Clean your cowl out...

[WD]

If you haven't done this in a while, or ever, what a difference. I cleaned mine out this morning. Pulled out over 2 GALLONS of dirt, fir needles, birch leaves, birch seeds, and weed seedlings. No wonder the cab fills up with water. The acids in all that compost ate the sealing compound used around the wiper motor and the bottom of the cowl, where it meets the firewall.

You can't get all the gunk unless you have small hands. But,as the stuff dries, it should blow around enough to be sucked out by the shop vac. Now I know why Sweptline cab to firewall and floor seams go bad. And, once the rest of the gunk gets sucked out, can do something to fix it. Without the cab catching on fire, some of that stuff was pretty dried out in the corners where the cab vents are.

Save your truck. Clean out the sponge in the cowl. And, do like I'm going to, put some window screen under the louvers to keep from sucking anymore crud into the hopper. If your windshield washer still works, just poke a couple extra (small) holes in the screen for clearance. Who'll know the difference?
-WD

[Andrew]

humm. i bought my truck from under a buncha trees up here in the northwest, good idea. thanks for the info!!!

[Hobcobble]

Excellent post WD ! Sweptline cowls are
famous for rusting out. Debris gets down into the
vent boxes and lays there for ages.... rusting the
whole area out. You can add years to your ride by
keeping this area clean. My '61 D200, sad to say,
has rust around the vent boxes because it wasn't
tended to over the years by whoever owned it before
me. Like you, I pulled a bucket full of crap out of
the cowl.

Another area to keep clean and seam sealed is the
rain gutter/drip rail around the doors and front
windshield. Over time, water and crud will find
its way into the cab around the top of the wind-
shield and rust the metal out. Its a tough area
to try to repair too.
John

[cudajimmy]

[OldDodges]

I found that out when I stripped my cab awhile back. The trucks been sittin for years and between the tree leaves and mouse crap, it was stopped up pretty good. Probably one reason my floorboards are shot!

Kyle

[Andrew]

i got board after reading this. so i decided to head out there with the shop vac and gloves. yep. i filled a wallmart plastic bag up pretty well along with my (small) shop vac. thanks for the tip!

[Jeffc]

crude in the cowl is also one of the main
reasons that the cowl will start to leak into
the cab, stuff just sits in there, holds
water and helps the rust along........
It pays to fit a peice of screen under the cowl
cover to keep that stuff out......

[meangreen]

now im scared to look in mine

[Guest]

Spend 10-20 minutes and no cash now, or a ton of both later. Tinworms love soggy messes in the hidden sections of older vehicles. And good Sweptline cabs, as in stock floor, little to no rust, good cab to firewall seams, solid vent metal, good window opening metal, are getting pretty scarce. At least here in the "Pathetic North Wet". All old vehicles try to return to the stuff they started out as. They just do it alot faster up here. Or anywhere that salts the roads in winter. Or is coastal. Or foggy. Or muggy. Especially if you have alot of gunk built up in any of the pockets.
Hmmmm, maybe Wideblock better open a Sweptline graveyard while there are still some trucks in the desert. Sand isn't anywhere near as bad as wet stuff. At least it vacuums out easy.