51 farm truck f3 steering box .. help

[Stevegeo]

My 51 farm truck needs a steering box ,
After chasing cows though the fields for many years its shot .
Nearly impossible to steer and even adjusted still impossible . Up in the air wheels up makes no difference . Unhooked tie rod and box is definitely the issue .
I would rather replace with new , or rebuild if i have to or modify to something else ..
Not willing to spend much as this truck is a beater , the flathead is all original except for recent new water pumps and electronic ignition.. current miles around 3000 . Yes 3k in 70 plus yrs . So can someone STEER me to what i can do?
And what other wheels besides the 8 lug 16.5s will work? I may want to drive this on the road someday .. it has the original tires!! Dry rot of course .. suggestions?

[Newc]

Greg Edwards in Oregon steering machinest 503-357-3980 . You better join the Early V8 Club !

[JayChicago]

Amazing!
"current miles around 3000 . Yes 3k in 70 plus yrs....it has the original tires!! Dry rot of course"

[51504bat]

Get in touch with NealinCA here on the Barn regarding rebuilding your steering box.

[GB SISSON]

Originally Posted by Stevegeo

My 51 farm truck needs a steering box ,
After chasing cows though the fields for many years its shot .
Nearly impossible to steer and even adjusted still impossible . Up in the air wheels up makes no difference . Unhooked tie rod and box is definitely the issue .
I would rather replace with new , or rebuild if i have to or modify to something else ..
Not willing to spend much as this truck is a beater , the flathead is all original except for recent new water pumps and electronic ignition.. current miles around 3000 . Yes 3k in 70 plus yrs . So can someone STEER me to what i can do?
And what other wheels besides the 8 lug 16.5s will work? I may want to drive this on the road someday .. it has the original tires!! Dry rot of course .. suggestions?

I think the original wheels would be 17" widowmakers. If that's what is on there they are very unsafe, and no shop will mount tires on them.. You mention 16.5s and those would work but very limited tire choices and the '.5' series are low profile (small diameter and wide). There was a brake drum change around those years and if you have the smaller drums a common 16" 8 lug truck rim works just fine. If you have the bigger drums you will need a 17" wheel. There's a guy here named Stu (aka Truckdog) who knows just what works for you. Hopefully he shows up soon.

[truckdog62563]

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Yeah, Gary has you going in the right direction on your wheels. It will matter greatly whether you have an early year 1951 or a late year 1951. The early trucks have 14” Lockheed rear drums that dictated use of the 17” widow makers. Late year 1951s were equipped with 12” Bendix rear drums. Figuring out which you have is easy. Is your parking brake handle in the left footwell (early truck), or to the right of the shift lever (late truck).

If it’s a late year truck any 16” F-250/E-250, or most comparable one ton wheels, will solve it. If it’s an early truck the 14” drums limit options. Beginning in 1956 and through to 1966 Ford offered a 17.5” tubeless wheel that will work. Sets show up on eBay commonly, but sellers are commonly greedy so-and-so’s thinking they’ve found gold. During the same span of years Ford also offered a 19.5” wheel, but they ARE made of gold. Then there’s modern Dodge Ram 17” wheels. Dodge continued the 8 x 6.5” bolt pattern darn near up to the present (or nearly so). These wheels are 7” wide vs your stock ones at 5.50” wide, so some guys I’ve read added small spacers to avoid rubbing at the front axle. Then the last option is custom wheels built using your center discs remounted into modern 17” rims. Not a cheap fix but it’s an option.

To avoid this chain of options many guys instead opt to replace the stock Timken with its 4.86/1 gearing for an F-250 1967 to 1972 (and others but I’ll keep it short) Dana 60 axle complete. It would have 12” drums and, if you do the homework to identify a good one, a more highway friendly ratio. These are bolt in swaps aside from minor drive shaft issues. There are a lot of discussions on this swap on-line so some Google/Bing time would be well spent. Stu

[rotorwrench]

The F1,F2, & F3 all use the same steering gear and new parts are avaliable. The worms can spall in the center position and it takes some special tooling to facilitate removal and replacement due to the steering shaft length. The roller gear on the sector shaft is also replaceable but the pin is roll swedged so it takes some carefully grinding to allow the roller pin to come out. A new one can be tack welded to secure it. Neil in CA made his own tooling to work on these units. There are old threads on here about the tooling fabrication and use.

When I was young and working on farm trucks in Kansas, it wasn't uncommon to find heavy hauler farm trucks with low mileage. They were only used during harvest and for hauling calves and other heavy items on the farm to market runs and to the local parts and repair sources. 3000 miles a year was considered a lot of mileage. Pop used his old 52 F3 to haul a water tank during the late fall and winter when he turned the cattle on to the stubble fields with smooth wire electric fencing. He would first haul the stock tank to what ever field he turned them out on then keep the tank as full as possible. I hated that job since any ice had to be ckopped out to let then drink before it froze over again.

[Krylon32]

Neal's the man for early Ford steering box rebuilds [email protected]