Now we are starting to work on the 46 cab. All of the metal in the floor behind the seat was replaced, including both rear cab mounts. The area around the front cab mounts was also replaced on both sides, if you look close you can see the new metal on the drivers side in this picture. The seam across the top of the cab above the windshield is rusted completely through. I am going to weld it closed but I've decided I better get the cab up on the frame first so I can get everything aligned right.
The roof has several places that are rusted through and need to be replaced. The above picture still shows some of the dents left in the roof. The rain gutter is gone on the front of both sides I'll have to make new ones and weld them into place. Above the door on the drivers side is also rusted away inside the cab. So is the metal above the windshield (below the wiper) on the drivers side. Well I guess that's why you would call this a restoration.
As part of replacing the floor behind the cab I also had to replace the sheet metal that was rusted off on the back of the cab. The 3 support channels that are on the inside had to have their bottom 6" replaced.
Both doors needed to have the bottom replaced.
Both doors needed new sheet metal on the bottom inside as well. I bent these pieces using angle iron in a 6" Craftsman vice, rubber mallets, and visegrips with 1" flats welded to the jaws.
Well time to put the cab on the frame. Nice to have a helper to handle the winch cable. Always have your wife use gloves when she is hooking the cable for you.
Here's what it looks like with the cab back on the frame and the engine and radiator put in place. Now we finished welding the floor that had previously also been tacked in place. I also welded the seam in the roof above the windshield. This joint was actually completely rusted through in places.
The cab was then removed and I sandblasted it. We removed the steering box and column to take the cab off but then we put it back on so we could drive the chassis around the yard and park it out of the way.
The cowl lights were bent and rusted beyond repair. When we removed them there was nothing solid behind them so we had to patch both sides. I also welded the joint in the side of the cab shut.
This is a view inside of the cab of the repair I made to the windshield wiper area. In the background you can see the weld penetration from welding the roof seam shut. I laid a 3/16" diameter rod in the joint before welding. At the top of the picture you can see a piece of 1 1/2" wide flat stock. I put 3 of these running from the front to the back of the cab to reinforce the roof. I jacked them up tight against the roof from inside the cab and then drilled 5/16" holes through the roof every 6 inches and plug welded these flats to the roof. Without the reinforcing I couldn't get the big dents out of the roof of the cab.
This is what it looked like after hammering out the dents and with bondo and glazing compound.
Front view of the bodywork.
Next came a coat of rustoleum. I started with a second coat of gray on the inside and had to put the paint gun down and run for the camera when I remembered I didn't have a picture of the rustoleum.
The next stage was a complete coat of gray primer. This was wet sanded with 400 grit paper before putting on the final coat.
Here's the final coat of Ford Tractor Blue. Since this was the first time I had ever painted I decided to start out with the economy tractor enamel. It didn't come out too bad, if you are 3-5 feet away. Any closer and you can see it was done by an amateur. Total cost for paint was less than $50.00.
The windshield frame was rusted pretty bad on the bottom. After sandblasting, I bent up some thin pieces of copper to put in the groove for the glass and built the rusted areas back up with the MIG welder. Glass (tinted) cost $50.00 at a local glass shop. I bedded the glass in place with GE silicon caulk. That worked really nice. Windshield gasket came from Roberts (#T359) and fit perfectly. Can you tell from the picture above that the center strip in the windshield is homemade?
This is the repaired area where the cowl light goes. Notice no
more exposed seam in the cab.