cab support patterns

[krazy_texan]

who on here had made the patterns for the cab supports for under our trucks and what size metal did you use to do it if you could post it or email it to me, i am going to need these soon so if you would please

[bobs409]

krazy,

That was me. I made the new one from metal cut out of a damage hood. (best metal you can get!) You may want to go with even heavier gauge though. Maybe 16 gauge. Original hood sheetmetal is about 19 gauge.

Not sure how I could post or e-mail the pattern as it's bigger than my scanner.

I bought a driver side rear floor support and made the pattern off of it. Then just reverse for the passenger side. One pattern does both sides. Im planning on doing the same thing for the fronts next year when I get to them.

[SLS]

Maybe I'm misunderstanding something here....


...but why go to all the trouble (and time) to fabricate cab supports when pre-manufactured new ones are available through several of the vendors here...and so CHEAP too????

[bobs409]

A few reasons...

1) It only took about 20 minutes to fab one support
2) You make them out of good metal, not taiwan crap
3) You can use any gauge metal you like
4) If you have the metal like an old hood laying around, you can make them for free! I paid $22.00 for the taiwan part I made the pattern from.


This isn't for everyone but some people like to fab things themselves. There's benefits but if you don't like doing this type of work, you can always buy the repro's.

[SLS]

Sounds like good reasons to me. I guess if the tools and know-how are available, making them is a good idea. Thanks, Bob!

[krazy_texan]

could you just draw a smaller diagram in paint or something i dont need the measurments exept on angles and stuff like that, the rest i can figure out i just need a rough idea

[sparky69]

How about taking a digital photo of the pattern.

I would like to see one too and the front. Maybe I can do something with that metal hanging around the house that my wife complaining about.

[bobs409]

Here's a pic of how the support came out. The one on the left is the Taiwan and the blue one on the right is the one I made from my old hood. Pattern can be seen at far right.

To make the bends, I used a 6 inch bench vise and two boards about 20 inches long. Sandwich the metal inbetween the boards, then bend. If you have a sheetmetal brake, that would work much better but when you don't have "all" the tools, you have to make due sometimes.

Maybe I can scan the pattern in two parts. I'll work on that later and post the results tomorrow.

If that doesn't work out, you could buy one and make a pattern from it, then return it to where you bought it. LOL

[NSANE68!!!]

That is DAMN NICE WORK!!!

[oldsub86]

Haven't tried it but what would stop you from going under the truck with some light cardboard stock and bending up a match right on the existing partly rusted model? A bit of trimming and maybe a second or third attempt, maybe some masking tape etc., and one should be able to make a pretty good template without buying an aftermarket part.

[bobs409]

The scanner idea isn't going to work guys. I would have to do it in 4 parts because of it's size and the odds of it being accurate by the time you print it out isn't too good.

Buying one to make a pattern from or going under and making one from your old support like oldsub86 said might be the only choice.

[krazy_texan]

thanks for the help i got to looking at them tonight and decided i am going to just cut out pieces of metal to shape and weld them in there one at a time, seeing as mine are not terribly bad but could use some repair.