replace cab??

[Ray Torresdal]

Anyone out there who has replaced a cab? My early '01 has serious rust issues, discovered the cab mounts are about gone, one of them is holding nothing. Engine is perfect, 419,000 miles and doesn't use any oil. Would like to find a clean rust free cab and fenders to drop on my frame. I'm not a mechanic, and can't tie up my shop space to do the job. Anyone out there do this for a living? This has been a great truck, and I hate to give up on a perfectly good Cummins that gets better mileage than the new trucks. Thanks!

 

[BarryG]

While I have not done a dodge I did do a 74 chevy pickup. IT was not that bad at all. Of course with all the newer electronics even on an 01 compared to a 74 it is probably a different animal. I unhooked everything coming inside the cab, took the 4 or 6 cab mounting bolts (it was a reg cab compared to your quad) out and lifted it off with a cherry picker that I rented. If I recall I put the arm of the picker inside the cab and chained it up from there. I didn't take off the fenders, hood or bed just the doors and it slid out easy peasy. Other one went in just as easy. the one I put in was from a wreck and the dash board was crushed on the pass side, cut it out with torch, cut the one out of the original cab and brazed it in the new cab. Hooked everything back up and it all worked except the ac which didn't work in the old cab either. Of course all the hvac stuff was on the outside of the firewall so all I had to do was unbolt the entire box assembly from the firewall. Just me and one other guy had it done in one day. One thing that totally irritated me beyond belief was we stopped for lunch came back out and some one had stolen one of my doors. By the way did it in an apartment complex parking lot. I am sure the way newer ones are setup that it would not be nearly as easy or quick but I was surprised how well and fast it went. Drove it for a few more years. Good luck with it and I would think any body shop could do it though you are going to pay for it However you may able to swing a deal with them that you could do a lot of the prep work before hand and maybe even do some of the simpler stuff at their shop like take out the seats etc to cut down on their time invested so as to keep the labor down on their end.

 

[DVolk]

Really its not a bad job ,were are you located ?

 

[Ray Torresdal]

Located in NE Iowa. Now at 426000+, but other issues that have me wondering if a swap is worth it. Transfer case must have bearing going out, another front wheel bearing I think, speedometer is now part time, something funky with brakes, and ABS light is on, and radio, dome lights, and mirror adjust quit, but radio fuse doesn't fix it. Don't know what to do, as I really don't need a 3/4 ton truck anymore. Wish I could find a southern truck with bad engine/transmission that I could drop this engine into!

 

[DVolk]

There is rigs out there that need both ,for ca cab i id use a gas engine cab just cheaper or you could sell it ,to might be interested for a swap

 

[RXT]

A cab swap isn't difficult to do, especially if you use an identical cab. I did a Dakota cab a few years ago. Swapped a Dakota club cab model for a Dakota quad cab. This was a bit more difficult to do because the quad cab used 6 mounts as opposed to 4, which the club cab used. We removed the two rear-most mounting brackets on the frame, and re-welded them further back on the frame rails, then fab'ed up two more for the center mounts. The only big issue with a cab swap is cabs aren't light. With my swap, we had a huge fork lift available. In the absence of a fork lift, you'll need someway to lift the old cab off the frame and mount the new cab on. I've seen some people use a couple of cherry pickers to lift the cab off the frame, but thats really cumbersome. You might be better off using a big tree, or building a huge "A" frame. Then you'll have to lift the cab high enough to roll the chassis out from under it.

Ed