A few body questions

[rwephill]

I have a few questions for the amazing knowledge pool on this forum. I recently inherited a 1925 TT C-Cab. However, it came mostly in parts. My welding, body work, and painting skills are being thoroughly tested. I am getting ready to test fit the cab, fenders, and hood prior to painting. I have a few questions to run by all of you experts.

1. Attaching fender to frame/running board. Is the side of the fender where it mounts to the frame mounted on any wood block or steel to steel? I can't see any good photos to confirm how it is attached. As to where the rear of the fender joins to the running board and mount, I see wood blocks involved. Is the following drawing accurate?

RunningBoardToFender.jpg (9.7 KiB) Viewed 1588 times

2. Attaching cab to frame. There are 4 mounting brackets on the frame, as indicated on the picture below. On a C-Cab, are there any wood blocks or anything else between cab and frame brackets or the cab and firewall? Seems that there is some difference between Closed Cab and C-Cab mounting.

TTCabMounting.jpg (17.83 KiB) Viewed 1588 times

3. Hood rod orientation. Hood panels are in pretty decent shape, except for the sheet metal curls that the rods run through. There are bent in some interesting ways. Just want to confirm that they should look like the drawing below?

HoodRods.jpg (5.42 KiB) Viewed 1588 times

Seems like that would be proper to allow hood to open correctly as in this diagram.

HoodOpen.jpg (3.6 KiB) Viewed 1588 times

Thanks for any comments, experience, or additional references that you can provide. I have learned a lot on this forum. You guys are great.

[Humblej]

Robert,
1) like you pictured it except no wood blocks, metal to metal.
2) body brackets bolt directly to the frame, no wood blocks.
3) hood hinges are as you show it.

[rwephill]

Thank you Jeff. The pictures say it all. I appreciate it.

[John kuehn]

When you’re refitting the fenders to the frame make double sure the front fender brackets and the rear fender brackets are straight. This especially goes for the fronts. Over time it’s the front brackets that can get slightly bent or twisted out of shape. Also the channel running board brackets need to be checked for straightness while your at it.

When fitting the fenders, running boards and body use long taper punches to move things into place. Those punches help in the alignment quite a bit.

[Humblej]

There are no rear fender brackets on a TT.

[Norman Kling]

I have no experience with TT trucks, however with hoods, it is important to get the straightest hood you can find, or straighten it as well as you can without using any fillers. Because the hood is opened and closed very often and has no support such as doors, it will need to be able to flex a bit and fillers will crack or come out. This is true of any model hood.
Norm

[rwephill]

Thanks to John and Norman for their advice and tips. I will certainly spend time getting fenders and brackets aligned. Taper punches are a great Idea. As to the hood, the panels are pretty straight and smooth. The hood rods rusted in somewhat solidly and someone likely opened and shut the hood, bending the sheet metal loops that the rod goes through. I should be able to patiently fix the alignment of these hood hinges. However, good advice on body filler. I should be able to lightly tap out the few dents or distortions in the surface, so that filler is nearly non-existent.

I appreciate the responses and advice.

[Allan]

When fitting fenders, the first thing I do is bolt the inner edge down to the frame using the two bolts and bolt holes made for that purpose. That should allow you to then bolt the bracket where the triangular inner panel and the fender top meet, to the side of the frame rail. That then becomes the reference point to adjust the front fender bracket to fit, and to see if the running board pressed steel brackets are bent or need alignment with the holes in the rear of the fender.
The key to this is having two fenders with the same profile. I check this by tracing the outline of the outer skirt one onto a large sheet of cardboard, and the lining the second fender up to that line for a comparison. You may have to make adjustments!

Hope this helps.

Allan from down under.

[John kuehn]

It was pointed out that the TT trucks didn’t have rear fender brackets and now I know that. Appreciate the update for that. I’ve never been around that many.

I was thinking with my experiences with my 3 T’s that have the front and rear brackets for fenders which are cars and not a truck.
Over time the front fenders get sat on, bumped and etc. it’s a wonder they look as good as they do after nearly 100 years. I’ve picked up front fender iron at meets for many years.

When I restored my 21 Touring I was picking some ‘straight’ ones to use and to my surprise all the ones that looked good were all off a little to more than a little! I’ve wondered how they installed the brackets and fenders at the Ford factories to achieve a balanced out look.

Maybe they started out with all new parts? I guess so.

[Dennis M]

Just a tip on removing the pins from the hood to get the panels moving. Lots of WD40 and then get the pin out 1 to 2” by taping with a piece of brass. Then carefully us pliers or grips to get the pin rotating. After it will rotate, Mount the pin in a drill. Rotate the pin with a drill while pulling it out. Worked very well when I disassembled several hoods to make a good one.
You can use the rotating dill to get the pins back in.

[rwephill]

Thanks Allan and Dennis for your tips. I was able to drive the hood rods out an inch or two with a pin punch. Vice grips, WD-40, allowed me to rotate them maybe a quarter turn back and forth. Slowly I was able to pull them out. I bought new ones. We'll see how it goes. It will take me a couple of weeks to get the hood panels properly prepped and painted.

[Allan]

Robert, I always use solid brass hinge rods. Never any rust problems again. 1/4" side rods, 3/8" centre.

Allan from down under.

[Charlie_26_TT_Ccab]