Hello! im trying to assemble a 28-29 model a pickup and im having a hard time finding any info or instructions. have directions for wood kit, but dont know where to start assembling the back and door post wood to subrails. especially what order to do it. any help would be greatly appreciated! i have everything, just wanna make sure i do this right. thanks alot, Daniel
help assembling a 28 pickup
- Thread starter D.Scott
- Start date
Dennis Pereira
Well-known member
http://abarnyard.com/temp/82-a/ try this link its from marcos site this is a closed cab.
pat in Santa Cruz
Well-known member
Les Andrews, Model A Mechanics Handbook, Vol II ( green book) has a section on assembling the 28/29 pickup top wood, section 3, pages 3-3 thru 3-12, complete with photos.
Dennis Pereira
Well-known member
If your cab is in pieces you need to start at the sub rails and work your way up. what are you starting with? I have a 1928 closed cab sitting here with most of the wood missing. And its all together. If your cab is together I would start with the Door post wood and work up from there. With a little more info I'm sure fordbarn can help you.
d.j. moordigian
Well-known member
Ed...Yes, thank you that was great! My question, I think the sub frame should be bolted to the frame, body assembled, then reshim. Yes-no? Thank you, Dudley
Dan Partain
Well-known member
Those are good tips, I can only add that you should adjust the cab/doors/wood while it is bolted to the frame, shimming as necessary.
With shims you will have to tilt the cowl section fore and aft to get the doors to align with the rear of the cab. You must have the door header pieces bolted in place to do this, front and rear headers are not necessary at this point. I also left out the seat-back wood at this point. I didn't tighten the bolts in the door jam wood at the bottom either.
It will be a good idea to set the radiator in place and check the fit of the radiator/hood/cab as you get close. I had my cab very close and then found out I have to start over. I found that on mine I would have to drop the radiator down another 1/4" to get the cab/hood/radiator to line up properly. I have a late 29 CCPU with the 30 crossmember so I know I have to change the shims on the cab to make it work.
I got sidetracked on another project, but here's what it looked like a couple of years a go. I hope to get back to it this summer. I did a lot of trial shimming without the cab corners on. By looking at the tops of the doors and matching the opening in the doorjam wood for the latches it was very close when I put on the corners.
I would sure be helpful to have someone helping you do this. You have to bolt the cab down tight and check the fit, then remove the bolts adjust the shims and bolt it tight again and check the fit. It would be great to have someone hold the bolts on the top while you loosen/tighten the bolts from under the truck. It's a little rough wedging in a box end wrench on top and then hearing it flip off while you are underneath trying to loosen it...
With shims you will have to tilt the cowl section fore and aft to get the doors to align with the rear of the cab. You must have the door header pieces bolted in place to do this, front and rear headers are not necessary at this point. I also left out the seat-back wood at this point. I didn't tighten the bolts in the door jam wood at the bottom either.
It will be a good idea to set the radiator in place and check the fit of the radiator/hood/cab as you get close. I had my cab very close and then found out I have to start over. I found that on mine I would have to drop the radiator down another 1/4" to get the cab/hood/radiator to line up properly. I have a late 29 CCPU with the 30 crossmember so I know I have to change the shims on the cab to make it work.
I got sidetracked on another project, but here's what it looked like a couple of years a go. I hope to get back to it this summer. I did a lot of trial shimming without the cab corners on. By looking at the tops of the doors and matching the opening in the doorjam wood for the latches it was very close when I put on the corners.
I would sure be helpful to have someone helping you do this. You have to bolt the cab down tight and check the fit, then remove the bolts adjust the shims and bolt it tight again and check the fit. It would be great to have someone hold the bolts on the top while you loosen/tighten the bolts from under the truck. It's a little rough wedging in a box end wrench on top and then hearing it flip off while you are underneath trying to loosen it...
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Barry B./ Ma.
Well-known member
I remember when I was trying to replace the underseat panel on my 29 that I had to cut the seat risers to get the old pan out because the risers were bolted to the door posts and the side quarter panels were in place. I welded the risers back in place after installing the new seat pan.
