Rust repair - no donor trucks available

[johnwaynejeep]

I wanted to get everyones opinion on rust repair for my truck.

I live in Alaska and so far I have not found a single truck with good donor metal, I'm trying to gauge my options at this point.

The cab floor of my 74 GMC SWB is totally rusted through, I can stand on it, but I don't know for how much longer. the rust extends to what I believe are the cab body mounts, they're so bad that their starting to crumble and disintegrate. This is a beat up work truck and normally I'm not too concerned with rust, but if the body mounts are rusting through, I AM concerned about safety. I've not been able to find a good donor cab to replace the metal or the entire cab. Every one I've found has sever rust in the floor and I'm not crazy about replacing junk with a little less junk. Also I'm on a budget.

I figure I have several options:

1. Let it go until it's completely gone...I'm concerned about safety in the long run.

2. fabricate new body mounts from metal stock and weld it in place...this may require cutting out the majority of the lower cab to find good metal to weld to. I'm not sure I have the skills to do this, but I'll try anything.

3. build a simple internal roll cage and mount it to the frame and take the weight off the cab body mounts...I've never done this, I'm not sure how/if it would work out.

4. Any shade tree fixes anyone can offer up...I'm going for this one.

My budget is as low as I can get it...$0 is great, but not practical. I have access to several sheets of 1/8 steel plate and I'm a decent enough welder that I can make it functional, not pretty, but functional.

Any ideas
Thanks