Lifting the cab

[Matt_50]

I've been searching and I want to make sure don't any mistakes. I need to lift the cab off my 1950 3100. I made a rookie mistake, I did not inspect everything very fully and I found out my front passenger cab support is rusted through, see pic.

Anyways, my truck is on a concrete slab in the backyard. I have a cherry picker and I've seen pictures of guys using a jig on their picker to pick up their cabs. To replace my support I am going to pick up the cab, roll the truck forward, set it down and roll onto firewall. I was thinking it's back but thought that might damage it and was told the firewall would be sturdier.

So I have a new support ordered and I got the doors off, figured it was bad to lift on doors. I don't want to damage the cab... any suggestions? Thoughts on support replacement? Rolling onto firewall?

[mongocanfly]

Firewall side is common to roll an over on......much better than your rear cab sheet metal....

[MiraclePieCo]

I lifted mine with a beam on a cherry picker through the doors (like the pic below - not mine). Some guys remove the doors first; I left mine on, but I put lots of padding where it contacted the doors. It didn't hurt anything at all. These cabs aren't' very heavy.

Yes, it's definitely preferable to roll it onto the firewall than the smooth, exposed cab back.

[Matt_50]

I found pictures of some like that but made from 2x4s. I just wanted to get yalls opinion on using one and about rolling cab onto firewall.

This'll be a great time to clean and maybe undercoat the bottom of the cab too.

[Getter-Done]

Roll it on the fire wall .You can get most of the work done there.

[dsraven]

firewall, not rear wall.
if you take the doors off you will have more up and down lift/lowering capacity without the picker arm hitting the bottom of the window opening as you raise or bottoming on the picker arm when you lower. see the pic with the steel cross bar where the picker arm is nearly touching the bottom of the window opening as the cab is lifted. then, as the cab is lowered, you run the chance of running out of lowering capacity because the cross bar bottoms on the picker arm before the cab is on the floor or whatever. in that case the cab needs to tilt so it doesn't sit flat on the floor right away and may damage those cab corners etc from point pressure.
some guys would cringe if you say you left the doors on and lifted. easier to remove doors than do bodywork in those areas, lol.
if you plan to remove the doors, and they are adjusted well with good hinges at present, you can drill through the sheet metal with a small drill bit in the hinge bolt areas, before loosening any bolts, and that way when it goes together again you simply line up the drilled holes.

[MiraclePieCo]

Originally Posted by dsraven

some guys would cringe if you say you left the doors on and lifted. easier to remove doors than do bodywork in those areas, lol.

That picture of metal on metal contact makes me uneasy. I wrapped the ends of the lifting bar with multiple layers of carpet. There was no damage whatsoever.

[gigamanx]

Originally Posted by Matt_50

I found pictures of some like that but made from 2x4s. I just wanted to get yalls opinion on using one and about rolling cab onto firewall.

This'll be a great time to clean and maybe undercoat the bottom of the cab too.

I used the 2x4 technique. Worked awesome and I got to use the engine hoist for something other than an engine

[b-mac]

I've had my cab on an off many times, using the cherry picker method.

Learn from my mistakes, and brace everything up before you start lifting. And definitely before you start cutting on the floor.

Not fun to spend days trying to get your doors to fit again...

[dsraven]

here is what I made from some 2x6. it is 2 rails set far enough apart to allow the arm from the picker to go inside the rails a bit. there are stoppers screwed on so the cab will hang level and not slip off one side if something goes wrong. easily handled by one person. mine didn't have to go too low, like putting the cab down onto the floor, so the arrangement worked well for my needs and easily lifted high enough to get the cab off and on a raised frame, like sitting on jack stands.

[dsraven]

definately brace everything before loosening any cab mounts. keep the doors on and adjust things to get them to fit well. make sure the hinges are good etc. then, with the doors still on and closed properly, install some bracing and cross bracing. triangulated bracing will keep the cab from moving while it is off the frame and will ensure the doors still open and close when you're done. I would recommend tacking the new mount in, then putting the cab back on the frame for a rest fit before welding fully and sheeting the floor area.
you can usually pick up some cheap bracing material at the metal scrap yard or simply buy some black plumbing pipe. zip disc removes stuff pretty quick after but bear in mind the zip disc access when installing and welding the braces in. it sucks to find out after that the welds are no easily accessed with the zip disc or whatever tool you plan to use for removal.

[Matt_50]

B-mac I already did my floor... I just made the mistake if not inspecting my supports. I'm not lifting much, just enough to roll chassis forward and then set it down. Because of the engine I can't go ahead and roll it onto the firewall.

Do I still need to brace it any?

[Matt_50]

I was hoping with the floor in I wouldn't mess anything up. I thought bracing was if I was replacing the floor..

[mr48chev]

Probably not if what you are going to change won't affect the door gaps or otherwise tweak the cab. You won't be changing anything that will change a door gap or cause a tweak in the cab.

Where guys run into trouble is when they start cutting and welding sections into the cab without getting the door gaps right and bracing the cab to keep them right.

Right now I would lift it high enough off the frame to block it up so it is square with the frame and do the work. I don't like the idea of lifting one with the weight of the cab on the tops of the doors like MiricalPieCo showed in post 3. There is just too much risk of tweaking the top of the door. You might get away with it tend times but that 11th you could end up with a bent door top.

If you don't have that much stuff in the way it might be simper to pull the doors back off and lift the cab off and set it on the floor roll it on the firewall and do the work and put it back together. Sometimes the bit of extra work goes faster than trying to work around obstacles

[Matt_50]

Your last paragraph is exactly what I plan to do. I took doors off yesterday, replaced lower passenger cowl panel piece. Fenders are off and bed isn't bolted down.

[Black_Sheep]

Lifting the cab with an engine hoist is the only way to go.

[solidaxel]

I had to wait awhile for the tree to grow tall enough to use this method!