I figured I would post up some pics of my latest project that I put together this summer......


I took a bunch of left over EB parts from my offroad rigs and a bunch of leftover 48-52 f-1 pickup parts from my hot rod f-1 pickup and built this.


http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b162/fordf1trucknut/DSCN2607.jpg

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b162/fordf1trucknut/DSCN2608.jpg

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b162/fordf1trucknut/DSCN2597.jpg

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b162/fordf1trucknut/DSCN2603.jpg

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b162/fordf1trucknut/MISC/DSCN2324.jpg

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http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b162/fordf1trucknut/MISC/DSCN2333.jpg

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b162/fordf1trucknut/MISC/DSCN1995.jpg

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b162/fordf1trucknut/MISC/DSCN0817.jpg

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b162/fordf1trucknut/MISC/DSCN0815.jpg



The military tires do pretty good offroad and I get an average 25 MPG with the little six. So I have been driving this daily since it gets better mileage than my 79 f-350 4x4...which drinks gas.

F--kin pimp!!! I love it!

Which little six is it, a 200? I'm pretty sure I'm seeing an integral intake manifold.

Out with the rest of the specs..... What gears, lockers, trans/trans case build, etc?!?


BTW: Fuckin Awesome spare parts pile! :smokin::grinpimp::smokin:

The motor is a 200 I-6, the bellhousing came off a 75 maverick.

A junk 1970 bronco donated the front 3.50 geared dana 44 diff (took a lot of grinding to get all the coil spring stuff off it), the 3-speed, the T-shift dana 20 t-case and the fuel tank.

The rear axle a 3.50 geared 1969 f-100 ford 9" using 1962 f-250 lift blocks.

The knuckles, spindles and front brakes are 1974 chevy half ton....I used chevy knuckles since they have a steering arm that I was able to modify to use the original drag link.

The hubs and rotors are 76 f-150 units.

The master cylender is off a 78 f-250.

I put together the driveshafts from junk parts and used early cj spring perches for the front axle.

the steering box, drag link and springs are all stock 1948 f-1 parts.

I plan on eventually adding a limited slip to the rear axle and it would nice to get an ARB for the front.

Very cool. I had a '65 Mustang with one of those 200's in it when I was 16. That was a rugged little motor, boring for a 16yr old that wanted to build a true 60's era muscle car, but a very good motor none-the-less.

Are you having problems with the exhaust donuts on that 200? I don't know if it was just that the muffler shop did a crappy job on the exhaust pipe, or what, but my 200 ate those donuts like a lardass cop on a coffee break :mad3:

The manifold that was on the motor when I got was pretty goofy...the cat was bolted right to it so it really wasn't useable unless I wanted a 6" diameter tailpipe!!!!!!). I had a tough time finding a regular manifold in a junkyard so I spent the extra cash and bought a header for it from a place that sells early mustang parts (I think it ran like $225)....to so far so good with the exhaust system.


The only issue I had thus far with it is that the axle kissed the oil pan when 4 wheeling. A bunch of washers shimming the motor mounts and longer bumpstops fixed it. I guess I misjudged the wieght of the front clip and radiator when I was welding up the motor mounts.

Thats a damn good looking pile of parts you have there!! I dont know if i would be beating it around the woods too much as it is a cool DD rig. IMO it looks better than the rod so far. Show us pics of the rod too.

kickass little truck man... you have a hellova spare parts pile... when the NDTs wear out you should throw some co-ops on it... :smokin:

I have never seen co-ops... what kind of tire are they??


I don't plan on beating on the truck too much... just some easy trails and winter wheeling....it took a good bit of metalwork to resurrect it so I don't plan on rolling it...it was pretty rough when I got it...... I run my 74 bronco on the tough trails and in the rocks.



As far as pics of my hot rod it isn't really on topic of 4x4's BUT here goes...

I brought it along to the point where it is really sold and has next to NO bondo in it...lots of metalwork. I still have a little more bodywork to do in it before I paint it.

I built it to be a sleeper. It is all stock on the inside and outside but I built a hot 393W (Roush racing heads, custom solid lifter cam, a bunch of other goodies...etc...etc...) 3 blown up built trannys later and 2 rear axles later It now has a beefy drivetrain and runs great....it just likes to drink a LOT of high test so I usually only drive it to work one day a week and I park it in the winter.

