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I was just looking at ezernut9mm's 66' and it was striking to me how nice his cab sheet metal fit.
Now my 65' looks like an old frumpy, saggy housewife in a worn out house coat. I know, the bad paint doesn't help much.
What would be the right way to fix this? Start with the cab mounts first and align the rest of the body parts from that?
It's pretty easy to get to the back side of my cab.
Well, first off, seeing as how your truck is not only a F-350, but a dump truck besides, it is possible one or more of the previous owners might have overloaded it, causing the frame to sag a little bit?
If your '65 is like my 1 ton '66, it has the straight axle and cab steps, where the smaller 65-66 trucks have I beam axles and flatter floors. I guess you could try to bring up the front part mounts a little with shims.
Your truck has likely earned her retirement and the imperfections are sort of like calluses from a life of hard work. I like to see these old trucks in their working clothes.
The widening of the gap at bottom of door to fender gap indicates your front cab mounts are likely rotten.............I would climb on under and inspect ALL four cab mounts as well as the pans, and go from there.........
I didn't even think about the frame being bent.
I only hope it's bad cab mounts.
I know what you mean about leaving the battle scars, but those misaligned parts look more like a broken bone to me than a callous.
Nice truck! My bet would also be the cab mounts. Your pics match what is normally seen with this common failure on these old trucks regardless of series.
Paul
The Ford Orphanage
Life's too short for boring vehicles!
My quest to develop a universal solvent is held up by the lack of a storage container.
Paul
I drove my first slick off of a dirt berm back in my youth, and caused the same damage when I landed front and rear from about 3 1/2 feet high.
Truck continued to drive true but with sprung fenders. the frame can be straightened. Shimming the cab back level would be better than having to replace rotted cab mounts in my opinion.
You aren't alone..... Slick #1 had awful alignment on the bonnet/cowl/guard. The cab mounts were in good shape so I figured it was bent or an ordinary smash repair from some time in its life. Yours doesn't look too bad and the cab mount repair will fix most of it!
looks like cab mount sag to me
bad thing is no one reproduces the rectangular rubber pads for the 4x4s and bigger trucks.
the metal part on the cab can be bought and replaced if needed
1966 F250 4x4
1964 Rambler Ambassador 990
Rest in peace departed Slick family members
Cam Milam
Lesley Ferguson
Steve Lopes
John Sutton