last night i made some good progress stripping down the A3 cab. all the seats are out, flooring, heater etc. i have to weld up the cowl where the hood hinge bolts on the passenger side. it is cracked where the hood hinge bolts go through closest to the windshield. . i don’t know what could have caused that. I think i can hammer and dolly it back to where it has to be and then hammer weld it back together. It not that bad, only about 2 cracks about an inch and a half long. There is also a data plate on the driver’s side I need to remove and weld in the holes. On the passenger side floor, there is an access panel there that I need to take off and fill in. it might have been to access something with the dual circuit brakes. On the other side, the trap door to access the A2 master cylinder location has a plate over it and is tack welded/seam sealed over. I have not tried to grind the welds off and see what is under it yet. I hope all the provisions are there to put my A2 cover on. I also need to punch out the blank in the floor for the winch lever through the floor. After I get all of that stuff done, I am going to pressure wash the cab off and lightly sand the outside to scuff the paint up and shoot it with some fresh 383 green.
I have a question on the cab reinforcing plate for this A3 cab. It looks like there is a spot to put a date plate or something on the reinforcement plate behind the passenger seat. Any ideas what goes there? I attached a picture.
Later that night I worked on the transmission. It looks like some GI beat on the transmission a little throughout its life. 1st gear had some roundness to it and so did the reverse idler. I never really had a problem with it not going into 1st or reverse… so I think it’s acceptable. I was In a truck pull last year with it, and if first gear was going to break it would have done it then. Some of the other synchro nubs on the gears look a little warn, so I am going to see if I can get a couple take out gears for it, if they are any better. Who knows, we’ll see!
I’ll be happy when I get the cab done, painted bare shell mounted back on the chassis. i can’t wait to reach the point when I have everything painted and the reassembly begins!
I also posted a picture of what "like new" synchro teeth look like on second gear.