Can I pull The Cab Off Of My Project Truck
There are a few reasons why we would want to take the cabs off of our classic trucks. The main being a frame off restoration and the second being we want to sandblast and clean up the frame. You may have some frame damage from a wreck your truck may have been involved in during its 50 plus year life that you need to repair or you just want to see if you can pull it off to look underneath.
What are the steps to pull the cab off of my truck?
- Unbolt cab mounts
- Remove hood and doors, seat etc.
- Disconnect wiring, remove battery
- Disconnect clutch rod, parking brake,speedo cable
- Remove steering shaft
- Drain remove radiator
- Remove front clip
- Run 4×4 post thru cab
- Lift with hoist
That sounds so simple, lets go into greater detail of these easy steps.
Unbolt Cab Mounts
Lets get started. You will want to spray down the cab bolts with WD40 or the like a few days before loosening them. If they haven’t been removed for a while then they are probably seized up. Hopefully this will save you some scraped knuckles and having to hack saw they off.
Remove The Hood, Doors, Seat etc.
The lighter you can make the cab the easier this job will be. This also gives you better access to all the places you will be working. You especially want to remove your seat so you don’t get any tears in it.
Disconnect Wiring, Remove Battery
Some trucks will have the battery in the cab and under the floor. regardless it’s best practice to remove your battery as you don’t want an accident with battery acid.
Disconnect Clutch Rod, Parking Brake, Speedometer Cable
Now were getting the hang of it, everything must go. Its a real pain and dangerous when you have your truck cab lifted up a foot and see you still have something hanging on like a speedo cable.
Remove Steering Shaft
These can be a little tough sometimes if they haven’t been remover for a while. You may need a pickle fork or a little ingenuity to complete this task. remember that most major auto part stores have loaner tool programs to help you out.
Drain Remove Radiator
Now you will get a real good idea of how your antifreeze mix looks. If you have any discoloring like “rust” it’s a good idea to plan on replacing it. Ask your auto parts store guy what the rules are for ridding yourself of the old antifreeze.
Remove Front Clip
Here is where you will start stripping and snapping off old bolts if that clip hasn’t been removed before. Again you will want to have sprayed them with WD40 s day or two before trying to remove them.
Run 4×4 post Thru Cab
I ran across a couple different homemade lifting aids that looked pretty easy to build and seemed quite safe. You can run a 4×4 through your cab and attach eye bolts on the outsides of them to lift from. To make it more stable you could use two 4×4’s attached by 2×4’s on the ends and put your eyebolts through the 2x4s to lift from. The cab with out doors and glass weighs a little over 300 pounds so this will be an easy lift.
The other way we talked about was lifting your cab corners and running 4×4’s underneath and setting them on stands. I believe this can be done safely if your setting the 4×4’s on something more stable like metal or heavy duty sawhorses. If it feels sketchy then rethink and make it more stable. Lifting this way also gives you the stands you need to set the cab on for working.
Lift With Hoist Or Hyster
The easiest way would be to use a forklift or a loader tractor but how many of us own one or have access to one. If you want to lift your cab it may be a good time to buy a 2 ton cherry picker and some lumber with a few other parts to make a safe lifting apparatus.
Is It Safe To Remove Our Cabs
Removing a cab is just like any thing else we do on our trucks, there are some ways of doing the job that are a lot safer than others.
I was just reading in a forum of someone explaining how he lifted up each corner of his cab with jacks, then placed jack stands with 4×4’s across them. He went on to say how wobbly it was and he was worried the whole time of it falling. Thats a good way to remove a cab but I would use metal saw horses on the corners for stability.
Accidents happen very fast. If your unsure of the stability of how your doing the pick, then stop and find a safer and better way to do it.
Why We Remove Our Cabs
There are a few reasons why we would want to remove the cab from our truck frame. If you want to do a frame off restoration its just like it says, everything is removed off of the frame including the bed, cab, and any thing else that is attached must come off.
When the cab is removed you will be able to get a better look underneath it and give it a thorough inspection for rust, metal fatigue, repairs from former accidents it may have been involved in. This makes it a lot easier to do any metal patch repairs or large area metal replacements as you will be able to tip it to better angles to work on.
You may find after you have removed the cab that it is too far gone with rust or other problems and that it will be less work to find a replacement cab. If the rust has damaged it so much that it will be hard to make it stable even with replacement metal patches I would certainly look for a replacement cab.
Its also a good time to give the underneath of the cab a thorough cleaning and lay on a coating of protection like POR 15. This is their product that I have used on frames and under the cabs. Its easy to use and is dries very hard and durable.
NEW POR-15 Gray Rust Preventive Paint Gallon POR15
Now you have complete access to the frame for a good thorough steam cleaning to see if you have rust problems forming of any kind or frame damage that needs to be taken care of. When the frame is clean POR 15 will give you a great seal and rust protection.
Final Thoughts
To truly get to all the nooks and crannies on our trucks we need to pull the cabs off. Yes it is a lot of work but if you have any concerns of rust or other problems and you have the means to do it I would do it. Have a few neighbors over for a barbecue and ask them for a hand, everyone likes to get involved in someones project. Happy Trucking!
The Tool Box
When we lift our cabs and beds off we need something real stable to set them on while we’re working. Having four of these under the corners will give more than enough capacity to easily hold the weight and are very stable. I have tried to use the plastic folding kind and they are nothing more than an accident waiting to happen.
Toughbuilt TB-C500 Sawhorse with 2×4 Support Arms 1100 LB Capacity
A couple of these inexpensive jacks will be a great help in lifting the cab or any thing else were working on.
BIG RED T820014S Torin Hydraulic Trolley Service/Floor Jack with Blow Mold Carrying Storage Case, 2 Ton (4,000 lb) Capacity, Red
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