1939-48 flathead rod bearings.

[georgewarren]

Just tore down (after MUCH work!) a "59" flathead. Its been a long time since I messed with flatheads, but all the 39-48 V8s I had, had full floating rod bearings; this one has inserts, like the 49-53s I had. When did Ford switch to inserts for the rods? Back in the day, the local racers converted the later engines to full floating bearings; I remember many a crank saved when a rod let lose!

[Bruce Lancaster]

The floaters prevented high RPM big-end distortion from killing the crank and tossing the rod, main couse of the rod toss according to Yunick.
Ford switched to locked bearings with the '48-9 changeover to the late pattern flathead, one of many cost cutting measures to put Ford inline with the industry in general I think.
I can't prove it, but I am pretty sure at least some post-production 59 engines were made for parts sales with late rods and late cranks. Maybe they even did some '48 Fords this way, as the late engine was already in production for the truck lines. Ford did list the late stuff as a replacement parts option after 1948, so they regarded this as an entirely acceptable swap at the least.
Now, the late rods are frequently used simply to save money or avoid the fitting needed for floaters.

[G.M.]

The early Fords with insert bearings before 1949 had inserts the same thickness as the full floaring bearings. I think these were used in Canada and the Canadian Ford military engines. I have never been able to find replacement inserts and had to use the full floating bearings.The locking grooves never bothered the full floaters. G.M.

[Walt Dupont--Me.]

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Originally Posted by georgewarren

Just tore down (after MUCH work!) a "59" flathead. Its been a long time since I messed with flatheads, but all the 39-48 V8s I had, had full floating rod bearings; this one has inserts, like the 49-53s I had. When did Ford switch to inserts for the rods? Back in the day, the local racers converted the later engines to full floating bearings; I remember many a crank saved when a rod let lose!

The 49-53 crank and rods will fit right in the 59 blocks no problem. Walt