Cab mounts, floor pans and cancer rust

[GravyCrockett]

Hey all,

I had another thread about some steering column issues, figured all of that out but in doing so discovered just how messed up my cab metal is. Cab mounts and floor pans are gone. I had a couple of questions :

1. Does it make sense to replace the whole floor with a single pan including tranny hump, instead of doing the pans individually?

2. How much of a pain in the butt is it to remove the cab and do the welding? Could I do it in a long weekend?

3. How worried should I be about the extent of the rust up towards the firewall? If I replace the cab mounts is there a chance that the firewall is too far gone?

Thanks everyone for the input
Joe

PS, don't want to sway anyone here but if I can't get all this fixed, I will have to sell the truck and get something more solid, as this is my daily driver

[1972hiboy]

1, I would say personal preference, I like to be least intrusive as I can.

2. Its a bit of a pain not because its hard, but you got to remove the front clip. time consuming, I would say prob not in a long weekend to tear down repair and rebuild. very un-realistic.

3. Hard to tell without seeing it. it might and it might not.

[magic bus]

Im in the middle of replacing cab mounts and floor patches right now. WOW! I underestimated how much of a job this is.

My engine was already out, the nasty rotted cab mounts were staring me in the face saying change me, change me!

So the new mounts were about $200.

Took the front clip off, much better access.

Only realized that the floor was rotted where the cab mounts attached after I finally got em off.

The seat has to come out to get the floormat out. Pretty much gut the interior. Emergency brake cable disconnect.

This is a pretty large project. I don't know if a weekend will do or not, really depends on your skill level, tools and supplies at hand. Welding ability, etc.

Things Ive had to acquire, use etc.. Spot weld cutter, air saw, air grinder, air chizel, sawzall, weld thru primer, Mig welder with .025 wire and argon/co2 gas, primer, seam sealer, paint.

If I were estimating and you took this to a shop to have that done... A couple of grand, lots of labor , not much material.

Mine were totally shot!

cab mount7.JPG

[Tyler68]

I'm going through this right now as well and it is also a lot more work than I was expecting. Although I am also doing three of the four lower door jamb corners as well, I know I couldn't do it over a long weekend. It seems the further I dig the more work I find.

[67mann]

Hey all,

I had another thread about some steering column issues, figured all of that out but in doing so discovered just how messed up my cab metal is. Cab mounts and floor pans are gone. I had a couple of questions :

1. Does it make sense to replace the whole floor with a single pan including tranny hump, instead of doing the pans individually?

2. How much of a pain in the butt is it to remove the cab and do the welding? Could I do it in a long weekend?

3. How worried should I be about the extent of the rust up towards the firewall? If I replace the cab mounts is there a chance that the firewall is too far gone?

Thanks everyone for the input
Joe

PS, don't want to sway anyone here but if I can't get all this fixed, I will have to sell the truck and get something more solid, as this is my daily driver

1.NO..absolute waste of time and probably not needed

2.Taking the (and just)cab off a driving truck is nothing you would do in a wkend...maybe on Overhauling with 30 monkeys

3. Normally it's just surface but, the bottom of the cowl retains moisture so each case is different.

And finally....if theirs no sentimental attachment and these trucks are abundant where you live why

[EasyE]

Hey all, quick question; I pulled the floor up on my truck, and floor pans are rusted through. Can the floor pans be done without removing the front cab mounts, or are they attached to one another? My cab mounts are in pretty good shape with only minimal surface rust, but if they need to be removed to do the floor pans it doesn't make sense to weld the same old ones back on.

Also, are the Dennis Carpenter pans the way to go? Or is there another brand you'd recommend?

Thanks.

-Eric

[sargentrs]

I replaced my floors without removing the cab mounts. The cab mounts are spot welded to the bottom of the floor pans. Here's a couple of photos I took when doing mine. About 2/3 down the page http://www.fordification.com/forum/view ... &start=255 I cut my floors out from around the mounts and then ground off what metal was left spotwelded to the mount, rather than buying a spotweld cutter bit and drilling. Then I welded the mount back to the floor on the bottom, instead of plug welding. My passenger was in good enough shape I was able to just cut out a portion and not have to mess with the cab mount area.

[PetesPonies]

Easy, there isn't going to be enough difference in any of the pans to worry about. They will all get trimmed as you fit them. There aren't but a couple metal manufacturers anyway.

[EasyE]

Thanks for the help guys.

Also I'm debating on whether I should spend $120 on the floor pans, or $140 for the Eastwood manual bead roller + $10 for some sheet metal and make my own. It looks like all of my rust is confined to the flat portion of the pan with the grooves in it.

Hmm, what to do....

[PetesPonies]

Having new equipment always pays off sometime. I don't think the $10 figure is accurate though If you posted some pics it would help.

[EasyE]

I was going to tag them in this post, but I'll have to shrink them, and then you can't see the details as well. So instead check out this link:

http://imgur.com/a/eUgps

First 4 are driver side, last 2 are passenger.

[PetesPonies]

Looks to me that I would buy a drivers side pan and then just repair the passenger side. No special equipment needed

[EasyE]

I agree. Only concern is forming that groove in the passenger side since that's where the rust is. Probably wouldn't be the end of the world if I just welded in a flat piece since there are 2 other grooves for rigidity.

-Eric

[PetesPonies]

Exactly, not a big deal.

[70xlt]

I just replaced pans and cab mounts. Drivers side was biggest challenge. If I was gonna replace pans most definitely do cab mounts, on my passenger side it was hours quicker just cutting out vs trying save old cab mount. I hired professional and took 17 hrs on left side and 8 hrs on right due to not trying aslvage pans or mounts. Most definitely Dennis carpenter for these pieces, quality and fit there.