1951 F3 Truck

[geocorse111]

Hello Members, Looking for some info about a recent purchase here in Florida. Now have a 1951 F3, running flathead, little rusty. Where to find literature for chassie parts, sheetmetal, bed parts?? Also,what models,F1,F2 interchange for fenders, grill lower front valance. What vendors sell parts; brake kits, clutch parts, wiring harness. Thanks for your time. Geocorse

[Barry-ct]

Mac's sells parts, LMC truck, Sacremento Vintage Ford, John's F-100's, Joblot automotive, Bob Selzsam in NJ to name a few. Any sheetmetal would have to be found in Junkyards, back yards, etc... because nothing is being reproduced in metal. Your front fenders fit F-2 thru F-6. Bed parts are hard to find as they were pretty used up as work trucks. Alot of mechanical parts are shared thru the F-1 thru F-3 series, many are not. NAPA can still get many brake parts, Ebay is a good source for parts. Your lower valance is the same from F-1 thru F-6. Your dash harness is the same as a F-1 thru F-6, maybe F-7 and F-8. Your bed fit F-2 and F-3 only. THe brakes are F-3 only as F-2 are slightly smaller. Look around now that you own one, there are alot of the trucks sitting around. Look at 48-52 as they are basically the same truck other than sheetmetal. You'll see them. Other members will chime in on info on the trucks also. You might even get parts from them. One thing you should do is pick up a shop manual and a set of parts books. THey are on Ebay periodically and some of the repo parts dealers offer them in reprints. You can get them in paper or CD form. Good luck!!

[geocorse111]

Thanks for all the info!

[Dave72dt]

Cab and front sheet metal is the same with the exception of the fenders and according to early or late. Rear fenders and running boards are F-2,3. Floor panels used to be available, maybe still are as well as lower front fender patch panels for F-1. These can be reworked to fit to llarger openings of the F-3. Bed wood and strips are available from several sources. Bed cross pieces for the F-3 are wood and no one makes them as far as I know. No one makes bed metal for them either anymore so whatever needs repairs is up to you. Rear diff gears are pretty steep so don't plan on getting anywhere in a hurry, however a rear diff out of a newer truck will get you much better ratios and better availabilty of repair parts.

Really neat looking trucks when completed. Good luck.

[truckdog62563]

I'd suggest you do some research pertaining to your truck's 17" "widow maker" wheels. Depending on when your truck was produced in '51 you may have the early 14" rear drums, or later 12" rear drums. The killer 17" wheels were needed to clear the 14" drums, but any 16" F-250 wheels 1997 and earlier will fit the 12" drums. If you look at your 17s and think they are one piece, you'll be mistaken. Do a Google search of my user name with the term "widow maker" and "Firestone RH-5 degree" to see pictures and to read about them. Stu

[TobbyT]

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Looks like you have a good start. I'm always checking EBAY. Just Last month someone had some F-3 fenders out there. They are around and you can find them if you keep looking. I agree with truckdog, research those 17" "widow maker" wheels. They are bad news.

Good luck and welcome to the Forum. These guys know their stuff !!

[rebelskichick]

We have extra front teeth/headlights from a 52 F3 for sale if you need not sure how much it would be to ship to florida though i would say last resort if you cant find some local

[geocorse111]

The cab seems to be in decent shape, no rot in the floor area. I have the front "teeth" and headlight section, the upper hood latch and fender connector section, front and rear fenders and the lower valance below the "teeth. The lower valance is in poor shape, the rear fenders were cut from the bed side panels, may be salvageable, hey it's metal, right? The bed sides are rusted through but not totally gone. The bed wood was replaced with sheet metal at some point. I will have to insect the 17" wheels. Wasn't aware of dangers, thanks for the tip. Next is getting the radiator hooked up and a generator so I can get her going around the block. And thanks for all your imput. I'm sure to be back here with more questions. Ya'll have a great day!!

[1952henry]

Nice to see another 3/4 ton being saved.

