I had a stressful day today, which is not good for us old guys with limited time left above ground. After a couple of years of my project on hold I finally got back to work and found my expensive Posie rear springs on my 54-55 project were too long for the existing set up. I have lived a long life believing the only difference between a 54 and 55 F00 was the grille. Much to my surprise I found there is a much more significant difference in the rear springs. Sometime in 1954 FoMoCo decided to replace the shorter 53-54 springs with a spring that is approximately 4" longer on the 55-56 models. I found it interesting that the rear spring hanger can be easily moved rearward on my 54 by using the existing rear frame hole for the spring hanger. On my 54 there is an existing hole in both the side of the frame and the bottom of the frame. Three of the holes were already existing in my frame. Once I moved that rear spring hanger back I was able to use the newer 55-56 springs with the only modification being I had to drill one new hole in the bottom of the frame. I posted this to hopefully help out some future builder who comes across the same problem.
Its the tidbits of knowledge like this that help us on our own projects, thank you so much for sharing. I always thought they were the same. Good thing the fix was easy. I wonder who else has come across this?
I didn't know that either.... good info. I would be tempted to keep the 54 grille. It is so different, yeah, you're right it's ugly, sorta, ...
New guy here, that makes 3 of us as I am also building a 54 f100. Got the CV front but still not sure about the rear axle yet. John (Merry Christmas boys)
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