OK guys go easy on me....I have the 34 and 35 Chevy trucks...the 34 is pretty solid with only minor surface rust and a little heavy rust in the back corners of the bottom of the cab..aren't they all?...the 35 was a restore by a guy that did a 50 foot job...looked ok at 50 feet...but I want to use the frame from the 35(decent box job) for the other cab (34) that has good tin that I had stripped all of the rotted wood out of..also the 35(50 footer) I can use for a good referance truck to make sure I am getting the 34 back together right...here is the chop that I did...I am going to rebuild the cabs skeleton with square tubing...what do you guys that have experiance in this stuff think....I got the cuts sqaure and used a pencil wheel to cut'er up... went slow as not to warp it from heat...well anyway...let me know what you guys think and if you got any helpful suggestions or imput...on welding her back together or anything else that might help...My wife keeps asking me if I am sure I know what I am doing...but I think I am learning more and more each day thanks to the HAMB..thanks in advance...joe
thats the plan...just thought that someone might give a FNG a line-out on the right way or wrong way of getting this done...anyway it's too late to turn back now....joe
I've never seen anyone pull all the panels apart on an old body like that and then chop them individually, you might be the first. I really can't put in my input as this is the first time I've ever seen it done. Good luck and be sure to post progress pics.
Eastwood sells some pretty cool clamps ($5 each?), to minimize the gap and hold things close together while you MIG it back together. BUT, someone here has invented a cheaper home-built version of the clamps. From what I've heard, lots of little tack welds far apart will help with the warping. Skepticism on the home front and on the HAMB? Nothing new. Good luck with your project. Please keep us posted with lots of pics. .
Probably would have been easier with the cab put together first, how much did you take out? The A pillar posts are going to be tough , I 've done one 5.5" and am doing another one 6 .... I shortened the doors 1/2" on the 5.5" chop, cause the wood in the roof was still good. Good luck, I think you will need it, PM me if you get lost, .... LUKESTER
Hey Rustrod, at this point I would line up the posts and back window, as best as possible, lightly tack weld those areas only ,than try to fully assemble the cab on the frame. Check the door gaps, check the cowl to A-post gaps, check the B-post gaps. Then you may want to put in temporary bracing into the cab, prior to welding out the cab. "if" you're careful and ya go slow, ya might just pull this off. Good luck,
Im building a 32 chevy pickup. I cut 4" out of the roof. But the way I did it was built a structure out of 1" box tubing inside then I cut the roof down. While your way will probably work, I was too scared to try it..... Here's how it looks so far... http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=61985
thanks for the input guys...here was my thoughts on why I did it this way...I have the good tin off the 34 but the wood was rotted out...I wanted to replace the original wood with new wood because I think it will look good to keep the wood exposed..plus I am a wwaaayyy better wood worker then I am a welder..if I were to assemble it and then chop it ..I would be cutting thru the new wood skeleton losing some of the integrety of the support...I am going to build the new wood frame for the back half of the cab and attach it to the cowl section...then I will assemble temporary bracing with steel to tie the two pieces to get correct allignment between the front to back...then I will cut the A-pillars...I will post more pics when I am done...joe
Wow. That reminds me of the first section I helped concieve (the way it's apart). You start looking at it going "okay, what now?". Don't worry and don't let the thing make you lose hope. It sounds like you have a good plan though it is quite unusual. When you start tacking it together keep your welds spaced about the width of your hand or a little more. That will keep the heat down a bit and keep it from moving so much. The pillars ( A and door A and B) you can weld solid as heat won't move it due to the curve. Just tack it in place and make SURE it is where you want it. Other than that..you won't really know until you start putting it together about what will work and what won't. Have fun and definitely keep us posted.
make sure you put sleeves in the A pillars. You'll gain strength and safety.Make them the same shape as your pillars. the closer they are to shape, the better. Make them like 3-4 inches long. Put weld thru primer on them too for protection, or paint, just scrape it off where you weld. 1 or 2 5/16 Plug welds in the sleeves into the bottom pillar piece, then put the roof on, weld the seam, and place a plug weld the top of the sleeve too. you'll have the plug welds, a welded seam, then plug welds. Its the safest way. if its confusing, maybe someone has a picture they can post? I've seen it posted here before. Good luck
cshabang...thanks those are some good tips...thats what I was scratching my head on...what to do with the pillars...there was wood that ran from floor board to roof before but since it isn't exposed I didn't see the point of duplicating that piece...now I know what to do with that area...thanks again ...like I said before I will post pics as I get to certain areas that I am either A) stuck and scratching my melon....or B)...pretty proud of what I have accomplished....I am pretty green when it comes to fabricating...but I am willing to do some cutting to get it the way I want it finished...joe
That PU is gonna be mean as hell meng.... Never seen a chop done in pieces on the floor... this would give me about a 10+ sphincter pucker factor having it laid out like this. i donno... seems like it'd be harder to keep the panels aligned and square while tac'in everything back together
How are you welding it? Wire feed is probably best but since I don't have one and do everything the old fashioned way, I weld with the torch and tie wire. Same approach with the tack welds but I also keep a bucket of water and a rag handy and cool everything off between welds to help avoid distortion. I find it is also best to keep a gap between the sections being welded, like .030-.050. I also hammer weld everything when possible but that might not be advisable in your situation.
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