Front Cab Support, use OE or Slip On?

[lintcollector]

I have some body work to try and figure out, and LMC Truck said to talk to guys who know about fixing old trucks, so I'm ready to ask the masters...

I have a bit of a rust problem and need to know if I'd do better getting the OE part (LMC 38-7950), or to get the Slip-On (LMC 38-7951) for the front cab support. I don't know enough on which way to go, any help / recommendation would be appreciated.

Below pic is what the front cab looks like from below on both sides.
Here's the reference to the LMC page/catalog: Page 13

Thank you in advance for your assistance.

lintcollector

[57taskforce]

I would go with the oe. I’d be willing to bet that one is rusted up far above where it looks like it’s solid. Rust is normally 10X worse than what it normally appears at first. Judging from that picture you may even look at a whole floor. It’s hard to tell how bad the center of the floor is from that picture.

[lintcollector]

The last pic shows the center of the floor, just ignore the kiddo grinding away on the far side. Thanks for your help/input, I really appreciate it.

[ryans69chevy]

Take some more pics of the rest of the floor and post them up. I'm with 57TF you might need a whole floor if money allows. Whatever you do I would recommend buying your metal from somewhere else. There are vendors on this site that know what they sell and how to install it if you have any questions. You will most likely get a better quality piece which means it will fit better!

[lintcollector]

Thank you gents for the replies, I'll go with the OE part.

Here's a few pics of the area's that are rusted through, so I was hoping to only change out the areas near the doors. The rest of floor looks OK. I am traveling so I can't do much for better pics right now.

The guy I bought it from already purchased the piece that is rusted away, which attaches to the Outer cab floor (sorry, I don't know the official term), and the rear cab corner.

I know I need to already do the front cab supports, but was hoping to only replace part of where things rusted out. Am I foolish to not do the whole floor?

Pics of parts I got with the truck. Another post to follow of the floor with rust

[lintcollector]

Here's pics of the rust on the floor. do I need to do the whole floor, or will the outer cab floor (item 7 here) be adequate?

First 2 pics are passenger, next 2 are driver side, last one is of kiddo grinding away on the cut line from pic 1.

I'll go look at what other options I have other than LMC Truck. That is where the guy told me that I bought the pickup from.

Replace the floor, or just band-aid the parts together?

[lintcollector]

Thanks 57TF, I looked through your history and I think I need to go start one showing the progress as I go. I am nowhere near your level of abilities, but I appreciate your input and then being able to follow the order of repairs. I'm an accountant who knows some about auto repairs, but this will be a great learning experience. I need to go learn to weld and the try to take the floor off for a full replacement. I have a limited budget, but with the parts I need to repair, it may be a wash on getting a full floor replacement.

Also, thanks Ryans69 for your input. I think I may go with robbing the piggy bank to get a new floor.

Is there a place I should be starting a page to show the progress of the build? I think I'm going to have to go for the "redneck repair" option and then maybe try to make it pretty later. Well, I may not get to the "pretty" phase as my next daughter wants an old car to fix/learn with. Sigh...

Thank you gents for your help & input.

[AussieinNC]

Use this link to start a new build thread

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/f...play.php?f=115

Click new thread when the page loads....

If the piggy bank will allow, grab yourself a new full floor and save so much heartache and entertaining vocabulary...

Re LMC...I suggest you reach out to some of the board members here that are resellers especially if you can find one local to you...

the truck freight on a full floor from LMC is a killer...$449 plus tax for the floor then $125 truck freight...

Good to see you have some willing help...

[lintcollector]

Originally Posted by AussieinNC

Use this link to start a new build thread

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/f...play.php?f=115

Re LMC...I suggest you reach out to some of the board members here that are resellers especially if you can find one local to you...

the truck freight on a full floor from LMC is a killer...$449 plus tax for the floor then $125 truck freight...

Where do I go find the members who are resellers here? I went to the vendor area and I found quite a few links that didn't work. Is there another resource/area to look?

Thanks for the help & encouragement.

[57taskforce]

Honestly mine looked similar to yours, I had to replace my front toe boards, all four supports, the outer floor sections you spoke of and the rockers and rear lower b pillar tips.it can be done but man it’s a lot of work. If I had it to do all over again I would have done the whole floor. I’ve done two of them before and it’s way less work. I was short on cash when I started my K20 build thus why I didn’t buy the whole thing. It can be done but it’s way less cutting and welding to replace it all in one shot. Check the link in my signature for some pictures of my repairs.

[darrellyates]

On here you will get lots of opinions...

I put an entire floor, outer rockers, corners, patches on the inner kick panels, and lower A pillars on my cab. It wasn't nearly as rusted as your appears when I started, but lots of holes showed up when media blasted.

It actually is less welding, and less overall time to do the whole floor than to piece in all the parts. So, you pay a few hundred more for the floor, but the cab supports and inner rockers are already attached, so it saves a bunch of welding and time.

At least that's the way I felt about it. Budget will determine what you do. But, if you're either learning to weld or paying somebody to do it, it may actually cost less to do the entire floor.

Either way, you'll likely wind up doing what I did.... Lower kick panel patches (below the vents) and all the rest. Hope your air box for the vents is sound, as well as the roof.

Good Luck! Stay with it, and it looks like you've got good help!

[71c10longbed]

Your truck looks just like mine - lol. I ended up replacing inner/outer rocker on both passenger side and driver side. On the driver side I also replaced a chunk of the floor. They make an inner rocker patch panel that includes several inches in of the floor. The rest of my floor had some small rust holes and surface rust which I let chemicals take care of.

For my cab supports, I had to replace both on the drivers side with OEM. I thought this was the most difficult of my repair jobs because it is hard to get the old support off.

On the passenger side I just patched a couple of small holes in the cab supports. I also used the Eastwood rust stopper that has a long tube to coat the inside of the cab supports.

[clay68c10]

Vendors I’ve used are GMC Pauls and Cooper Restorations. They both sell quality parts