Cab 12 Alteration???

[Bob Carriere]

The cramped quarters, heat from the engine, noise from the gears, sore bum from inadequate seat padding, no room for your bare feet let alone boots..... top speed of ..... you would not want to steer it at 80 mph.....

.....that is the charm of the beast.

I have taken to wearing track shoes instead of steel capped boots...... left foot for clutch only ....right foot twisted for the throttle and much anticipated defensive driving so not to have to brake too often..... roll your stops and leave in second gear......

It was designed by a mad British engineer with his mind set to get even with mankind and used a 20 year old lad raised in the depression that only grew to 5 foot 4 inches at 135 pounds a a model.

Seriously, am I ever....... I do have a cab 12 that had the floor modified to gain a few precious inches. Will try to get you some pictures...... they actually cut out a flat section from the curved inner fender and extended the floor plate over the crescent shaped floor opening...... and it is sitting on home made 20 rims/tires WHICH do not seem to rub when turning hard corners....... I makes a lot of sense but it really destroys the historical value of the vehicle. The homemade rims are 16 inch centers welded to a 20 inch rim...... No it is not drive on the street nor does it run at the moment..... I actually purchased the truck just to have the special U-Joint that links the winch to the T case..... it has also donated numerous other parts since.... generator, water pump, doors, engine covers, rifle brackets, etc.

The only old vehicle that is dependable, reasonably safe to drive even roll upside down, suitable for rainy West coast weather and half comfortable for guys your size is a well done M 37.

Cheers

Bob C

[rob love]

Tsk-tsk-tsk....modifying vehicles when surgery, diet, and discipline are available to correct the shortcomings or overages of the operator. For shame.

[David DeWeese]

Hi,

Had the same problem with my cab 11 C8, post #421.

http://www.mapleleafup.net/forums/sh...=11657&page=15

Thanks, David

[r.morrison]

Your thoughts.... are my thoughts. Sitting down and looking high and low, it's the only idea I can come up with. ALONG with "altering" the pedals and widening their location. As you say "precious inches" or cut your feet off and use wooden "stumps"! My associates and I will ponder this a little further.
Now....you also mentioned 20 inch rims. Enlighten me please.

Many thanks for jumping in Bob......Robert

[r.morrison]

Rob....my cardiologist told me the exact same thing....and that was for driving a classic 1994 Ford F150 pick up! David's comments are spot on. We'll "carry on...carrying on"! Robert

[Bob Carriere]

Hi Robert

Went out and took some pictures from two cab 12 ....one modified one pristine(big word considering the rust). My apologies if some are fuzzy I did a quick job using my phone instead of the my better Sony.

First the wheel..... I have seen numerous mod jobs some better than others some with CMP 20 in.rims others with Budd wheel 20 in.rims.

The best is using the inner half of the 16 in. rim welded to the 20 in rim. Seems they cut out the center of the front face of the 20 in. rim and weld in the 16 in rim using the rim mounting bolts as a form of alignment..... and apparently they were driven like that on the road.

I have attached a picture of a better job.

Now for the floor modification.

Will need to attach in two series as there are more than five.

I have tried to included right on the pictures as much explanations as possible.....if it is not clear please comeback with questions.

They really did a good job ofo getting the inner fender bulge out of the way and from what I can observed....unless the truck was driven on very rough ground doing a hard right turn.... the 20 inch tire does not appear to rub.
None of the pedal were relocated...in particular the gas pedal. From my experience unless you intend to use a modern throttle cable sued on hot rods there is no room to modify the linkage for the gas pedal.

They cut along the famous angle iron arches and only flattened the side peice of the toe board. I would gamble to say that given a spare inner fender I could reverse the process. They used stiff 1/8 plates fro the floor and the side vertical wall of the box.

All in all not a bad conversion. Why the h*** did the designer not think of that or the modification carried into the Service Bulletin?????

The next posting will focus on the truck with out the modifications and how they would cut.

Enjoy.

Bob C

[Bob Carriere]

These pictures are of the unmodified cab 12 and where it would be done.

Again if anything is unclear ask away.

PS..... last picture in wrong order.... it shows the finished inside of the mods.


Now Robert......are you going to torch it....or endure the pain like a trouper????

Alex...... what do you think??? will you endure or are you blessed with a healthy small frame and small feet???

Bob C.

PS to the PS....... this unmodified cab 12 has the dot and dash floor plates.


Cheers

[chris vickery]

I'm a pretty large lad myself and like you guys decided to restore a 12cab Ford CMP as my first truck. My helper, my father, also a bigger fella.
Here is what I did;
-reduced the seat cushion to maximize room
-eliminated the wooden spacers under the seat mounts
-tried to drive wearing work boots, a no go.
-switched to running shoes
-drove barefoot but not for long as the engine heat cooked my little piggies
-finally figured a way to clutch as little as possible while utilizing the right toes and heel combo to facilitate fuel delivery and braking capabilities as needed.
In other words, if I had no arms I'd be great at painting with my feet... Practice and more practice.

[r.morrison]

Well, some great points put forth here (with the exception of Mr Love's !). David's alteration has some great points and so does Bob's in as much as cutting out the bulbous part of the fender and creating a flat surface. And Chris's going through the motions of foot size etc. I sold my ballet slippers years ago! And I am squeamish about the cutting of the original fender. I wish I had a spare to sacrifice. I'm probably just going to sit in the cab, taking in all this info and put a plan together. I also realised why Phil has removed the roof on his unit. Sure makes it a hell of a lot easier getting in and out and I think it looks cool! Thanks again for your input gents. Robert