1980 Kenworth W900A light rebuild thread

Rattle can job turned out pretty good. You're definitely starting out with a much more solid truck than I did lol.

 

Out of curiosity, how is the rear cab panel attached to the cab frame along the bottom on your truck? Mine was a row of Robertson screws and some pop rivets, which I assume was not factory.

 

Nice.

 

It's difficult to get in there that's for sure. I believe I should be able to fit a bucking bar in there to air rivet it but we'll see how that goes. I do have the added advantage of there not being a truck in the way lol.

 

On the older vintage Petes they used them blind rivets in certain spots to set the sheet and braces together so they could go hands free and not fight with the pieces for the other hucks. Since Pete was building aluminum cabs a couple years before KW did I’d bet it is for the same reason.

 

The door panels still look mint. Are the plastic door handles/ arm rests still good? The heat down here destroys them. I’ve made a few replacements for some guys down here out of steel. That whole setup is part of the vent window trim structure and can be brittle do be gentle if you gotta get into it.

 

W900l flat glass is objectively the best looking truck out there. 1st long. Long is always better looking. 2nd, the hoodline matches the slope of the cab. Both the W900a and 359 were Frankenstein trucks. They added a wide hood to a needle nose truck. Understandable, but the lines of the hood did not match up. Peterbilt fixed it with the 379, but the W900B didn't. If you look from the top, but the short hood 379 and W900L have a straightline from the back of the cab to the grill. W900L is better looking than a short hood 379 because of reason 1.