M923 CrewCab Project

[klawrence]

Well I began turning my M923A2 into a crew cab this past weekend. Got the spare cab from John in Delta, what a great guy. After some cussing, a few burns and some back pains. The second cab is now married to the initial front cab. Waiting on machine shop to roll the corners for me at the moment.


Also moved batteries to the storage box directly under the passenger door, sorry for the blurry picture.

 

[klawrence]

 

[jcappeljr]

Looks good,I should of kept that cab and did the same thing.Keep up the good work..

 

[klawrence]

Thanks, best part of the project was that I missed that horribble effort from the Steelers on Sunday.

 

[Patrick Henrys Protege]

Dang! Looks good! I may have to contact you for tips/tricks soon. I am in the process of convincing the wife I need one of these. If I get one, I am definitely making it a crew cab.

 

[bigginstactical]

looks good man!

 

[Jeep Nasty]

Looks good, Thanks for all the pics. I just picked up my cab last Saturday for my crew cab build. Any advice or lessons learned during the process so far for mating the cabs together. Any chance you could post some more pics of inside mating areas and close ups? Did your tack them together before removing the back of the front cab? I plan on keeping mine 6x6 and shortening the bed. I look forward to seeing how yours goes.

 

[wreckerman893]

I like crew cabs (in my old age) but often wonder why not put the cabs back to back (and have suicide doors)? It seems like the fabbing would be easier since you could cut the backs off both cabs and then weld them together without having to worry about the sheet metal not matching exactly. You would also be able to keep the windshield of the rear cab and the "back" windows would open for air circulation. Just my rambling thoughts for what they're worth.

 

[FatBuddhaBoo]

Looks like you are moving along pretty good! Keep the pics coming!

 

[mendo]

I like crew cabs (in my old age) but often wonder why not put the cabs back to back (and have suicide doors)? It seems like the fabbing would be easier since you could cut the backs off both cabs and then weld them together without having to worry about the sheet metal not matching exactly. You would also be able to keep the windshield of the rear cab and the "back" windows would open for air circulation. Just my rambling thoughts for what they're worth.

wow! never thought of that! someone that knows photoshop could create one to see, hint hint.

 

[FatBuddhaBoo]

I like crew cabs (in my old age) but often wonder why not put the cabs back to back (and have suicide doors)? It seems like the fabbing would be easier since you could cut the backs off both cabs and then weld them together without having to worry about the sheet metal not matching exactly. You would also be able to keep the windshield of the rear cab and the "back" windows would open for air circulation. Just my rambling thoughts for what they're worth.

I think the issue with this would be fabbing the hardtop, as you would then need two entire hardtops to make on one, whereas in this case you only need one and a filler piece. Plus, with the built in slant the back of the cab would not necessarily "align" with the bed. Just my thoughts.

 

[61sleepercab]

Why not back to back cabs and then transplant one of the back cab walls to the new crew cab back end . You could use a filler piece and angle iron braces between the cabs for the desired full length and put in windows between the doors. You could use the liberated back cab wall in one piece and install at end of cowl and transplant window frames into cab back or install filler piece between the now rear door posts and liberated back cab wall.

Look at fire truck crew cabs that have windows between the doors for an example. I am not computer smart enough to photo shop this Heinz 57 cab. Mark

 

[klawrence]

we thought about doing suicide doors with the rears of the cabs going together. yet with having a hardtop that we wanted to reuse, we would have to then stretch the rear of the cab. Still thinking of swapping the rear cab door jams for suicide doors, this way passengers could share the same set of steps.

The initial cab connection was done via the the 2x8, to get the cab close. We then mounted the rear cab bracket and attached the cab. Once the rear bracket was attached we used bottle jacks to level the front of the rear cab with the back of the front cab. Then 1x2 square stock was welded between the the two cabs. We used 5 peices, the length of the pieces came out to be approx 1 foot long. I placed a piece of sheet metal over the braces...I will try to get a pic from underneath.

I got my curved pieces of the roof yesterday and hope to finish the roof up today...with lots of pics.

After the interior is done with welding, I was thinking of using some exterior oil paint while mixing in some ceramic micro spheres for heat sound deadning.

 

[klawrence]

Got the roof and floor completed this weekend. Just need to finish the window jams up a bit before I can start sealing her up.

 

[RustyM923]

That's coming along nicely.
Nice work on the roof.

 

[klawrence]

finished up the rough in where the cabs meet. I extended the angle over to give a foot rest, then created a future storage area and cup holder locations. Also finished up the door/window jams. Hope to finish seam sealing this weekend with a good coat of paint on the floor using the 3M ceramic balls for sound/heat insulation.

 

[jdknech]

I want to do this same thing to my M932A1 tractor.. and stretch the frame to still be able to pull trailers... looks good! are you keeping the 6x6? or are you going to bob it? (i vote 6x6, just fyi lol)

 

[klawrence]

6x6 all the way.

 

[wyorunner]

Great work, and thanks for the pictures. The crew cab is what sold my wife on one, im still debating a 5ton or a deuce. I'm thinking of attempting this on an XL wheel base, but whatever truck ends up being the right price at the right time is whats going to recieve the care and love of the airgrinder scalpel. Look forward to seeing this finished. Any idea on time invested?

 

[klawrence]

Another day of body work and I should be ready for primer. Also hope to finish getting first coat of primer on interior tomorrow.