cmp body work

[Ken Hughes]

ok lets start a new thread on how we have gone about doing things on our cabs.
for instants replicating the roof hatch or the rear window frame?
in doing body work on these trucks you need a oxy/ acet plant , mig welder, arc welder,and an assortment of sanders, grinders etc .
on making a rear window frame you can fold up sheet steel to make the basic angle of the frame, easy.
then you need to make a template up for the corners.
if you have access to an original one take measurements and profiles and angles etc,using these shape up some wood or steel for the corners, you may have to make it in two parts to get the step,remember you also have to have a female and a male template,use the gas plant to heat the angle around the shaped corner to fit,weld together and sand/grind up.
you really need to have one to copy,i hope that you can follow my explanation of this, cheers.

[T Creighton]

Hi Ken and with apologies to RR lets start on the rear window frame.
As you say it is best to have one to copy and I was lucky enough to borrow one. By chance the side carrier bearing cups from the diffs are the exact radius. Just needed stepping down from the welding table surface to get the correct height. I had replaced them in both axles so I had 4 worn ones to play with.
No mig welder only gas but they came out ok in the end.
Terry

[Keith Webb]

You mean you guys actually fabricate things?

We just go out and find another perfect one!

[Keith Webb]

Mind you, I have the greatest admiration for the work you guys are doing.

We are just blessed here with a kind climate, no salt on roads and lots of CMPs, which is not to say we don't have some shockers here too!

[Ken Hughes]

good day Terry, i wish i had done photos of the cab restoration as you have ,well done.
thats quite a simple form you used there.
good old kiwi know how!

[T Creighton]

Originally posted by Keith Webb
Mind you, I have the greatest admiration for the work you guys are doing.

We are just blessed here with a kind climate, no salt on roads and lots of CMPs, which is not to say we don't have some shockers here too!

Is this what you mean Keith? 280 km south of Darwin.
My Bro in Law is working there and asked if there was and parts I needed.

[Bob Carriere]

...for shame Keith you lied about the rust......

.... but at least you rust is only on the surface. Having parts vehicles is a tremendous time saver.

Excellent idea to start a thread on body work/CMP cab.... which no doubt will in time include wooden components.

I am still trying to finish the powertrain parts on mine but have been helping Rob transplant panels for the nose clip and/or replace rotted out floor toe plates. We will be using 18 gauge steel and plan on adjusting our Mig-gas welder to the smaller .023 wire this weekend to see if we can do some finer stitching of replacment panels.

BooB

[Max Hedges]

Bob is there any thing you need that we could fit in Ma's bag to take back with her.
Max

[T Creighton]

Especially for Bob C
Bend it cold. In Canada at this time of year wellllll??? but you know what I mean.
With 6 bends to do, an old pump pulley and a few scraps of steel and a roller bearing got a nice even radius each time.
Terry

[Bob Carriere]

Thanks for the generous offer Max....... Ma is a wee little thing and everything I need is at least over a ton........

Any chance of getting any NOS pivot bearings for Phil Innes....... he will need a set in a bad way and I found out that there are no suitable alternatives world wide....... I deal with an industrial outfit that searches bearings by size and then comes up with different suppliers.... he came up blank.

BooB

[Bob Carriere]

Hi Terry

Why bend cold.....??? will need to heat it when when bending anyways..... just curious.

I bought a large bender from Princess.... may need to build a suitable radius tube...... will not get into that part of the body until things get a little warmer.

If the weather warms up to much I will borrow the neighbours wife and get her to sit on the steel angle... her husband keeps telling me she's frigid.......

...and the age thing... I know the feeling... I am creeping up behind you....... like to think I have another truck left in me.......hahaha

Bob

[mike mckinley]

Originally posted by Bob Carriere
...for shame Keith you lied about the rust......

.... but at least you rust is only on the surface. Having parts vehicles is a tremendous time saver.

Excellent idea to start a thread on body work/CMP cab.... which no doubt will in time include wooden components.

We will be using 18 gauge steel and plan on adjusting our Mig-gas welder to the smaller .023 wire this weekend to see if we can do some finer stitching of replacment panels.

BooB

hi bob

you will notice a big difference when you make the switch to .023...like butter melting on warm bread mike

[Max Hedges]

Bob I will se what I can find
Max

[Phil Waterman]

Fabricating the channels for the back of the cabs, this thread has gotten slightly splintered so I am responding in both threads. Here is how I fabricated the curved angle iron top and bottoms for the Pattern 12 finally got all the pictures posted on my site http://canadianmilitarypattern.com/SheetMetalWork.html basically I notched and welded to form a smooth curve.

[Bob Carriere]

Will be giving Geoff a nightmare trying to keep the topics under appropriate headings...... sorry Geoff

Thanks Phil for the wonderful pictures...... Your idea of notching and rewelding is the one I favor at this point.

You refer to a porta power tool.... looks like a and powered body jack duck bill..... am I right..... I guess I need to go back to Princess Auto... they have the body jacks and the air powered hydraulic pump for it... hihihi..... going shopping again...!!!

Can always crack nuts with it at Xmas time.....

Now if I can only learn how to weld..... oh wait that's another thread....hahaha

Bob

[Phil Waterman]

Hi Bob

I bolted the rail down to the floor plate, then with the end to be bent loosely clamped to the floor plate used the duckbill spreader to walk it around the curve. Had the whole thing clamped on my big bench with it up against some vertical block so that the spreader had something to push against.

If I did it again I would not cut the door end to length until it was bent to shape, that way it would be easier to get the length correct with out a lot of measurements. I did bend some scrap angle to shape just to for practice also welded the test version and then tried to straighten it back out with the porta-power to see how the welds held. It broke the weld at the notch where there was no space so that the weld was sitting up on top of the steel. That’s why I increased the spacing of the gap. Even ran a cutting wheel down a couple of them after they were bent to give more welding space.

With the angle iron clamped and bolted to the floor plate along the back it was pretty easy to get two of them to come out identical. Side point all the angle iron I bought was made in Canada which is nicely stamped along its length.

Now I’ll need to go add all this text to my web site.

[Ken Hughes]

Hi Phil you are doing a wonderful job there on your cab.
what i have found this week is that there is a difference between 13 cabs where the top back panel joins the roof
someone has told me that ford cabs are seam welded
and chev are spot welded, any thoughts on this?

[Phil Waterman]

Originally posted by Ken Hughes
Hi Phil you are doing a wonderful job there on your cab.
what i have found this week is that there is a difference between 13 cabs where the top back panel joins the roof
someone has told me that ford cabs are seam welded
and chev are spot welded, any thoughts on this?

Hi Ken - You are correct as far as my knowledge of Chevy CMPs all I have seen are pinch spot welded. When I re-skinned the back of my Pat 13 C60S I did not have a pinch spot welder so instead I punched ¼ holes and plug welded with the Mig. Whether you are using pinch spot weld or Mig plug weld it is critical to make sure that the both surfaces are bright shinny bare metal, if not the welds will brake from the vibration and rattle like hell. (I learned the hard way trying to re-pinch weld the window rain gutters on the Pat 13 without removing and grinding them bare. The welds held for about a 1000 miles and then the rattle started. Had to remove them completely and do them over.)