Technical Can this Cab Roof be repaired

What’s the best way to repair the roof of this cab? Jack it up? Hammer and dolly? Cut out the bad and replace with better? Thanks.

 

tb 33and a 3rd to the front desk please

 

IF, that is if you are serious, there are much better cabs out there.

 

With enough welding wire and grinding wheels anything can be fixed. Question is is it worth it?

 

Find a better one.

 

Start buffing .

 

I'd put a floor jack inside the cab, with a long wooden beam extending up to the kink in the rear window opening. I'd jack it up a couple inches, then start working the dent out, starting at the furthest points from the dent. The last place to get bent should be the first place to get straightened. At some point, you're going to have to move the jack/board to the inside of the roof instead of at the window kink, but not until a lot of the window kink is gone.

Don't try to jack the dent out. That'll just cause more damage. Support the dent with some upward pressure and work the edges toward the center. As the dent starts to come out, add some more upward pressure with the jack.

Areas of the dent are probably going to be stretched way beyond simple shrinking, so once a lot of the shape is regained, finish work will likely require some relief cuts and re-welding. The cab roof is double walled in several key areas, those spots will likely have to be cut out, straightened on an anvil or similar, then the roof skin worked out and the inner sections put back in. But I'd want to get it fairly close before I did much cutting, sheetmetal likes to stretch differently with the bracing gone.

I love metalwork and I would enjoy taking this on as a challenge, just to see if I could do it. But judging by the rough edge on the bottom of the beltline/body line, this roof might not have been very good to start with, so don't feel bad if you end up having to replace it altogether.

 

Flip it over and drop something heavy on the inside?

I have seen worse repaired with time and skill. If you already have the cab I would say it's worth a try at least.

 

I've seen worse get fixed...
Chappy

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/fixing-a-big-mess-the-anniversary-32-sedan.1100144/

 

I would use a jack. reverse the way it was crushed.

 

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/fixing-a-smashed-31-model-a-pickup-cab.1143362/

 

That panel with the rear window and part of the quarter windows is available in reproduction.

Sent from my SM-T350 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Thanks. Actually I am thinking of buying this for parts as it has a serial number tag and a good frame.

 

If it is like my '49 AD, the top unbolts at the beltline. Still would have to be cut and welded at the windshield posts. A friend of mine converted his 3 window to a 5 window by doing this.

Gary

 

It's easy to do if you don't have to do it. Lippy

 

Roadster pickup

 

I guess it depends.
Is it repairable? Yes. Is it worth repairing? That’s up to you.
The cab has a double wall in that portion. Remove the inner to access the outer.
Reverse the damage. Porta power, friction jack,.....
Then the fun part. Heat shrinking, hammer and dolly, shrink disc......
Then ya get to repair the rust then reinstall the repaired inner panel.

 

Explosives

 

I thought they were repoping them. Get it for the tags and numbers...

 

https://www.classicindustries.com/product/1948/chevrolet/truck/parts/c2061.html

 

I'd use a hydraulic porta-power with a rubber head, I've repaired worse than that.

 

Body sitting open like that I can't help but think the lower half is all rust.

 

Every piece of those Chevy cabs are available

 

Just leave it the way it is, and join "another type" of site, if you know what I mean. Something about rats or rods or something. Second thought, don't do that! I am Butch/56sedandelivery.

 

Also looks like the lower left rear of cab was crushed onto the frame as well. That one's a mess!

 

Why would you want to? There are alot better ones out there. It looks like something I ran over in Afghanistan.

 

Well I am going to say fit the door gaps so they are as close to perfect as you can get and get another top and cut yours off and weld that one on the same way a guy would do if he was chopping the top but it won't be chopped.

A guy gave me this top about ten years ago and if you were close enough to drive and get it you could have it for the same price, it is a tad rough but if it was sandblasted it would be pretty fixable.
That is what I am going to suggest, go find a really decent bare cab or find a five window cab that is rusted away at the bottom but has a nice top and replace the top.

The cab in my avatar was a replacement cab off a truck I bought out of a neighbors field because my original cab was tweaked so bad from a wreck that I couldn't get things to fit right.

True yours can probably pushed out with a porta power and some serious work but you may end up pushing it out of shape in other places if you do go that way. If you decide to push it out, get the door gaps right, brace the living daylights out of the cab so the gaps don't move and then do your pushing.

 

It looks like a time for a HAMB relay. Get that top, it will save you time, effort, and aggravation.