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b162/fordf1trucknut/1952%20progress/52-2.jpg

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b162/fordf1trucknut/1952%20progress/52-3.jpg

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b162/fordf1trucknut/1952%20progress/DSCN2195.jpg

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b162/fordf1trucknut/1952%20progress/DSCN2209.jpg

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b162/fordf1trucknut/MISC/DSCN2453.jpg

That thing is SWEET!!!!!!

I'd just throw a LockRight or Aussie locker in the front and call it good. You won't break anything with those small tires and you'll save a bunch over an ARB.

Wow! Beautiful trucks man. I love the old 51 & 52s. From what I can tell, in the classic truck realm, they seem to be the least popular of the 48-56 bodystyles. Does this sound correct? If so, it's fine by me, because that keeps the demand for old parts down quite a bit and cheaper.

My old man's gotta 51 that's been sitting next to our barn for almost 20 years. I keep trying to talk him into clearing out a spot in his barn for it and parking it inside to keep the rust down on it. But he never listens. He's got the 239? flathead v8 in his with the old 3 speed "3 on the tree" shifter. I'd love to restore his and keep the flatty, and some day get another fitty one or two and build it into a 10 or 11 second 1/4 mile sleeper like yours. Any idea on how quick yurs is in the 1/4?

Also, do you have any pics, spec.s or build info. on the orange 78-79 truck? I LOVE that thing. I've always wanted to get one of that body style in either a 3/4 or one ton. I want to either find one and just drive it if it's in good shape, or find and restore one to usably nice condition and then eventually use it as a work truck.

I am 23 and taking over my dad's very, very small contracting/carpentry/construction company. I'd love to have an old 78 or 79 1 ton SRW to yank around the bobcat on it's trailer or the dump trailer or the tool trailer. Eventually I'd like to get a Super Duty, but a truck like yours with Thompson's Construction on the door would be badass. Any and all info. on that thing would be much appreciated. From what I can see, it looks like it's sportin 33x12.5 R16.5s on 16.5 x 9.75 courser MTs with stock suspension? Did you restore it?

bitchingly awesome:smokin:

I don't think I want to run a automatic locker in the front for winter driving.

While I really do like the performance of the aussie locker in my offroad rig....... driving on slushy mountain roads with the NDT tires and a locker might make my comute to work a little too adventurous.


I think an ARB would be perfect (although they sure are expensive).


Allthough there were less of this bodystyle made I wouldn't call them unpopular.....in fact parts are more expensive than the later body style (53-56).

I haven't taken the other truck to the dragstrip yet. there is a strip located a little over and hour away that usually has test and tune nights on wedensdays durring the summer but I just havne't had the time to do yet. It runs pretty well but i am doubtfull that it will run in the 11's with the narrow rear tires.

The 79 f-350 is a ranger, lariat, trailer special. The suspension is stock as well as the drivetrain it has a 400, c6, 205, HP60 front and a L/S 60 in the rear. It is a great tow rig. The tires measure 33" and are on 16" rims. I bought it last year, it was in bad shape, it was a plow truck for years, I bought a worn out rust free 2wd truck for body parts. The cab and tailgate were in amazingly good shape so those are the only body parts that are original to the truck everything else I stripped from the 2wd truck.

Wow.....beautiful truck man. A cousin of mine has a 78 in rooouggh shape. Frames cracked, box is tweaked, etc. It's got the 400 too. How do you like the 400? I've heard so so things about it. So I take it on the 78, ya stripped it right down and repainted and redid all the trim etc. eh?

Any more pics of the 79?

Now that i have seen pics of both i think they are both sweet rides. That Rod is one hell of a sleeper, nice job on both of them.

Very nice trucks....the 4wd F-1 is great!!!

Well the truck has survived up to the first oil change (3,000 miles) with no breakdowns or issues yet I am quite happy with it.

Parallel parking sure builds up your arm muscles...same goes for running in 4 wheel drive.

Beautiful F-1's!

Oh man I have ALWAYS wanted one of those! Great trucks man. Out-freakin-standing.

I have never seen co-ops... what kind of tire are they??


I don't plan on beating on the truck too much... just some easy trails and winter wheeling....it took a good bit of metalwork to resurrect it so I don't plan on rolling it...it was pretty rough when I got it...... I run my 74 bronco on the tough trails and in the rocks.



As far as pics of my hot rod it isn't really on topic of 4x4's BUT here goes...

