Thanks everyone, In farm country all neighbors are good neighbors. He replaced the Y-block with a 352. It used to be an old silage truck then they retired it to the bale hauler it is currently. The brakes were always terrible on these old farm trucks and I was wondering if anyone has a better system for these car haulers without going with air brakes? I would like to get away from the widow maker wheels as well. Any ideas would be appreciated. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
for the wheels you might want to hold off till you get some latemodel axles with better brakes . I have the perfect back axle for you but your too far to ship it and some of the early 70's ford used hydraulic over hydraulic on some of the 600-700 series single axle trucks
What axles should I be on the look out for? Early 70's single axle truck? Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
actually a school bus axle should work as they used the same ch***is and most of them up to the 1990s used hydraulic brakes , I had a late 70's IH S series gas straight truck that used 19.5 rims and had hydroboost hydraulic brakes and a 2 speed rear ( which is nice because them gas motors need the gearing to get them moving )
Nice neighbor and looks like it is pretty good shape. Any newer solid axle truck should be a good potential donor. Like a F-450 or F-550 Fird Super Duty for example. Just go to junkyard and look around, check the spring pad width spacing so it lines up with your truck's dimensions. Converting to hydroboost is a good idea, and you can get P/S at the same time. The 73-91 (for 1-ton) GM IFS unbolts from the donor truck and could be a good choice for IFS. Get the same truck's rearend as the front end for matching bolt pattern and also better gears than what that 57 has now. If you want to make it low, probably easiest to just swap that cab onto a new 1-ton or similar ch***is.
Appreciate all the input. I have almost no money to put into this thing. I know, "no money" and "building a car hauler" will never go hand in hand. My cousin has a 1990 Chevy Penske moving truck I can pick up for pennies on the dollar. Any thoughts? Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
if its a Kodiak cab that would be a good start as thats a GM heavy truck which would be the same as what you have but newer , some of the heavier trucks you have to check tire sizes as I have serviced some that have ran 22.5 rims on them and don't let a drum brake front axle scare you as they have good stopping power , and some as small as 17.5 rims . bigger the rim the more capacity but also the more gear you need to spin it . get out a tape measure and measure the width of the track and frames and see how close of a match it is .
That's exactly what it is. It has the 366 with an auto. It also has lo-pro 22.5's on it. The engine and ****** are both good and it recently had a brake job done and I know how pricey those are with those big drums. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
As much as I hate to say it, a cab swap might be the best option in your situation. I would think it would be much more straightforward and cheaper then swapping axles and such.
I would consider a cab swap on my '93 GMC 1-ton dually if the frame wasn't starting to go in the back too. Its rusty as all hell but runs great and would pull a house down the road if you wanted. Something like that might make a good donor for your truck, although I'd try to keep it all Ford if I could. A decent 50s or 60s cab would go right on it and make it interesting. I paid $800 for this truck a couple years ago and drove it home, in fact I'm driving it now as my regular beater is down for what should have been a simple repair.
It's looking like this is what my best option is. I want to keep the 22.5's as they are plentiful in my area and I like the height where it is. I would like to build one similar to this. However, I want to mount my hoist lower on the frame and use it to tilt the entire deck and dove tale to the ground so I can winch up cars. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
You are lucky, my neighbor had a 56 F600 that ran great and had very little rust that he used on the farm. He blew a brake line and it sat for a few years. I offered to buy it many times but he said he would fix it and use it again. When junk prices went way up it got s****ed!!
22.5 's with low weight and they will last you a long time ( probably dryrot before they wear out of tread ) only thing you have to remember with the big drums if they are hydraulic is they do not self adjust ,they are supposed to but murphys law applys to anything that self's oe automatically here doesn't ..LOL and the 366 is a good runner too , but if the present for drive train is still good I would try to use it to keep some what one manufacturer and unique
I will keep the 366 and Allison in there. I have an old hyd pump off our old feed truck that ran off an Allison in there. That way I can mount a hoist. I wish I could keep it all ford but for simplicity and serviceability I think leaving the 366 and Allison is a better way to go. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
The Jalopy Journal
