MY 51 FORD TRACTOR HAULER PROJECT

Posted by Ken McWilliams on May 16, 2004 at 20:01:38 from (152.163.253.35):

About a year and a half ago, I decided that I wanted to have a cool old truck to pull my CASE 310 crawler to the shows. I bought a 1951 Ford F8 former fire truck with only 24K miles. I had planned to make a rollback out of it, but after a while, I decided against it because it was too big to use for general else. Also, I didn't want the old stuff like manual steering, and having to use both feet to use the brakes. I really wanted a modern drive train with power steering, power disc brakes, automatic transmission etc.

A while later, I came across a 1984 F-350 dually chassis complete with 460 engine and C6 transmission. Now the project has started. The chassis was orginally an ambulance so I had to shorten the frame approximately 30 inches To get the wheel wells to fit the wheelbase. I sat the cab and hood/fender asssembly onto the frame and began making things fit. I put in a tilt steering from a 1969 Mark III along with the hanging brake pedal with a power brake booster mounted on the firewall. I connected the steering column to the power steering gearbox with universal steering joints.

I found an 8' bed from an F2, but Ihad to widen it about 5" to fit over the 1984 chassis. I re-arched the front fender wells to make them look better, because the F8 fenders were for 20" big truck wheels, but I'm now using 16" LT tires and wheels. I had to make the running boards.

For the short term, I'll run the 460, but I'm looking for a pre-PowerStroke 7.3 diesel engine with hopefully a turbo.

Sitting on the F-350 chasssis, it looks like a 4X4, but it is not, its just tall and gutsy! I have it set up to where I can run the duallies or run big single 12.5" wide tires.

I've welded in a hitch with a 2-5/16" ball into the frame to give a goosenech hitch to pull my 24" trailer. I've also installed a 2" receiver hitch to pull a standard tag along trailer. I scapped out a 1956 F-750 that donated the front bumper which became the rear bumper on the project. It looks natural! I'll use diamond plate to fill in between the bumper and bed.

Up to this point, I've had all the body components mounted onto the chassis, but I'm now taking piece back off to do the body work, and to paint each part inside and outside.

I had hoped to have it ready by July to pull my restored CASE 310 crawler to the Greenville, OH tractor show, but I don't think I'll have it ready in time. I've had to do a lot of travelling from mid-February until now which cut into my project time. Now it is getting to be haying season, which will also take a big bite of my time.

What color will it be? The wilder the better. I have a couple of granddaughters who have purple as their favorite color, Hmmm.

I'll post pictures of it from time to time. It sure was easy to put the cab on the frame using my 2 loader tractors. Sure is good to be a country boy.

Ken McWilliams
Dayton, OH

Follow Ups:

• Re: MY 51 FORD TRACTOR HAULER PROJECT Pollack Pete 06:08:50 05/17/04 (0)

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