It's not new obviously, but i'm picking up a replacement cab in a week through a brother-in-law which is supposed to be an absolutely spotless western cab. My old one is rusted so bad on the floor/rockers/cab corner that the door doesn't latch anymore and its not road safe. I want to make this new cab last as long as possible and I have a couple questions to that end.
1. What kind of rust proofing can I do to prolong the drip-line rust area and floor/rocker/cab corner rust area that these trucks are prone to? New paint? Wash and wax it every week?
2. Where do I find rubber cab mounts? I can't seem to find any listed for our truck years. LMC only goes up to 1985. Are the older trucks the same as ours? Are mounts a dealer item?
3. Sound proofing? I want to do some sound proofing. What do you recommend? Dynamat? Second skin?
4. Is there anything else I should consider while i'm swapping cabs?
I don't mind spending a bit of money to make it happen. I did some math on these old trucks v. a new or newer one and I'll be a lot of money ahead to restore this one v. buying a new/er one. What got me thinking about it is my dad owns two Dodge Cummins; one 90' and one 05'. Pick just about any part on the newer truck and it costs 2 - 3 times as much to repair as the old one. This summer he dropped over $3,000 in injectors alone on the 05'. When he bought the 90', it was 4 years old with 90,000 miles and paid about $13,000 for it. Now, if I were to buy a 4 year old truck with similar miles I'd have to spend, what 30 or 40 grand for a truck that gets worse mileage and costs a lot more to maintain. I know this isn't quite apples to apples, but I just can't swallow the idea spending that kind of money on a truck that's going to cost a lot for depreciation and repairs.