Originally Posted by Roadkillerv8 (Post 7428328)

While the idea of selling this truck for another has been in my head im not sure i could do that now that its carried me through me senior year of high school. I almost feel obligated to restore it haha. My idea was to buy a rust free cab, eliminating all of my rust problems and then shoving this cab into a corner in my garage to restore later in my life if i decide to do that. Kind of strange i know, but its the original cab so i think one day it should go back on. Any idea what a rust free cab will run me around here?
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Originally Posted by dubds10 (Post 7428334)

Out here since there's so many trucks you can often find rust free stuff from $100-500. If you're looking at anything higher, it's often worth it to buy a second truck and just part it out to make some money back and offset the costs for the other truck. That's what I've always done so my projects end up being close to free in the end.

Originally Posted by Roadkillerv8 (Post 7428350)

$500 for a good cab? That almost sounds to good to be true.
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Originally Posted by Roadkillerv8 (Post 7429647)

Alright that's definitely in my mind as an option. Just talking about the roof here. If i were to take the roof off of a junkyard truck or donor and had it welded on right, would that be a viable option or would the roof fly off at some point? I see guys doing this on many trucks but is it actually a sound option? As for the firewall rust that probably means the front of the cab is rusted out from the cowl vents holding crap. I know slapping a new cab on would be easier, but i could just use the parts from a good cab to repair mine right?
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Originally Posted by 69Tom (Post 7427318)

Seeing as it's had 3 paint jobs, I wouldn't do anything to that cab until you get it down to bare metal. At that point, you can assess how much rust damage there is. It is here that you will determine whether you want to repair it yourself (buy a welder, gas, cart, helmet; watch videos on how to weld, repair sheet metal etc.), have someone else repair the rust, or look for a nice cab in a dry state and have it shipped to you.

There's no point in slapping on more paint over what's on there. You have no idea if there's filler covering stuff up, etc. I'd say if there's as much rust as there is showing, there's a bunch of stuff lurking that you don't even know about. Certainly not saying this to be discouraging, but only to be realistic and to make sure you don't waste time and money half-a$$ing it only to have more problems surface later.

You can keep driving it as it is, but there's quite a bit of moisture in the air where you live so it'll only keep getting worse after time. Or, you could just say f-it, drive it as it is until it falls apart, and then find a new cab and use that one.

If I were you, seeing as you currently driving the truck (not sure if it's your daily driver or not), I would drive the truck as is and look for a dry, rust free cab. While still driving your truck, get that new cab media blasted down to bare metal, have any minor repairs that need to be done completed, get it put into primer, and then paint. This way, it's done and out of the way. Then you just have to worry about stripping paint off your doors, fenders, and hood. Lastly, and I can speak from experience here, don't bite off more than you can chew financially. Because what happens is, you get some of the work done and then may have to wait forever to get the next stage done. At this point, you aren't driving the vehicle, it's sitting there in pieces, and you can't see the end of the tunnel. And it is here where you start to lose interest, get discouraged, and never get the vehicle back on the road. Don't fall into this trap.... It happens to A LOT of people. haha.

Originally Posted by Spartan (Post 7423264)

I just wanted to chime in and say your truck is definately not a pile.
These trucks have no provision for corrosion control. They really weren't intended to be beat to death and last for 45 years.
Your truck is really nice and if it runs find your leak and stop the leak.
Drive it until you have time, money and a good plan of action.

I look at it this way. I will drive a rust bucket as long as the brakes and drivetrain are safe. If it goes and stops everything else can be dealt with. True the roof rust kills many of these trucks but in a way it's one of the challenges of any hobby to make better the shortfalls.

Check out velocity channel. Guys and gals are bringing vehicle back from the dead daily. Granted we don't all have the wallet or skills or sponsers or maybe any of those things but the love you develop for your ride will get you pretty far. I've seen guys work in their parking space at their apartment building in freezing weather because that's all they had.

So yeah...that's my opinion. I used to work in the dirt under a fir tree. Finally I saved enough to build a modest shop. Now things are cozy. Enjoy the truck. Enjoy the journey the truck takes you on. If its too much at this time in your life maybe it won't be later?