seems like these trucks have a common problem with rust on the top of the cab in the front where the rain gutters are.

my truck will be needing paint and body work one of these days and im just thinking out loud.... i wanna hear some input on shaving the gutters from the cab for a seamless fit? this would stop any holding water which i cant stand, plus i think it would look pretty EDIT too.

 

A friend of mine did this to his truck. He has a body shop and installed a new roof but they no longer make the drip rails. He couldn't remove all of the drip rail because he said that the rail on the back side behind the doors is part of the structural integrity of the roof. It looks really cool but the bad part is that if its raining or the snow is melting off the roof it leaks at the top of the windshield. I believe it is because of the sealing method used for our windshields it doesn't make a tight enough seal to keep the water out. Now that isn't a problem with the drip rail because the water never actually runs over the seal.

 

Keep in mind that vehicles without rain gutters usually have rain drainage built into the door seals. I'd be real concerned about leaks unless you live in the desert.

 

i think i would be more concerned about the rain gutters holding water. i have seen a lot of custom trucks that have this done, especially 67-72 chevy c-10s

 

I have been without a raingutter across the top of my winshield on the crew in my sig for over ten years with no problems. The front of the roof had rusted away and when I fixed it, I saw now point in refabbing the rain gutter.



Over the doors may be a different story. water and snow-melt may just run off the roof and pool on the door rubbers until it seeped in. As was mentioned by another, cars without external gutters have internal gutters. That is what Yakima type racks clamp to on the 2nd gens.

Another thing to consider is that the roofs don't rust out because of water sitting in the gutters. They rust out because of condensation collecting between the roof and ceiling. They rust from the inside out. When I get to the new cab in the progect in my blog (see link in sig.) I plan to drill out the spot welds in the ceiling and remove it. Soundproof and seal the inside of the roof, then weld or epoxy and rivet the ceiling back in.

 

Very true but keep in mind that many of these custom trucks never see rain either.