The drip rail on top of the cab on my 61 is rusted in a lot of places. What is the downside to grinding it down to the cab top or will that leave a gap between the roof and the sides? Does anyone sell a repair kit? Like a folded section of light gauge metal that can go on top of what is remaining and then be screwed or pop riveted in place? Thanks Klif
You are out of luck, no kit is made. This is a common problem on our trucks. Frequently it goes unnoticed. The damage that results can be found at the kick panels where the floor pan meets up and the door pillar where the hinges mount. If the pillar is rotted you are in a real bind as that part is not made by anyone and fabricating a new one would be cost prohibitive. A lot of folks mistakenly assume this rot is part of the fender/rocker panel rot caused by water being kicked up by the tire. It's not. The water runs down inside the windshield pillars and rots the kick panels and door pillars from the inside out. Check your door pillars, kick panels and floor pan. Back to the drip rails. You will need to grind/cut all the rot away from the rails then weld in patch panels from mild gauge steel sheets. You should pull the windshield and inspect the mount flange where the rubber mounts for rot as well. If the over all damage is bad, you will need to make a decision as to if the cab is worth saving. When it comes to rot, you gotta get all of it or it just keeps spreading. Rust NEVER sleeps.... DV
