics of this. Thanks for posting them in one of your build thread. It looks like you ran short continuous beads which surprised me. Did you have any warping problems. Any more tips?

Here are the pics, for anyone else interested!

 

While I was sectioning my AD I welded mine together and knocked the top of the weld off....

worked for me

 

Good thread guys....I was wondering about this myself, Thanks!

 

Purdue, i didn't run a a solid weld along the back, there's probably 500 tack welds along the seem. I just made sure they were tight and i had good penetration when i did it.
And once i dressed the welds it looked like it was a solid bead.
There was no warping. I jumped around quite a bit and took my time when i tacked it together. I also made sure that when i ground it down that it didn't get too hot either. That'll warp the hell out of it too.

Glad you found the pics. I hadn't checked back to see you asked before..sorry about that.

Good luck with your build.

Tony

 

Another option is to clean it really really well and lead it in.

 

Boy howdy you guys just added one more step to the project for me. That seam has always been a pain in the butt for me as it seems to be a home for rust on a lot of cabs or it is near impossible to get it prepped right to keep paint on it. Add another hand full of hours to the body work for me but the results should be well worth it.

Thanks for the photos PeerdueSD that may just have saved the cab that I have sitting in the equipment shed.

<input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden">