R-model cab resto report

[Vladislav]

It happened that the job is already done at the moment. Sure turns out more interesting when you share progress step by step but in many cases it's difficult since you're full with current tasks and also unexpected deals but need to cut some time for posting. So this is such case. Anyway I would like to show up the job since some points of it seem worth to be shared and I hope people would like looking it either.

Ok, some while back I could put my hands on a spare cab which was installed on the spare truck. Good thing I bought two similar trucks so I redo parts from one and have the second one still running. Worth to note I'm really glad using this way of restoration.

After taking off the hood, sleeper, tanks and detaching all air lines and wires we put a wooden bolster into the door openings and haged it by two overhead hoists. The hoists were orginized to move left and right so we could take the cab to the side moving both winches at the time.

Edited March 31, 2020 by Vladislav

[Vladislav]

I ordered my helper guy to remove everything from the inside and off the firewall. Said him to mark as much as he could or what seemed notable. I went off for a couple of days and when back found a funny fact. He needed to put marks on the paper masking tape he glued up but he didn't know what was what in the most cases. That way he marked many spots with what was written on the shields and gauges. So I could see the badges written in English and that was done by a person who could not say or wright any word in English at all! Sure no problem, worked out fine.

Edited March 31, 2020 by Vladislav

[Vladislav]

We stripped the cab to the bare metal.

[Vladislav]

The first thing I wanted to do was to correct the sleeper entrance opening. When I made new sleeper it was done a bit longer than the original one to be able to walk into. Originally it was a crawl through style so the cab had only the rear glass removed and cut out for 100-150 mm lower the window lower edge. A long while back Dan Bruno had scatches of the sleeper of the Rubber Duck RL700 on the fan-site page he ran at those times. I took general sizes of the opening from there and used them making my sleeper. So now just needed to cut the cab the same way.

Cutting itself was sure not a problem. The difficulty was to organize some thicker edge to the cab wall to be able to fit the entrance boot in the future. Also I wanted to reinforce the wall after I cut alot of it away. Measuring the distance between the inner interior lining and the metal it seemed suitable to use rectangular steel pipe. Or a channel. In Russian we call such beam as a pipe but seems American terminology is different. Nevermind. I used pieces of the channel to put vertically and attached by a pair of machine screws at each end. Made them having the heads outside in the rear wall depressions so they wouldn't rub the sleeper wall. Also they're difficult to see on the truck when the sleeper will be in place.  Than I cut two pieces for diagonal portions, fit them in place and welded to the stakes.

Edited March 31, 2020 by Vladislav

[Vladislav]

If you look from the opening there was a gap occured between the steel sheet and reinforcement channels where the wall didn't have depressions. The task was to have a tight fit so we had to fabricate spicers. My helper cut pieces off the same square channel the way I showed him and than tinkered with the final shape for a couple of hours following my directions. Those metal pieces looked funny but fit well. It took him a couple more hours to duplicate the part for the other side. After that I welded both spicers in place. Some grinding smoothed the look and the result showed up. Than we had to make something similar to the side areas since there were gaps either. But those spots were much easier having no angle crossing of the surfaces.

[Vladislav]

Having all the parts in place I drilled holes for pull rivets from the outside to attach the wall sheet to.

[Vladislav]

 After that I invited my friend who is a body guy to get the roof closer to its normal shape. Seemed like during the years of service many folks made dancings on that roof so it became more as a pan than a dome. The pics are of the before and after. And also one from the net taken at some time long back at some truck stop by some driver who asked the Mack driver for permission to pose on the hood... In fact that was not the truck I took the cab off but the second one and illustrates really well the actual grade of respect people payed to the rigs they worked for living.

To be continued

[66dc75]

looking good Vlad

[Vladislav]

Had to make reinforcement straps to support the roof which lost its original strength. Used steel stripe 6mm (1/4") thick and 50mm (2") wide. Bent in shape to follow the roof curve but also to stress it upwards. Made two such straps.

 

[Vladislav]

Next step was putting the cab on its back. We removed front reinforcement parts, front cab mount brackets and the airbag assembly. Steel bolts got almost stuck in aluminium mounting brackets so regardless extensive penetrating with WD40 and hitting by hammer we got a dozen of them broken down. Could remove the brackets from the cab pockets. Than later having them on a bench I welded nuts to the ends of broken bolts and after multiple attempts combined with heating, hitting and penetration removed all the restovers.

[Vladislav]

The main target of the work was to remove all rust spots including potentional ones. Such areas took place between the floor sheet and floor support reinforcements. I took measurements off those channels, made scatches and ordered new ones to fabricate in a steel shop. Got parts in a week or so and after that my guy drilled off all weld spots (and drilled some through) and the old parts were removed. Good thing the rust protection coating used at the factory was asphalf (bitumen?) based. So half a jerrican of gas made a job removing that stuff away.

Edited March 31, 2020 by Vladislav

[Vladislav]

Next point was rocker panels. They were not really bad but showed some rust where were sandwiched to the sills. Also someone in the past installed lights in them so drilled holes which I preferred to get rid of. By chance I could purchase a pair of new rocker assemblies so resolved to pull the trigger.

In fact you can not remove rocker assemblies complete not bothering the sill panels. The latters were good enough so I looked for options. Figured I could keep the rearmost portion in place making a cross cut. And than later fabricating connecting parts to unify them with new rockers. Getting a bit further I can tell the plan was to make the most connections with bolts and nuts to avoid welding. Worth to admitt the front ends of old rockers also gave us sufficient headaches to get free from the cab but with some cutting/drilling and standard lot of cuss words that hill was climbed up.

