Repair or Replace?

[zainyD]

All, I just picked up a '72 F250 which will be a long-term project. The frame is solid, but the body is rough. I am posting a couple pictures of the cab in the hopes that you all could give me some guidance. My gut says it would be better to find a solid replacement cab rather than trying to fix the existing rust, but I would like to have your input and learn from your experiences.

[sargentrs]

I've seen worse. Not impossible but does require some fab/welding skills. Here's some that were repaired. http://www.fordification.com/forum/view ... hp?t=86594

[cep62]

how bad are the cab corners ,floor, front pillars and cab mounts ?

[zainyD]

how bad are the cab corners ,floor, front pillars and cab mounts ?

I haven't had a change to inspect carefully inspect it yet. Both the floorboards have holes, but aren't terrible. There is a previous patch panel on the driver side floorboard. Also the rear of the roof is rotted through.

[cep62]

There is an old saying,
"If you're not a bodyman now ,you will be when you get done"

Anything can be fixed, but that's a lot of work , it's faster and sometimes cheaper to buy a good cab.
If you have talent and a wire welder it helps but sometimes you have to give in and move on.

What state do you live in?

[tsherry]

I'd rather buy a cab.

[jzjames]

OR,...if the truck is driveable, and you need to buy time until you can get a replacement cab, it’s rather nice to get the roof sealed up so no more water is getting in through your roof.

You can do a temporary fix. On a 69 F100 I had with a rotted roof up here in rainy Washington I sealed mine up by doing a total cleanout of the seam sealer and rust until it was dry and clean. My fix was strips of fine fiberglass cloth laid into a bed of the stuff called “Goop” - a cheap product in a tube you can find at Walmart - it lasted several years, stayed flexible, and kept me nice and dry up there! Ghetto.

[sargentrs]

Yeah, I'm thinking that cab is toast after seeing that floor patch. I've seen some pretty impressive repairs on cab/bed sheet metal, all of which were beyond my skills/resources and I wouldn't have attempted it. That said, it's not impossible just not something I would attempt.

[zainyD]

Thanks for the input guys.

I've done a little body work, but not much. I do have a Lincoln wire-feed welder, but it's flux-core only which is not ideal for welding thin body panels.

I have a mint bed lined up, but no cab at the moment.

I'm in central Florida. There's a guy about an hour from me that sells a lot of bumpsides and could probably fix me up with a nice cab. That being said, he gets top dollar for his stuff.

If I can find a 70-72 that's mostly complete with a solid cab, that would be ideal. My preliminary searches haven't yielded anything at a reasonable price. Bumps appear to be a hot ticket item right now.

I know if a 2wd longbed about 30 minutes north of me that's been parked in front of the same house for years. Not sure of the condition as I haven't stopped to look at it closely. Don't even know if they'd part with it. I'm pretty good at sourcing parts so I'll keep my eyes open and see what I can come up with.

If anyone has or knows of a solid LWB bump in the central Florida area please let me know.

[sargentrs]

My favorite junk yard search engine. https://www.car-part.com/mobile/index.htm

[zainyD]

Thanks for the reminder.

I use car-part.com a lot for other things and didn't event think about it for this.

[bellamor]

It will definitely take some time for you to restore this truck. Keep this thread posted for progress and help.