One of the goals that Lundahl Morris (the previous owner) wanted was to keep as stock of a look as possible when the cab was not tilted. He accomplished this by making custom hinges that were close to the stock height of the rubber mounts that were originally there. The hinges are drilled and tapped and fastened with 4 bolts near the stock front body mount location.

Here is an inside view of the passenger side front mount.

A piece of angle iron was added to the inside of the front cab mount for added support.

For the rear mount, the stock mounting hole location was used along with the frame mount. A stud was added to the frame mount along with a rubber bushing and when the cab is in the lowered position a wing nut is used to hold the cab in place. Although not in place yet, some type of locking latch mechanism will be attached in the event of a fastener coming loose of even worse, forgetting to be fasten the cab after it is lowered. Without this safeguard the cab could possibly flip open with catastrophic results.

Here is a picture of the lifting cylinder and mount points in the driver’s side wheelwell. Also mounted in the wheelwell is the hydraulic pump used to lift the cab. Lundahl Morris wanted to mimic something that might have been used in 1961 and obtained this pump unit from an older COE truck at a local junkyard.

Passenger side cylinder.

Cylinder extended.

Here is a picture of the cab extended. Another safety feature that needs to be added is a locking pin that holds the cab in place when the truck is being displayed at public events.

One of the bigger items that Lundahl had to conquer was how to adapt the steering column when the cab was tilted while keeping a stock appearance. He accomplished this by adding a swivel joint 6” above the point where the column comes through the cab floor inside the column housing. He also added a hex shaft from the swivel joint and added a female hex to the upper portion of the steering column shaft that the hex shaft could slide in and out of when the cab was raised. As far as the steering column housing, he machined a piece from the stock box to the swivel with a slight recess on the top so that the column would lower over the lower housing and give a stock appearance when in the lowered position. The upper portion of the column is mounted in the stock locations and is unaffected by this custom modification.

Steering column with cab lowered.

Another issue that needed to be dealt with was what to do with the transmission & transfer case linkages. It was decided to leave the levers inside the cab alone and concentrate on the rear mounting points. Lundahl decided to attach the rear transmission linkages with hair pin clips and disconnect them at that point before lifting the cab. Because of the dump bed feature, access to the clips is made simple by lifting the bed first. Lundahl also made access panels in the beds floor in case there were problems with the bed lifting.

One problem encountered was when the cab was raised & lowered the transmission linkages would hang up in different areas through the process. This was remedied by adding a linkage saddle and mounting it to the frame to make the linkage follow a specific path.

The transfer case linkage was dealt with in the same way. The only difference is that the linkage nut must be loosened at the transfer case before the cab can be raised.

The gas pedal looks pretty much stock from this shot, but it was decided that it would be easiest to mount the linkage to the frame instead of the body. When the cab is raised the linkage lowers through the hole in the floor.

Here you can see that the gas pedal linkage is mounted to the frame and is out of the way when the cab is raised.