Truck Bed To Cab Molding Together?

[ncsdaonex]

I decided to weld my cab to my bed to eliminate the gap between the two. my cab sat lower than my bed cause the body mounts are bad so i jacked up on the back of the cab and welded the bed to the cab. i filled the remaining gap with body filler. after it was sanded i jumped up and down on the bumper and saw no signs of cracking an the bodyfiller so it seems secure. the reason i did this is for looks and to fix the difference in the height of the cab and truck bed. it actually looks really good. my question is has anyone done this before and have they had any success with it and what are some possible problems i could have. and i realize that by welding the two together i basically eliminated the body mounts so there is little give to the cab and the frame.

 

[baxtej44]

sounds like it's not a great idea... especially if you off road... but i'm not sure you do.


i mean they are seperated for a reason right? to be able to flex and what not.... if you are just street driving you may not experience any problems... what about a crash scenario? not sure how that would work out.... unless the welds would just break due to the impact (obviously only if it's a strong enough force)


gl man... would like to see some pics, sounds unique.

 

[Fx4wannabe01]

There's been folks that've done this in the minitruckin world...slammed bodydrop trucks. Show trucks.

First little concern....you're so cheap that you didn't replace the worn out body mounts BEFORE doing this? hmmm.....

The mod isn't very practical for a daily as the suspension does get tweaked out going into driveways, parking lots, parking garages, etc... my driveway would crack the joint on your truck... Mod isn't at all a good idea for anything that carries loads and definately not a good idea if you play on the trails.

But..let's not forget the Unibody Ford pickups of the 60's...those were really really neat and cool looking trucks. But they were made to be that and yours wasn't. Lets see pics.

 

[el_conquistador]

Mmm nothing personal not only does this sound like a bad Idea but I bet it would look like poop.

 

[ncsdaonex]

Here are the pics of the bed to cab molding together!

sounds like it's not a great idea... especially if you off road... but i'm not sure you do.


i mean they are seperated for a reason right? to be able to flex and what not.... if you are just street driving you may not experience any problems... what about a crash scenario? not sure how that would work out.... unless the welds would just break due to the impact (obviously only if it's a strong enough force)


gl man... would like to see some pics, sounds unique.

Hey, here is the pics of the truck bed to cab molding together.

 

[Fast Doc]

I don't know how well that will hold up but I like the clean look. I remember the little Dodge Omni pickups and VW Rabbit pickups from the 70's had that clean look.

 

[Fx4wannabe01]

I do like the look..totally. got any other plans for the truck?

 

[ncsdaonex]

I do like the look..totally. got any other plans for the truck?

yea lots of plans, in a month or so i am gonna have side skirts on it to match with the bumper. i have an aftermarket bumper on that i molded into the fenders, it looks good but looks bad cause i didnt sand down the bodyfiller yet, so its a work in progress. i am removing the rear bumper which i will be selling it is the stronger aftermarket bumper, i am going to run a piece of metal across the back where the bumper was. I am getting aftermarket taillights. I am swaping my instrument cluster for one that has a tach in it. I am redoing the hood so it looks like one solid piece of metal and puting a hood scoop on that will go to my intake. I already painted my dash and interior pieces and it looks nice. let me know if you want to see any pics. I am painting it silver with a blue stripe at the bottom all the way around. By next summer i plan to do a motor swap for the ford thunderbird 2.3 turbo, currently i have the stock 2.3 lima engine. when i get the engine i am puting a bigger turbo on so i can get like 25 pounds of boost and get over 200hp. I will put a better rear in if i blow the stock one out. So yea this truck is gonna be amazing when it is done. Im still in school so it will take me a while to get this all done, hopefully by next year sometime. I also am buying a anodized racing muffler (anodized is when it looks different colors like when you heat up metal) so yea it will sound good and loud. If you want to see any pics let me know. like i said some things look like crap right now but i will finish them so they look good when i get the time and money.

 

[odie1969]

Hey your not the first to do this. Ford did this back in the 60's and then decided to go away from it. But good luck with it I think it looks good and I;m sure as long as your not twisting the frame it will be just fine.

 

[dontendupzero]

looks good but not to sure if its going to hold

 

[Roadkill]

My $.02.

Those welds and the lack of replacing bad body mounts makes for a garbage job. You plan on pushing 200 hp with those welds and some bondo in there. Running daily it seems. It will not last.

Even my wife took one look at the welds and said they were ugly.

You have some great ideas. I look forward to seeing the progress. You just need to make sure you fab everything up properly. Slapping bondo on something to hide the crap underneath is a waste of time and effort. Do it right and you would need little to no body filler. Just some smoothing filler.

 

[bigcountry]

what u should have done was get some sheet metal and tig weld it togther the welds would look better and u would use less bondo and it would hold togther better than mig welds would but the after doesnt look bad at all

 

[dogboy]

Neat idea, but I would have gone about it slightly differently.
First of all, the cab has no support under the back of it since it is off the bushings. This is going to make your welds want to sheer right off.

Also, did you even grind the paint away before you welded it? It doesn't look like you did, it looks like you just went through the paint with the welder... Maybe that's just how it looks though.

 

[Loanranger]

All I have to say is do not put that truck on the road. EVER.

Your body mounts are there for a reason. To mount the body. DUH.

Not only will the bondo crack, the welds are going to rip away from the sheetmetal. With the c channel frame of a ranger, there is way too much movement for that to hold together. ESPECIALLY without the bodymounts in there.

IF you had put new bodymounts in there, it would at least be safe, which it isn't in it's current state. Then it would have been just an asthetic thing, but you have gone and tried to make it a structural thing.

AT THE VERY LEAST, take your front bedbolts out, jack the center of your new unibody up, slide some 2x4s or SOMETHING in where the body mounts should be and bolt that sucker back down.

I am not trying to pick on you, but things like this should be better thought out.