pics of the cab chop

ok, here they are. got these this morning. it really looks badazzz! gonna cut the doors this weekend. enjoy!

the cab has been chopped!

i chopped the cab today, but it was too dark by the time i made the last cut to get good enough pics to post tonite. i will get better pics tomorrow and post them right away. this really should have been a two person job, but i only realized that when i saw shit starting to move around! i was so far in by then, that i just trudged forward by myself. man, when that last cut on the cab went thru, it took a bit of adjustment then it just dropped in place and the rear cab corners lined up near perfectly. of course, the a-pillars fell short because they are angled to begin with, but later, i will make a cut from door to door across the top which will allow the a-pillars to move forward and realign with the bottom posts. i did not cut on the doors tonite. it was just too dark and i was just too tired! hey, the weekends coming up, right? i am very happy with my progress so far. later!

no pics today, but i made some cuts

hey kids, mike in k.c. here. make sure you start off with enough cut-off wheels to get that part of the job done. i ran out of cut-off wheels with about 15 inches left to cut. the jambs, the the pillars, and the doors can be done with my reciprocating saw. just my luck. i'll post pics tonite if i can round up a few more cut-off wheels. stay tuned kids! this chop turned out to be a 5 incher. it's more than i originally planned, but i thought that 3 or 4 might not be enough, so throwing caution to the wind, 5 inches came out of the cab. sure, it's gonna be tight, uncomfortable, but isn't that the goal anyway? these things aren't supposed to be luxury vehicles! i sat in it prior to cutting and determined that if i make the bomber seats risers just a bit lower, that i could live with a 5 inch chop. will post pics soon....

measure twice, cut once!

here im laying out the masking tape where i will be making my cuts. i will use a combination of die grinder with a cut-off wheel, and my reciprocating saw to get thru the areas that have multiple layers of sheetmetal. i am keeping the back window frame the original size. it looks better to me, plus, i'll be able to see the road behind me better too. i still have to layout the window frame. that's gonna be the scary part i believe. i'll layout that area tomorrow evening. more to come....

bracing the interior for the chop

here i welded in some 1"x1" square tubing to keep the cab from moving around once i start cutting on the top. this should be enough, but i may throw in some diagonal bracing in the door openings to keep them square.

i can feel the rain drops.....for K.M.R.

more pics of the inspiration truck

this is a thing of beauty!

reference photo

this is the what i mean by the awkward angle behind where the back of the front fenders mount.

my inspiration for my build

i know, i know, this is a ford, but the overall look and feel of this truck is driving me along. still not sure if i want to do fendered or fenderless. i know what is involved either way. i like the tall tires in the rear and the short fronts. bed proportion is dead-on to what i want. height, chop and channel is perfect as well. my cowl is a bit different, but i plan on doing some modification to the cowl if i go fenderless....more of a 36-38 cowl look. if i do go fenderless, i want to continue the hood flange area all the way down to the bottom of the cab also in an attempt to make it look more 36-38ish, and eliminate that awkward angle where the back of the front fenders mount.

the drivers side door

same as the passenger side, only without the heat.

time to start thinking....chop!

i want to chop the top on this cab either 3 or 4 inches. but before that, i have to get the doors on and in proper alignment. i ordered new hinge pins from roberts truck parts. theses were $2.50 a piece, but with shipping came to an even $20.00. i get the doors on and the pins in and i have alignment issues. not much provision for adjustment on these cabs, so i bought a cheap oxygen/mapp torch from the home depot. it burns hotter than propane but goes thru oxygen quickly. i worked on the passenger side first. i hung the door, noticed which way the hinges had to go, and pulled the door off to keep it from taking any of the heat. i had to bend both the upper and lower hinges and again, trial fit the doors a few times before i got it adjusted just right. here is the passenger door with proper alignment. onto the drivers door.

more patchwork

this patch ties it all together. it bonds the cowl to the floor and to the inner rocker structure. i also plug-welded 5, 1/2" holes for additional strength. now the area is once again, stucturally sound.

floor patch panels 101

here is the first of two patches. the first is the bottom layer, which is actually the floor patch. after fit and welding.

