body work
 

my 90 regular cab is in need of serious body work. I have alot of rust above windshield and have aquired a donor cab to cut the panel out of however dont know were to cut it. does it matter? Also have alot of various other rust and dents. any illustrations or helpful knowledge would help me greatly.

it doesnt really matter how much you cut out. the key thing when doing a panel swap like that is to measure ten times and cut once. measure every possible way you can and mark it and tape it than cut it out. you just have to make sure that you cut the EXACT same piece one both cabs, that way your not trying to patch a 1 inch gap.

as for as how far can you cut? you can virtually cut as much on or off as you want as long as you can patch it. but here comes another question. if the new cab is much better than the old, why not just swap the cabs. a cab swap is 10 times easier than cutting welding grinding and bondoing a cab.

but if you do go the cut out a patch route. it is always easier to cut on a flat spot than try and measuring perfect on a curve or bend

The new cab is straight as a pin, however the interior is a wreck. everything is bad and mouse infested however the metal is perfect. is this a problem? the interior on mine is actually very nice. how hard would it be to swap everything over. I have never done a cab swap.

the cab itself is only held on by 4 bolts. with either a lift or several buddies to help pick up the cab, it is a pretty straight forward swap, and is much less complicated than installing patch panels, and is alot easier as well.

as for swapping over little things like the steering column, dash wiring, etc, i would do it all day over cutting and welding in new patch panels, especially in a curvy area.

if you only have one little place to patch its no big deal, but if you got alot to patch, just swap the cabs

ok well i guess its time to get to work. Thanks for the help.

any idea in hours how long it took to r & r a complete cab back to operating condition?

depends on how many people you have helping you or if you have a lift or not. if i had a lift i could probably do it in about six hours or so with the help of a buddy

nice tltruckparts thats not a bad turn around at all :tu:
hey weems04 if you have a donor cab that your going to cut up i could use part of it the truck i just bought the previous owner had backed his 5th wheel trailer into the top rear drivers side cab corner and mangeled it let me know if we can working some thing out.:humm:

if i dont sell the dodge cab in my yard here soon ill be willing to sell cab corners out of mine