Champ pickup, broken cab mounts.

[Stude Ranch]

I have a 62 champ pickup with bad floor. it appears that the cab mount off the frame is o.k. but the floor is broke out where it connects. Right and left front corners. The cab is now held by 2 boards between the frame and the floor. My dad says it can be welded but we need to know how to tell the height. Also has anybody used better rubber mounts than a piece of old belting? There is a mount at the rear center of the cab, BUT it looks as if there is no rubber at all there. How do the front fenders connect to the frame? The doors work 0.k.
How do we get the cab in the right spot to weld the mounts so it is right? Nathan (14)

[gordr]

Welcome to the Forum, Nathan. We need more young guys like yourself!
Welcome, too, to broken Champ floor club. It's a common problem. Studebaker made the Champ cab out of a car body shell, and the floor just seems too weak for the job. Just my opinion, but I've seen a lot fail from stress cracking.

The front fenders attach to the radiator saddle, and it attaches to the center front of the frame with a spring-loaded bolt, if I remember right. I think the rear cab mount is two bolts close together, and they have springs on them, too.

If the cab "sinks" down on the mounts, it throws the steering column into a bind. What I'd do is first, undo the bolts that clamp the steering column to the dash. Then jack the cab up off the frame until the column just touches the dash bracket. Ensure it is level side-to-side. You could measure from the lip where the cowl panel meets the firewall (under the hood) down to the top of the frame rail on each side, and make those measurements equal.

Once you've got the cab in that position, weld up the floors, and add some reinforcement. Last, reattach the steering column to the dash. The steering column is actually your "marker" that shows where the dash, and thus the cab itself, should be relative to the frame.

Gord Richmond, within Weasel range of the Alberta Badlands

[JeffDeWitt]

Nathan,

You could do what I did if you can do some welding.

As you know Champs are made from Lark bodies, and the Lark body mount structure is still there. My floor had the same problem, and after fixing it I wasn't all that confident in the strength of my repairs so I fabricated a couple of brackets that bolt to the frame. I then drilled holes from the Lark body mounts through the new brackets and secured it using some good bolts and genuine Studebaker style padding (pieces cut from the sidewall of an old tire).



The drivers side is a little more complicated because of the steering box.



Jeff DeWitt

http://carolinastudes.net

[Warren Webb]

Jeff's setup is the best looking one I've seen yet. It not only adds strength to the cab, but would make the doors close alot better too due to alot of flex in the floorpan canceled out.

60 Lark convertible
61 Champ
62 Daytona convertible
63 G.T. R-2,4 speed
63 Avanti (2)
66 Daytona Sport Sedan

[studebakerkid]

My Tcabs are just daily drivers and I use them in the mountains so to reinforce my floors I used angle Iron. I jacked the cab up to get the weight off the steering column but I drilled through the hogtrougs and bolted two inch angle iron to the inside and continued the bracket on forward so that I could bolt a flat piece of steel stock on the inside of the door pillars and bolt it to the angle iron bolted to the troughs. I also made brackets out of angle iron and bolted them to the frame to support the seat.

If you car is ugly then it better be fast.....

65 2dr sedan
64 2dr sedan (Pinkie)
61 V8 Tcab
61 Tcab 20R powered
55 Commander Wagon
54 Champion Wagon
46 Gibson Model A
50 JD MC