I brought it along to the point where it is really sold and has next to NO bondo in it...lots of metalwork. I still have a little more bodywork to do in it before I paint it.

I built it to be a sleeper. It is all stock on the inside and outside but I built a hot 393W (Roush racing heads, custom solid lifter cam, a bunch of other goodies...etc...etc...) 3 blown up built trannys later and 2 rear axles later It now has a beefy drivetrain and runs great....it just likes to drink a LOT of high test so I usually only drive it to work one day a week and I park it in the winter.

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b162/fordf1trucknut/1952%20progress/52-2.jpg

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b162/fordf1trucknut/1952%20progress/52-3.jpg

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b162/fordf1trucknut/1952%20progress/DSCN2195.jpg

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b162/fordf1trucknut/1952%20progress/DSCN2209.jpg

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b162/fordf1trucknut/MISC/DSCN2453.jpg

He's probaly talking about Co-Op Grip Spurs. They are a mud and snow tire along the lines of the old Goodyear and Firestone snow tires found on 4x4 trucks sold in the 60' and 70's. Remember the ones you could hear from a block away? Well they are better now, a nostalgic looking tire. Of course so are the military non directionals. The Lock Rite or any lunch box locker does not have the behavior you are referring too in the snow and ice, however if you just mild wheel it I would find an old traction lock LSD from a Ford front Dana 44 and add a couple frictions and discs to tighten it up just a little. Should work fine for your application. All of your pickups are very nice! the old 4x4 is a very nice build, great job. The seat in that one looks comfortable!

That "pile of parts" is absolutely awesome! BTW so are the other two.

I love vintage 4x4s, and have been wanting to put something like this together for a while, with 3 kids I'm deep in suv and crew cab territory, but will start collecting father/daughter project trucks soon.

What is that seat from? 3rd row suburban seat? Looks good in there.

You probably know this, but alot of the fat fender guys use the 85 and earlier toyota 4wd PS boxes in those trucks, and one would be pretty cheap and easy to find on PBB, especially if they see the worthy cause:)

You probably know this, but alot of the fat fender guys use the 85 and earlier toyota 4wd PS boxes in those trucks, and one would be pretty cheap and easy to find on PBB, especially if they see the worthy cause

I should have one, if I do then we can trade something. Or pretty darned cheap.

The seat is the 3rd row seat form a Chrysler town and country minivan. I was sitting on the ground at the junkyard in the rain behind the minivan, I got it for $20. It is a perfect fir for these trucks.

so im guessing you live off Rt 31 just west of somerset?...saw the rig driving past today?

yup.. that was my place. I parked the truck in the front yard while I was moving stuff around in in front of the garage.

looked cool

I figured I would post an Update.

I now have just shy of 9,000 miles on it and it has been a great truck so far.

The tires are now worn about half so they wear pretty well and they do great in the snow but arent the best thing in the world in the rain. I ordered another pair to replace these in the spring (I ordered before the new year when they jacked the price up).

It now has some more creature comforts than it did when I first put it on the road.. it has a heater/defroster (I converted the old stock setup), a hidden MP3 player system (I wanted to keep it looking stock), seat belts, a headliner, a window washer, and I also I welded up a reciver to the rear bumper to tow with it and added tow points front and rear.

It is still getting 26 MPG highway and 20 around town and driving up and down the mountain to work.


http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b162/fordf1trucknut/DSCN2772.jpg

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http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b162/fordf1trucknut/MISC/DSCN2713.jpg

That thing is fawking great. Good job.

Truck kicks tail!!!! Got an ARB for it yet?

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b162/fordf1trucknut/1952%20progress/DSCN2195.jpg



what's the 3rd fatfender hidden around the corner?


very nice fleet of classic iron!

thanks for the complements


Nope, no ARB yet.

I got a baby on the way and am in the middle of renovating a bathroom in my house.....so that is sucking up our time and our $$.



That other truck in the background is parts truck. It is pretty much complete, I was going to sell it but I figure I will hang onto it in case I wreck one and need parts.

I finally found some older lockout hubs for the truck.

It was a pain finding parts to rebuild them but they work well and look more period than the spicer/ford units that were on the EB axle originally.


http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b162/fordf1trucknut/DSCN2812.jpg

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b162/fordf1trucknut/DSCN2813.jpg

Very nice truck...I would love to find a 50's ford to build as you have, and keep as stock looking as possible, especially with the mileage your getting, not to mention the cool factor. Great job on it, and keep up the good work!