Edited March 31, 2020 by Vladislav

[Vladislav]

The last rusty neck of the woods over the cab floor was rearmost seam where floor sheet was attached to the rear crosschannel. In fact that channel was inside the cab and you could see it behind the seats. Stamped part you could see is its top. From the bottom it's covered with rear end of the floor sheet where they're spot welded together making a closed tube. My idea was cutting off a strip off the floor sheet and drill the spots to open the channel at the bottom. After that was done and I saw rust in the sandwich I figured the time was not wasted.

Edited March 31, 2020 by Vladislav

[Vladislav]

Had to remove the sealer from the roof drip rail since it showed cracking and I planned to sandblast everything to be sure of no rust anywhere. Quite hard material being 32 years old but got soft after applying heat.

[Vladislav]

All that surgary took 3 or 4 months looking the calendar so the weather got cold. We loaded the cab on a small trailer, waited for a good freezy day and sandblasted it all over including the insides of rockers and rear cross channel. The cab still layed on its back that time. I could lift it up a bit and put a wooden plank for support so the rear wall was partly blasted too. But actually it was mostly covered with paint so seemed possible to work out later with sandpaper. After the sand shower I put the cab in a warm shop for further actions.

To be continued in a day or two.

[85snowdog]

Thanks for sharing Vlad. Its looking good.

I really like how you did the sleeper opening. When your done its going to be better than new. 

[Vladislav]

Keith, I just try my best. And really enjoy fixing the things the way I would like to.

[mrsmackpaul]

WOW Vlad, you and your helper are doing a great job there, have been wondering how its all been going

 

Did any damage happen to the cab when you  lifted it ?

I am wanting to lift my cab off and pit heat shield and more sound depending  under it

 

Great stuff and thanks for sharing 

 

Paul

[navypoppop]

Vlad,

Wow! Your patience, skill and love for Mack is to be praised. You are gifted in your dedication to creating a better than new truck when it is completed. No matter where you live in this world a true Mack owner has the pride to display his truck and the love he has for it. It is a pleasure to read your posts and watch your progress. I can't wait to see the finished truck. Good luck and thanks for your pictures.

[Vladislav]

9 hours ago, navypoppop said:

 I can't wait to see the finished truck.

Me either but it takes more time than I would like it to be taken. Thank you for the kind words.

[Vladislav]

13 hours ago, mrsmackpaul said:

WOW Vlad, you and your helper are doing a great job there, have been wondering how its all been going

 

Did any damage happen to the cab when you  lifted it ?

I am wanting to lift my cab off and pit heat shield and more sound depending  under it

 

Great stuff and thanks for sharing 

 

Paul

Paul, mate,

I'm happy if I could please you. i remember you showed interest and I promised to share my progress so now i do. Unfortunately it takes time and attention. I still can't figure how and take my hat off to you representing the story of rebuilding Mrs Mack with so many detailingly filmed movies being in a tight shedule with managing your property.

No, the cab didn't get any damage if you hook it up right. Worth to note i saw multiple samples of bent roofs and doors or at least drip rails on R or DM cabs even in Russia. So knowing of what you should not to do is easier to find a good way of things. For proper attachment you should use strong elements of the structure. Also you should distribute the stress to some area and not concentrate it in a small spot to avoid local depressions. The way I did is putting 150x100 mm wooden bean through the door openings. I even did the same to the completely painted cab when brang it back home from a paint shop (I will post those pics when the time comes) and didn't do any damage to fresh paint. Just put a thick pack of newspapers between the beam and the cab and also glued 3 or 4 layers of paper masking tape onto the painted surface. R-model cab seems is a tough enough structure to be lifted that way. This one was up with no doors and seats but I had experience doing the same to a complete cab. Also I parted many Mercedes G-model for business and we took complete bodies hanged to an overhead hoist using the same kind of wooden beam. I even used one hoist at the front putting the chain through the roof vent (which is quite large there though). It was funny when I took the body off my personal G when revised the chassis a couple years back. I hanged a complete body together with front end, doors, windows and interior including heavy seats. When got it off the chassis I found the balance was 99 to 100% of the weight was applied to the front hoist (usually we put 2nd one to the rearmost body to chassis mounting holes). That case all the body turned out hanging on the only chain went through the roof vent and attached to a beam I put through the door openings. And that turned out fine. No damage to the shell and no crackings in the windscreen which even had a couple to the moment. Put it back that same way after completed the chassis in 3 months.

[mechohaulic]

looking at the hoist/cab combo, my first thought was damage to the cab  also .   have lifted a number of cabs , I always  used old pillows , towels or the like.  cushioning  the cab . always enjoyable to see old brought back to new . especially when its done with skill , not computers . great job. 

[j hancock]

Excellent Vlad!  Great to have all the detailed pictures!

[terry]

14 hours ago, mechohaulic said:

looking at the hoist/cab combo, my first thought was damage to the cab  also .   have lifted a number of cabs , I always  used old pillows , towels or the like.  cushioning  the cab . always enjoyable to see old brought back to new . especially when its done with skill , not computers . great job. 

Where a lot of guys get confused on lifting cabs is they think they can roll down window and lift through door window opening, a no no will damage door for sure.    terry

[mechohaulic]

not only where you lift from;  biggest concern  - what  is being used to lift  the cab.  towmotor (forklift) , overhead chain hoist etc all make a difference.  did a few B-C-R  conversions back in the mack  days with forklift.  couple of mysterious  fire jobs on B model  ten -wheelers. with dump bodies still on clearance was a minimum .  nice set up in the pictures with over head  hoist