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| 80s truck roof rot https://slantsix.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=68486 |
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| Author: | volaredon [ Mon Feb 16, 2026 2:33 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: 80s truck roof rot |
Don't waste your time if you're hoping to get it road worthy. I see you're in the same miserable state that I am. Illinois is the worst. If it's already branded as "junk"or "salvage" stick a fork in it. Though they had the vin on the dash, if you have a dash out of something that doesn't have aa junk title that's a possibility. In my case I have the original dash and the original frame that match the title. |
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| Author: | Reed [ Mon Feb 16, 2026 3:38 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: 80s truck roof rot |
The cabs on these trucks/ramchargers are actually very complex strucutres. There are 3-5 overlapping panels spot welded together depending on what seam you are on. If you can do, the absolute easiest way to replace the roof is to sut the pillar and weld a whoel new roof on. Just take lots of careful measurements. |
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| Author: | Rick Covalt [ Tue Feb 17, 2026 4:57 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: 80s truck roof rot |
The honest truth is if you consider the cost and the huge amount of time to separate all the panels, get new panels and separate them, re-weld them, patch them, then body and paint. You are almost better off to go south and get a complete cab or a whole truck and install the whole cab. The professional that does all our body work here just finished up Andrew Shanks truck last week and he said it was an absolute nightmare. He told me he would highly consider another cab as a better alternative. They can be repaired and now that he has seen how it was put together from the factory it would be easier. But it ain't easy or cheap. Apparently all the pieces were put together completely bare. |
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| Author: | volaredon [ Tue Feb 17, 2026 11:02 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: 80s truck roof rot |
Quote:
The cabs on these trucks/ramchargers are actually very complex strucutres. There are 3-5 overlapping panels spot welded together depending on what seam you are on. If you can do, the absolute easiest way to replace the roof is to sut the pillar and weld a whoel new roof on. Just take lots of careful measurements.
Which is my plan. I have another roof already, tip side is great, but the drip rail underneath isn't. Since the top side is so solid I'm gonna fill the bottom in while I can still flip it over easily.before I weld it onto the rest of the cab
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| Author: | volaredon [ Tue Mar 03, 2026 4:03 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: 80s truck roof rot |
Do any of the patch panels companies make "just" the drip rail? |
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| Author: | mcnoople [ Tue Mar 03, 2026 8:32 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: 80s truck roof rot |
Quote:
Do any of the patch panels companies make "just" the drip rail?
I don't believe anyone does. There is a guy on facebook that makes the leading edge of the roof. If I was going to repair the drip rail I would fab it out of 14-16 gauge steel. If the seam is bad I would weld in a strip of 14-16 between the original upper and lower panels. I would leave it extending forward to where the drip rail originally ended. Then I would weld another strip of steel to the front of the piece that I just added as a "T" to create a drip edge. You would weld the original upper section to the piece and then you would have to do some upside down welding to weld to the bottom of it with the windshield out.Doing fab like this you would want to use thicker than OEM steel to give a little extra leeway against burn thru when welding the older thinner metal to the strip that is added. When doing the actual welding you would want to favor the new metal with your weld puddle. I was looking at getting a 1st gen ram, but couldn't get the title work squared away, and then it would likely have been branded as salvage. I wanted no part of dealing with that BS. Since my target truck wasn't going to happen I came across another project and bought it last weekend for 1k. 2006 ram short bed short cab with a 3.7 and 6 speed manual. According to many sources that trans can bolt onto all small blocks mopars/magnum/5.7 hemis. After I get its common rust issues fixed and likely to happen electrical issues, I will be thinking about a 5.2 carb swap. I think it would be fun to have a lowered 5.2 6speed short ram with 1980's era electricals systems cobbled into it. |
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| Author: | volaredon [ Tue Mar 03, 2026 10:08 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: 80s truck roof rot |
Except for the "lowered" part I agree... But do you know who that is that's making that drip rail? Could you share? I don't have fakebook but my wife does... I can look it up on her phone. They had an 89 D100 on the TV show. "2 guys garage" on which that roof was much worse than what I am dealing with. It showed them sectioning in cutoff sections from another roof, and showed off their new "fabrication room". It showed them making a section of drip rail from scratch on their sheet metal brake but between commercials and simply the fact that that show is only a 1/2 hour including all the worthless commercials there just wasn't enough time to get into too much detail. I'm too deep in this now to delete and scrap the project, and so far everything is going great except for 2 stumbling blocks .. one is having to do with an NV4500 trans that's new enough not to have provision for the mechanical speedo drive (not sure if I can find an output shaft for an older model to retrofit in) and this roof drip rail issue. I have the bare sandblasted and painted frame up on my lift, and a pile of brand new springs, suspension parts, brake parts and stainless steel fuel and brake lines going onto it. Which has all been bought and paid for, and I'm not going to sell off for a fraction of what I've spent. |
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| Author: | mcnoople [ Tue Mar 03, 2026 10:51 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: 80s truck roof rot |
https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q= ... f%20panels if the link works without signing in..... There are many youtube videos on repairing ram roofs in various stages of decay. Some of the videos are pretty good. If the link doesn't work the fellas name is Rob Basile As far as lowered trucks. I am not talking slammed. I am talking more old truck ride height with low body roll, instead of the normal 3rd gen ram ride. I want it to handle more like a car than a top heavy truck. It will be used for limited truck duties and even lowered it will be way more capable for pulling my little trailer than the 2000 honda crv(2.0L 5speed) that currently pulls it. Something like 2 inches front and 4 inches rear on a truck that normally sits pretty high. |
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| Author: | volaredon [ Tue Mar 03, 2026 3:38 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: 80s truck roof rot |
Cool thanks. Most give just a small taste and want a viewer to "join" something to get the nitty gritty.. But for $105 I could definitely use a couple of those just the front section not what's around the door windows |
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| Author: | volaredon [ Wed Mar 25, 2026 4:38 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: 80s truck roof rot |
Quote:
The honest truth is if you consider the cost and the huge amount of time to separate all the panels, get new panels and separate them, re-weld them, patch them, then body and paint. You are almost better off to go south and get a complete cab or a whole truck and install the whole cab.
Problem is the original cab got scrapped long ago but my son had another that he thought he was going to put on a truck he had but soldThe professional that does all our body work here just finished up Andrew Shanks truck last week and he said it was an absolute nightmare. He told me he would highly consider another cab as a better alternative. They can be repaired and now that he has seen how it was put together from the factory it would be easier. But it ain't easy or cheap. Apparently all the pieces were put together completely bare. this cab has been in a barn over a dozen years since the bought it from his buddy, and hasn't seen a drop of rain in that time. I had that one blasted and found out that roof was more putty than metal so I found ANOTHER cab. This one is better than the one my son had but still a little bit rough along the front of the cab. Not as bad as my other one or as bad as many that I see posted online. . I'm not buying yet another cab. I wish we would have cut the roof off that original 83 cab as it was the only thing that wasn't shot on that one. |
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