warthog : Cab floor work

Cab floor work
Post by warthog on Jun 8, 2006, 1:16pm

All winter I had the cab in the garage and replaced the floor pans, inner/outer rocker panels, and rear corner of cab on both sides. I know I could have bought another cab to replace mine, but I wouldn't have learned anything. I learned a lot trying to figure out how to get the metal to bend the correct way or how to recreate the piece to look the same (or close to) as the original. I destroyed a new replacement full length floor pan, but got some good learnings and scrap from it. I had bought some sheet metal books, a few body hammers & dollies, and read a lot from others here and across the internet for some how to's. Thanks to those who posted their pics. Special thanks to whomever it was that did the cross bars to hold the trans tunnel, that had me stumped for a few weeks how to hold it up.

Figured it was easier to link the page, than try to paste all the pics in. Here's a link to some pics I put on photobucket:

Driver side:
http://s35.photobucket.com/albums/d183/w..../Driver%20side/

Passenger side:
http://s35.photobucket.com/albums/d183/w....rk/Pass%20Side/

Figured ya'll might be interested in these pics.
Dan

Re: Cab floor work
Post by socal715 on Jun 8, 2006, 1:22pm

Beautiful!

Re: Cab floor work
Post by fredrader on Jun 8, 2006, 1:56pm

Great job

Re: Cab floor work
Post by bluesman2a on Jun 8, 2006, 2:19pm

WOW.... Just... WOW.... No I really mean ****WOW****!!!!

That's BEAUTIFUL work. It also gives me some ideas for mine when I get ready to do it.

A couple of questions/comments though:
1) How did you get those raised/ribbed sections on your panels? Did you make it, or buy it?
2) Don't forget to drill the holes for your front body mounts (I recently had to deal with mine, so the experience is fresh in my mind).

Re: Cab floor work
Post by warthog on Jun 8, 2006, 2:47pm

Thanks for the comments. Even the wife said for all the racket I was making downstairs something good came out of it.

I bought full length floor panels +1, inner & outer rocker panels for both sides from Jeepanels plus. All were majority correct, but still needed to make some modifications to all. They did the ribs.

I have since drilled a 1/2" hole through the floors. For where the body mounts are I took a piece of square tubing and welded a washer on each end and then welded into the support (can see in some of the pics). So when I torque down on the bolt or flex the frame I won't leave a new spot to catch water.

I'll be doing some type of a bed liner across the entire floor, make it easier to wash out and hide some welds I couldn't smooth with a grinder.

Re: Cab floor work
Post by warthog on Jun 8, 2006, 5:23pm

In regards to the ribs for both panels, where the support does a slight curve in the back; they didn't take this into account with the ribs and they sat on top of the support. I hammered em flat where they sat on the support. This caused em to get a buckle that popped up & down when pushed. I learned to heat the effected area and then quickly apply a cold wet rag to contract the metal. Did that a few times with some extra hammering and they firmed up. After paint, they look fine as frog hair.

Re: Cab floor work
Post by robertcowan on Jun 8, 2006, 5:57pm

great craftmanship !!!!!!! especially if you never done it before. amazeing what a can do attitude can do huh ? carry on.
bob

Re: Cab floor work
Post by mikel on Jun 8, 2006, 5:58pm

I did EXACTLY the same thing (you can see my pictures in my the members gallery) and I take my hat off to you. You had quite a bit more rust than I did, and you did a really impressive job. Sure, it would have been easier to get a nice cab, but think of how much your skills have expanded

Re: Cab floor work
Post by poolmike on Jun 8, 2006, 6:01pm

That is most impressive....a cab that was rustier than mine.

Nice Work!!!

Re: Cab floor work
Post by fisherman on Jun 8, 2006, 6:13pm

That's how you do it. VERY nice job. I underook my own rust removal as well. Isn't that satisfying to look at all your hard work. Great job. Fisherman

Re: Cab floor work
Post by warthog on Jun 8, 2006, 8:04pm

Out of all of it, the hardest was doing the curved portions where it bends for the doors.

Harder than that was the front ones where I had to get small indent for the hinge to fit and keep the bolt hole lined up. This ended up being 3 pieces that I shaped and then welded together w/ lots of grinding and rewelding. I found (the hard way a couple times) it was easier to make pieces and weld together than trying to make it out of a whole piece. I made tons of cardboard mock-ups (all the desktop calendars at work don't have cardboard backs anymore).

Re: Cab floor work
Post by angrytruck on Jun 12, 2006, 10:45pm

Warthog - Great work.
All of those pictures look really familar because I am going through the same process on my truck. Looks like I am fabricating most of the same parts you are.

Regarding the beading on the floors, I thought I might share a tool I made with the rest of the Zone. I got my panels from JPP but discovered the beads were not where I wanted them and they were not as deep as I would like. I made a poor man's bead roller/smasher as shown below.
http://img125.imageshack.us/img125/3...tool0015ks.jpg
http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/5...tool0025db.jpg
Basically, I took a bolt, cut the head and threads off, leaving just about 1" of the shank. I then cut the shank in half lengthwise to create a bead shape. I then welded that onto a small (approx 1"x2.5"x.5") piece of steel with a good fillet weld. After some grinding and some rounding of the ends, I had the male portion of my bead smasher. I then made the die (female) portion on another piece of steel. It took a little time grinding and filing but I soon had the two halves matched.
Next, I took a piece of flat stock and folded it in half to make a set of tongs. After that, I welded the dies onto the end of the tongs.
To use the smasher, I drew a bead centerline on the panel. Then, clamped a couple of boards on the panel as a set of fences to keep the bead smasher going straight. I put the panel in between the 2 halves of the dies, and supported the underside with a sturdy wood block. With the help of my dad swinging a hammer, we were able to strike the upper die and slowly walk the smasher along the centerline, making the bead deeper and smoother with each pass.
With a small amount of finishing work, I should be able to achieve a really smooth bead.
http://img95.imageshack.us/img95/2388/dsc012188zw.jpg

-Brian

Re: Cab floor work
Post by jeepistdougiowa on Jun 13, 2006, 12:22am

Warthog, angrytruck, impressive work by both of ya!

Re: Cab floor work
Post by warthog on Jun 13, 2006, 8:44am

Awesome idea for the bead, very functional, yet simple.