[brien]

Hi Geo;

I have a 1951 F-3 that I have totally restored; a frame off restoration. Don't ask how much...way too much... but hey, it's done. Here are some things I found out during the project:

You can only swap parts from 1951-52 F-2 and F-3 This makes it extremely difficult to find rust free parts that are offered on the market. For example:

fenders, tail gates, and those, oh so pesky, running boards. These parts were particularly subject to rust. It took me months to find a good running board and when I did, I had to buy the pair. It turned out my good one was better than the bad one in the pair. So the pair I bought had the good one I needed, and the a bad one I didn't need. Lucky So now I have a pair of two crappy ones. Same thing for the tailgate. Although I got lucky and found a good tail gate for $65 on Ebay. I would have paid up to a few hundred or put about $500 iinto fixing the one I have. My left rear fender sucked but I found another and replaced it inexpensively.

My restoration specialist was a absolute perfectionist. I paid him for hours of smoothing out the metal for paint. He only charged me $40 per hr. but the hours added up quickly. I had to replace window glass and tracks. The aftermarket parts don't ever seem to align properly so more hours are used up to get this done correctly. And on and on..

I had someone else do the big part of the restoration since I didn't have the time or the place and tools to do the job. Now that it is done, 5 years later, and thousands of dollars, I guess it is time to show it. I will be going to see the finished truck on Friday. We are just waiting on rebuilding the original door handles($350) for the pair. Chucks Trucks in CT.

To get back to your "new to you" truck, you can spend a fortune in restoration on parts and labor. If you have the place, the tools, and the time to do your own frame off job, you will save a bundle, but be prepared for some very frustrationg and difficult moments. I would recommend rewiring to 12 volt negative rather than keeping the original 6 Volt positive. The truck will start and run much better on the 12 V Neg.

If you need some sources, please message me, and I will try and help you with those who helped me. I usually went on line to find parts out in KS and in TX as there were sources that had rust free parts. I will try and post a pic of my new baby in the next few weeks....

Good luck and message me if you need anything and I will try to help.

[brien]

Originally Posted by truckdog62563

I'd suggest you do some research pertaining to your truck's 17" "widow maker" wheels. Depending on when your truck was produced in '51 you may have the early 14" rear drums, or later 12" rear drums. The killer 17" wheels were needed to clear the 14" drums, but any 16" F-250 wheels 1997 and earlier will fit the 12" drums. If you look at your 17s and think they are one piece, you'll be mistaken. Do a Google search of my user name with the term "widow maker" and "Firestone RH-5 degree" to see pictures and to read about them. Stu

Stu;

Thanks for the link

[Vic Piano]

I'd suggest contacting Joblot Automotive in Queens, NY (800-221-0172) ask for James (tell him I said hi ) you’re not far from us here in the Tampa Bay Area. We have a group called the Cigar City Flatheads and every year we host the Florida "Barner's Bash", this year the event is from March 22nd to the 24th. We'll be meeting in Sarasota on Friday the 22nd to tour the Sarasota Auto Museum and cruise to St. Armands Circle for lunch, etc. Friday night we're scheduled to go to the Drive-In in Ruskin (or to a good local cruise in). Saturday we're driving down to Ft. Myers to tour the Edison-Ford Estates and we might stop off in Punta Gorda, on the way back, to visit with G.M. On Sunday we have a BBQ at Fred Howard Park in Tarpon Springs. The event usually has a good number of "Barner's" from all over (a good excuse to get out of the cold up north). Hopefully you can join us for the fun. If you need any additional info, PM or email me at: [email protected]. Hope to see you in March. Vic

[truckdog62563]

If you have the 14" drums we've found three options that allow you to run modern tubeless wheels and tires on this stock Timken axle/hub combination.

The first, and probably more commonly found, option is to find a used set of the 17.5" x 5.25" tubeless wheels that were first available as optional equipment on F-250s in 1956. These are either of Budd numbers 70720 or 73240. I've had both and on close inspection found no difference in the design one to the other. The Ford number of this wheel is B6D 1015A. These wheels allow use of your stock hub caps. When mounted with 8-17.5" tires these will have about a 32" outside diameter which is about 2" shorter than your stock 7.50 x 17s. It is, however, just about the same diameter as the 7.50 x 16s that were stock to the F-2 model from '48-'52. Below is a picture of a truck with these mounted.



