72 Cab Work

[OldYeller72]

I live in north Texas about a stones throw from the OK border.
I own a 72 LWB Fleetside P/U. I have had the truck for 4 yrs. I paid $700 for the truck running. I got it home 4 yrs ago and started working on it and did the front suspension and have the the rear suspension components but havent installed them yet. I stopped working on the truck 2 years ago when I was tired of rolling around in the dirt instead of a nice concrete floor.

So I recently built my new shop and I now have my truck in the shop and started clearing the cab and removing all of the inner parts. to my dismay I found so much rust in this truck, that I am not sure I want to continue doing the project. I own 2 small business's and also work a full time 8-4 job. My time is very limited to really work on the truck.

So I am debating on "Do I want to continue" or Do I want to see if I can locate someone to do the work at my shop for me. I am 45 yrs old and have a full plate of stuff and while I have owned 2 street hot rods (fully built by me) and one strip only car (built by me) back in my younger years. I am feeling like I want to pay someone to come and do the work for me now. I know that its cheating to have others do your dirty work, but I just dont have time and I want to see this project through. All the prior builds I have done, really havent required as much body work as this cab will and to be honest I am not trusting myself to get it right. I look through all of these threads on this great site and think "Damn do I want to do all of this?" I have watched countless videos and just am not sure.

Is there anyone relatively close to my area that would be willing to earn some extra cash? I have all the tools to do this with and if I dont have something I will go buy it. I would just find a cab but they are so ridiculously priced, I just want to fix this one. I have started removing small areas of the floor to see how bad stuff is. I have all of the patch panels to complete the job at hand.

The repair will consist of the following:

Driver & Passenger for all pieces listed below

Front Floor Pans
Front and Rear Cab Supports
Outer Floor Extensions
Kick Panels
Lower A Pillar
Rear Pillar
Inner & Outer Rockers
Cab Corners

Now I am sure your asking "Why didnt you just buy the complete floor?"
Because I have been accumulating parts for 4 yrs and honestly didnt know the floor was in the shape it is in. Never pulled the floor mat back to see all of the rust until I put the truck in my shop. I knew it needed inner and outer rockers but as you guys know when you start removing pieces you find rust in areas you didnt expect. So it is what it is..I would like to see if anyone can cut and replace the panels in my shop? Long shot to ask but I really want to keep this truck..the chassis is not rolling and the cab is still on the frame. So taking it somewhere is just not what I want to do when I have all it takes here.

I was always told "It never hurts to ask, the worst that can happen is nobody responds or they just say NO"
BTW this can be done in small pieces...it doesnt have to be done all at once..

Thanks for your time
Jason

[67swb72klb]

That's a lot of work just on the cab. IMO you'd be better off finding a cab that may only need rockers

[hugger6933]

Well first off it isn't "cheating" to have someone do work you can't to or can't get to. By that I'm meaning not everyone has the time or ability to do this work and no shame in either. I understand your busy and then on the other hand there are some that don't possess the skills needed to do this type of thing. That is NOT saying they are somehow not as good as somebody that can weld or fab up something it is just one of those things.
Now here are some observations, There is a guy you can find him on you tube that travels around pulling his trailer and doing this type of work. I don't know how deep into the jobs he will go but I do know he does rockers and stuff like that.

Also from what I've seen on here [some if not most] shops charge around $1000 to $1500 per side for rockers with inners and pillars[footwells too]. I would tend to say I'm closer to the mid of that price for both sides into high build primer, But then again some of that depends on how complete the truck was to begin with. That price for me would be if the customer drove in and I had to take it down from a whole truck to get to that point.

Now on to the floor piece, you gonna be better off selling the the pieces like the floor pans and the braces for whatever you can even if it is just a few bucks then buy a whole floor it will save you tons in labor charges, as the whole floor is gonna end be more work on the front but less on the back if you follow what I'm saying. If I were you in the same shape with a cab as yours I would order a floor with braces then do the footwells and cab corner and pillars. These parts are inexpensive when you do start counting labor VS. parts. The time saved may be in the whole day range.
Good luck and happy sanding. Jim

[hugger6933]

I'd check into that you tube guy and see if he is coming close to you anytime soon.

[57taskforce]

Originally Posted by 67swb72klb

That's a lot of work just on the cab. IMO you'd be better off finding a cab that may only need rockers

If he could find such a cab I agree, unfortunately not very many people have access to good cabs only needing rockers any more. That said if there's no rust in the inside of the roof, or upper cowl area than there's nothing that makes your current cab unsalvageable. I agree with jim that if your gonna have a shop do it than the complete floor will likely be the cheaper option, labor cost adds up fast.

[Grumpy old man]

Sell the project and buy a finished truck for 1/2 of the cost and trouble you'll have watching and paying someone else to build it for you .and you'll be driving next week instead of 2 years from now .

[OldYeller72]

Originally Posted by Grumpy old man

Sell the project and buy a finished truck for 1/2 of the cost and trouble you'll have watching and paying someone else to build it for you .and you'll be driving next week instead of 2 years from now .

I am talking to a guy that has a 68 and it just has slight rust in the rockers but everything else is in great shape. Think I am going to salvage the project and buy this truck. From the pictures its in drivable when I put my motor and tranny in it. It has decent rims. Cowl hood

This is exactly what I need...