I just picked up a 52 3600 and will be replacing the rockers and cowl panels. Can someone tell me what gauge the parts are that Classic parts sells and who makes them? I would think they are 18 gauge but there is no info in the catalog or on the website. I don't want to drop a bunch of money only to find out that they are made of pop can material. Also can anyone tell me if the panels are fairly close as far as fit and finish? Thanks
Counterpart The patch panels our host sells are mostly Counterpart brand and made in Taiwan. The gauge of the lower rear cab corners I bought are 19ga. The complete outer cowl panels, lower door skins, (inner & outer) are also 19ga. The lower toeboard is 16ga. The complete floor pan is 16ga. floor and 19ga. "rockers". I purchased most parts from our host, but, some from elsewhere. The reason was the floorpan was truck freight and so I sourced it from a local dealer. The floorpan and outer cowl panels are made by Dynacorn, the people who sell complete repro cabs. The fit on those parts was real good. The inner cowl panels and inner to outer cowl panels required alot of trimming and fitting. They are also Counterpart. All the dealers sell the same parts, our host does it with a good attitude and based in KC, not CA., and I kinda like the heartland.
Pretty much all the repro patch panel pieces are made in Chinatown. Be prepared to hammer,cuss,trim,bend,cuss, fabricate,and do some more cussing to get the pieces to fit. Good Luck
Jim Carter Truck Parts has a few replacement parts that are made with the correct gauge metal and are also Made in the USA. The inner cowl panels and the inner-to-outer cowl pieces I bought fit way better than the imported ones, which didn't even come close to fitting.
Rick, do you have pictures of when you did yours? I am having an issue with my inner, inner to outer matching up. I have about a 1 inch gap between them. For example, on the inner panel, the front edge matches nicely with the toe board, and the back with the the door pillar, but not the inner to outer. I am not sure if my door frame is out of place, but you can tell they were worked on at least once before.
Thanks for the info Rick! Rustydog, do you have any pics of the area you are having issues with? Where did you get your parts?
First picture shows the gap I have between the inner, and the inner to outer panels. The inner to outer is lined up with the hole in the rocker panel. This may be my real issue, as it looks like the door pillar might have been re-welded at some point. In the second picture, you can see that the inner panel matches the curve of the door pillar, but it appears to me like it sits about 3/4'' to high. Does anyone have a close up of where the door pillar meets the rocker so I could check that?
BTW, not saying anything negative, but the parts all came from our host. I have purchased a few other items that our host doesn't carry from Jim carter and they appear to be a little thicker, but its hard to compare as the parts are for different locations.
Rusty Dog, the radious at the hinge pillar should be alot "shallower" than the radious at the toeboard. I had to re-work the "kick" panels quite alot to get them to fit. The only pic I could find to show what I did may help explain some.... Also, I notice your inner/outer cowl panel is too low as the relief areas are not matching the ribs in the "kick" panel. Mine eventually matched up, but not perfect. The top "rib" just barely fell inside the relief, was almost too high. I know, this is about as clear as mud... Oh, yeah, the china made "kick" panels are heavier gauge than the originals, believe it or not.
No matter what they say, no panels ever just fit right up, some fit better than others, but they all require tweaking. If nothing else, they are a starting point. It isn't just in the truck world, either.
I see what you did there. I was wondering how the floor was going to line up as the panel was basically straight. You just added another dimension to my issue. Now it is in 3-D format top to bottom, inside to outside, and now the floor. When you say the inner / outer panel is too low, this is what makes me think my rocker panel is out of place. I have figured out the doors are not original, so it is possible that when they changed the doors that they replaced the door pillars as well. Does anyone know if the inside arch at the bottom should be flush to the floor? I have about a 3/4 " rise from the floor.
Thanks for the pictures guys. I know most all sheet metal will need work for a good fit, I had to trim nos ford sheet metal for my mustang. It would be nice to see someone post up a picture with measurements of the door opening and the width inside the front door pillars from left to right as a starting point.
Rusty Dog, the inside arch should radious right to the top of the floor, flush. As far as replacing the door pillars, yes, but most likely they may have only replaced the lower 8- 12". You should be able to see the weld seams on the back side. Any work on or replacement of door pillars is critical work, and if you think they have been altered, you really need to check dimensions carefully. Eveything has to be right or your doors may not fit correctly. The factory assembly manual avail. from our host gives all the cab welding dimensions. DOZX, this would give you your answers also. Rusty Dog, I had to pie-cut both inner to outer cowl panels in two places to get them to suit me
Your door pillar looks lower than where mine is at. Definitely looks like a better fit than I have. I will look for the welded area you mentioned to see if I find anything. I do know that there is a lot of weld splatter on the door side of the pillar where it mounts to the rocker panel on both sides. Before I started removing the bad floor, I noticed that the cab mounts were pushed up about an 1" or so, but I thought it was due to the floor being weak from the rusted areas. Now, I am wondering if it was that way when the doors were replaced and they just re positioned the height by adjusting the door pillar to make the doors fit. Its a 48 and the doors are 50 or newer.
My parts arrived last week from the site host and some of the parts were counterpart and the rest of them were keyparts branded. The only difference I see between them are the stickers... So far all the parts I have installed have fit like a glove. Rustydog, either your floor is too low or your door pillar is too high, mine went together like Steve's pictures show.
I guess I spoke too soon! The inner to outer cowl needs a good bit of work to fit, had to grind off all the welds to get it apart and then assemble to fit like the original did. I'm guessing that everyone has to do the same?
I haven't spent any time on it lately (honey-do list). I am concerned about how my floor supports are going in. I tacked them to the inside of the rocker panel and used a big screwdriver to line up the body mount hole, and it has a LOT of twisting required to pull it back, and down towards the frame so it lines up correctly at the transmission cover. Again it leads me to think the door post and rocker panel are not matched up correctly. I bought an assembly manual, but haven't found anything that helps yet.
Distance between the front cab mount bolt holes is 47" on center. I can get you some other info tomorrow when I get out to my truck. The assy manual has the info in there once you figure out where the reference point is.