A second option, and by far the best option if they can be found, is to find a set of Budd #71410s, Ford number B6D 1015B. These are 19.5" x 5.25" and were again first optional on F-250s in 1956. They also accept your stock hub caps. Don't be misled into thinking that a 19.5" wheel is bigger than a 17" stock wheel. They are near equals. When mounted with an 8-19.5" bias tire they will have a 34" outside diameter, the same as your 7.50 x 17s. When mounted with 8R19.5 radials they will measure about 33.5". I have no picture of a mounted set (mine are on the shelf waiting), but know that a set was on ebay about two weeks ago with tires in Florida for a BIN price of $800. A screaming good deal, but they went unsold. I still have the listing saved on eBay if you want the seller info. Below is a picture of one of my bare wheels.



The third option, although expensive, is to have custom wheels made using the centers from your widow makers. One of our members over on the FTE site had this done at Stockton Wheel and they look really good. Because the widow maker rim is a "semi drop center" design the widow maker center fits perfectly into a new tubeless "drop center" 17" rim. Below is picture of one of these wheel tire combos. These would be a near perfect replica of the stock appearance and size since they use 7.50 x 17" tires.



I'm not so sure that James at Job Lot will be of much help to you on this, but would give Chuck Mantiglia a call at Chuck's Trucks. Chuck is a business partner of Job Lot and deals more with used parts than I've understood Job Lot to do. Below is Chuck's web page link. If you want the ebay seller's info on the 19.5s please say. Stu

http://www.chuckstrucksllc.com/startframe.htm

[bwood53]

How do I contact Bob selzham

[Newc]

Hi; My '48 F-2 has a narrow [7'] short [7-8'] long script flatbed on it from new. Another option for your project. Newc

[fbi7964]

I don't see any recent posts so I don't know if this thread is still operational. I recently purchased a 1951 Ford F-3. I have to redo the brakes since the pedal goes all the way to the floor. My question deals with the gears. Since this is a 3/4 ton truck it's geared either really high or really low - not sure which is correct. The issue is that it's really really slow!!!! I've only had it in 1st gear (because of the brakes) and it was really slow. Not sure it it's the gears or the transmission. It shifts great though!!! I've had the truck for about a month and today I rented a trailer and brought it to my warehouse to start working on the brakes. I've heard different schools of thought on keeping the 6-Volt - positive ground versus changing to the 12-volt Negative ground. The positive ground is new to me. Not sure why that exists.

[1952henry]

1st gear ratio is something like 6.40:1. Rear end ratio is 4.86:1. So, no, you will not win any races.

[JSeery]

Originally Posted by fbi7964

I've heard different schools of thought on keeping the 6-Volt - positive ground versus changing to the 12-volt Negative ground. The positive ground is new to me. Not sure why that exists.

All Fords in the v8 years from 32 through 55 I believe, were 6v positive ground systems (as were a lot of other car of that time period). When Ford switched to a 12v system in 56, they also switched to negative ground.

6v vs 12v to quote Alice in Wonderland, to know which way you need to go you need to first decide where you want to end up. If you are wanting to keep the truck original stick with the 6v, it will work fine. If you are modifying it and adding stereo equipment, gps, or whatever, you might considering switching it to 12v.

[fbi7964]

Originally Posted by JSeery

All Fords in the v8 years from 32 through 55 I believe, were 6v positive ground systems (as were a lot of other car of that time period). When Ford switched to a 12v system in 56, they also switched to negative ground.

6v vs 12v to quote Alice in Wonderland, to know which way you need to go you need to first decide where you want to end up. If you are wanting to keep the truck original stick with the 6v, it will work fine. If you are modifying it and adding stereo equipment, gps, or whatever, you might considering switching it to 12v.

My intention is to keep it as original as possible so I'll probably keep the 6 volt system. I need to go through the brakes to get it streetable. It runs but doesn't stop.

I'd like to put a picture of it on my profile but I can't figure out how!!!

[JSeery]

"I'd like to put a picture of it on my profile but I can't figure out how!!!"

Under the Ford Barn logo near the top of the page is a black bar. The first option is User CP (User Control Panel). Select that and in the page that opens along the left side are options you can select. Select Edit Avatar. The biggest problem most people have with photos is they are to large to upload. Reduce your photo size and it should work fine.