Hello. i have a 2007 dodge ram 1500 quad cab. i recently hit a tree and messed up the driver side. ive had some people tell me to cab swap it. i dont have the money nor the time for cab swapping it. i was thinking about using a come along to straighten the pillar as best as i can so my front door would close. but ive had other people say use the come along and get it as straight and roughly back in shape and have someone weld parts on it. The pillar is bent in and kinda twisted. ill post a better picture of the pillar after i get off work. i just want other suggestions, last thing ill do is a can swap. ive had some friends say get a parts truck and motor and tranny swap it. im think about going that route.

 

Good luck with that. I mean sure, you can use a come along and sorta get it back near in shape, as long as you don't care what it looks like. But along with all that rust, body swap is your best bet.

 

Yeah, you are never going to get those doors to seal properly again..... not without some serious massaging of the assorted body parts.. LOTS of work, and you will never be 'done'.... The pillar is damaged, the roof is damaged, both doors are trash, and I wouldn't be surprised if the rocker wasn't bent out of shape as well. Trees tend to do that to vehicles. It's that whole 'immovable object' thing.

 

Possibly going to a wrecking yard and purchase new doors and a pillar from the same truck while there.

Use the old pillar in place to pull on while trying to pull the top of cab back into shape .... then cut the old pillar out and weld in the used one and hang the doors.

Keep in mind you can get a cheap fluxcore welder for less then $150 and quickly teach yourself to weld on scrap ... use the doors for practice because is same thickness of metal you will be welding.

It will be a project that will take a few to several days to complete as you gather parts and learn as you go.
The cab area is structural and will be difficult to pull it back to where it needs to be .... will need to drop the headliner and pound the dents out as you pull in the middle ... as you relieve those outer dents on the roof the middle will pull easier.
No idea what the bottom looks like, besides the lower rust .... same thing on the lower pillar .... get it back into shape.

Will probably be your cheapest way to turn it into a beater with a heater and drive it til it dies.

I see this could be a worthwhile project if you want it to be. .... Just depends on how you look at it. You can teach yourself something worthwhile to learn.
In the future you will know what to do and may find you actually enjoy that type of work and make some $$ on the side at home.

So investing a few $$ in tools and time into yourself and do it yourself .... you will come out ahead repairing what you have. .... Truck has too much rust to pay someone to repair.
Realistically not worth repairing, but good to learn on.

 

Completely agree with HeyYou. Don't even start down the road of trying to fix it. You'll do all that work just to end up with water in the cab and musty smells. Your friends are right. Find a truck with a blown motor/drivetrain and swap it over. I just checked CL and saw some of these trucks in running cond for 5-6K. With blown motors, many folks call the scrap yards to take it away for $500.

 

If you don't have time for a cab swap, you definitley don't have time to attempt repairing that.

There was a rust free roller with no drive train in my area last year for 1500 bucks, heck of a deal for someone in your position. depending how complete the cab you find it, its really not hard of a job, especially if its same year and drivetrain configuration. Could be a simple afternoon project at that point.