time to turn to the floors

i find that in the drivers feet area, where the floor pan meets the inner rocker structure and where the cowl meets those areas, the factory welds are broke and sandwiched layers of floor metal, have corroded. in fact, the cowl has actually separated from the floor pan and is loose. so again, i grab my cut-off wheel, my saw, and go-to-town on this area. i have to do a great deal of hammer and dollying to get the wrinkles out and pull the floor section back into place. i cut out the bad section that is almost 100% rusted thru, and transfer this "template"over to some new sheet stock. i make the patch. trial fit over and over to get it to fit perfect. again, preparation is key to getting a good strong weld and proper penetration.

rockers are gone

post rocker removal exposes the inner structure. you will see this only when the doors are open. i think it looks great now. the lower edge of the doors will be the bottom of the cab. totally rad!

the giant ugly rockers must go!!!

this step is a bit out of order, but before i started on the jambs, i decided i didn't like the 8" or so rockers on the 39-47 dodge pickup cabs. especially for the lowboy look i'm shooting for. i just used my dewalt reciprocating saw, a screwdriver and a cut-off wheel to get the rockers off. i think it makes the cabs look much more like the 36-38 dodge cabs. this is a shot of the cab with the rockers.

now for the drivers side

same steps involved in the drivers side jamb swap. rough ground a bit. looking great! man, i sure felt better after getting this far in without taking a sledge hammer to the whole darn thing!

almost finished with the jamb swap

here the passenger jamb is welded in place. notice that the spot welds are filled too. take your time here.

preparation, preparation, and more preparation!

here you see the jambs starting to come together nicely. lots of trial fitting and trimming went into getting them to fit just right. there is also an inner brace that has to have careful attention to fit and finish as well. lots of spot welds to drill out, grinding, sanding and eventually welding went into this unexpected step that is, the jamb swap.

a jamb swap is in order

yep, the jambs had to be swapped out to make the good, rust free 40ish doors work on the 39 cab. after careful measurements were taken on both cabs, i scribed lines where i would make my first cuts on the 40 something cab jambs. for the rest of this build, i will refer to this rusty red cab as a 40 model year. i have no idea what the exact year is, the data plates are long gone for this cab. i make my upper cuts then my lower cut, being careful not to cut into the outer cab skins. you must also drill out several spot welds on the outer side to de-seem the outer skin from the jambs components. this is pretty easy. screwdrivers and an air chisel also came into play as well. the pic above shows the correct jamb along side the offending 39 jamb!

the first snag!

here is the 40-47 cab that i picked up in ottawa kansas. this cab is worse, but the doors are great. i decided to pull both sets of doors from their respective cabs first. not as easy as it sounds. turns out that 70 year old cab doors are freakin' stubborn as....well, you know! the hinge pins were frozen in the hinges on the red cab. after much persuasion, the pins finally came free with a little heat, air hammering, and a reciprocating saw! so i go to install the drivers door on the 39, and the catch in the door hits too low in the cab jamb for some reason. ah-ha! the doors are different on the 39 model years vs. the 40-47 years. i had to do some metal surgery on both cabs.....

the beginning.....

where do i begin? how about at the beginning! of course, i have always been a mopar nut. since i was 14 or 15 when the dukes of hazzard first showed up on television. my first car was a 1970 R/T charger with a 440 magnum single four barrel carb and a 727. it was top banana yellow with a charcoal interior. after screwing that car royally, i went on to roadrunners, barracudas, challengers, more chargers, coronets, satellites. spent a while in the 50s with the 57 and 58 dodge and plymouths. fast forward to modern day. now, i am headover heels sick for the old dodge pickups. mainly 39-47, but also have a place in my heart for the pilothouse years, 48-53. my current project is just underway, a 1939 dodge TC, 1/2 ton. i found the cab and frontend on jalopyjournal and drove to jefferson city, mo. back in the early spring with a trailer and a handful of cash and she was mine! not too bad for $200.00! so, i brought her home and dropped her off and off to ottawa kansas to pick up my other "parts" cab. this old girl was a litte rougher and more expensive, but she has nice doors. just under 100 miles and $400.00 and another 100 miles or so home, and she too, was mine! both cabs sat untouched until my vacation last week. here is where the fun begins!