A new update on the truck.

I now have over 14,000 miles on it and it has been VERY reliable!!!!!

Since we had a baby I realized the bias ply tires were a tad to bouncy so I took them off and put some radials on untill the baby gets a little older...I still put the bias NDT's on when I offroad it.

I upgraded the truck by adding on board air... so I can run air tools anywhere and can air down and re-inflate my tires when I offroad.

I also put in a limited slip rear centersection.

My band has been playing out a lot more and I got tired of always renting a trailer when it rains of hauling with my 79 f-350 4x4 which gets 10MPG.......SO i decided to build a easily removed and assembled canopy that matches the military theme of the truck.

Here is what it looks like with just the hoops....I made it so I can tear down or put up the hoops down in under a minute.

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b162/fordf1trucknut/DSCN3174.jpg

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b162/fordf1trucknut/DSCN3175.jpg

Here is a pic of me originally test fitting the canvas with the hoops 9 inches higher...... I am still working on a simple reliable method of attachment since the test run with the rope thought the grommets resulted in tearing out the grommets. That is why I lowered the hoops 9 inches....less wind and I can now double up the material at the attaching point.

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b162/fordf1trucknut/DSCN3160.jpg

I wouldn't have needed to hunch over as much to load out equipment BUT it looked kinda goofy and the grommets tore once I got over 40 MPH on a test run.


In addition I found some even older looking hubs that matched the truck better and made a minor adjustment to the ride height in the front. ( I raised the front a 1/2" so that I could add more caster.....I was limited by the tie rod hitting the springs and I didn't have quite enough caster when I first built it. It auto-centers much better now and the deathwobble that I initially had has just about gone away

that truck is just friggen sweet :D

Damn cool, I have a 72 EB and now a 55 Pickup.... need a third project...

Thats fucking sweet better than any period military jeep in my opinion.

Very nice!

some wider NDTs would look cool,

can you groove them or sipe them to make them safer in the rain?

Anyone make radial NDTs?

Nice ol' Ford....

Thanks guys

It is getting to be my favorite vehicle.

I had another deathwobble incident the other day with the radial tires on. My draglink isn't completely parallel with the frame.....maybe I need to modify the steering arm??? I hate to heat it and bend it but that may be what I try next.

Such a cool looking truck.:grinpimp: :smokin:

Thanks guys

It is getting to be my favorite vehicle.

I had another deathwobble incident the other day with the radial tires on. My draglink isn't completely parallel with the frame.....maybe I need to modify the steering arm??? I hate to heat it and bend it but that may be what I try next.


Is there enough room to mount the draglink under the steering arm or is it too close the the axle? I don't see whay you can't heat and flatten out the steering arm to get the draglink staight. You just have to make sure it cools properly. I forget if you just let these cool naturally or quench them.

I will want to let it cool down slowly if I go that route.

I am using a stock 1950 drag link that uses ball studs to I would have to good bit of cutting and welding to make it flip...which I want to avoid.

Another option I could try is to add a steering stabilizer


I finally got the canopy done it works quite well now.

I added larger convex mirrors too since it it tougher to back up now.


http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b162/fordf1trucknut/DSCN3181.jpg

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b162/fordf1trucknut/DSCN3184.jpg

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b162/fordf1trucknut/DSCN3183.jpg

I could really stare at that truck all day. I want more.
-R3

It's been a long time since I updated this..

Long time ago I fixed the death wobble by adding more caster and by adding a steering stabilizer.

It now has over 40,000 miles on it and has been a really good truck but the motor is starting to get a bit tired so I picked up another lower mile 200 inliner for it to swap out once this one gets a bit worse (it is starting to use oil and my mileage is dropping off).

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b162/fordf1trucknut/012.jpg

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b162/fordf1trucknut/DSCN6221.jpg

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b162/fordf1trucknut/DSCN6220.jpg

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b162/fordf1trucknut/BigRubbers013.jpg

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b162/fordf1trucknut/DSCN3492.jpg

WOW! Awesome truck! Love that you kept it vintage and drive it daily! That's great that it gets that good of mpg! Sweet build!!! :smokin:

You have some killer rides, I love all 3 of your trucks!!!

I love the look of these old Fords, nice truck.