'39 ford truck build

Well, I feel like I'm finally able to get started on my truck. Last spring I picked up the cab and front sheetmetal from a 1939 ford truck, with the intention of piecing it together as I go. Obviously I was missing a lot, like a chassis and drivetrain.

Yesterday I just picked up a frame from a 41 truck. It has the stock front suspension and brakes (I think?) and parallel leafs with a 57 chevy rear end. The rear suspension looks a little sketchy and I will probably do something different, maybe you guys have some suggestions. There is a couple of bad spots on the frame but overall I think it's pretty solid.

I'm pretty close to selling my International and if that goes through then I will have a little cash to start working on the chassis.

 

Here are a couple more shots. The front crossmember was cut to clear the fuel pump on a sbc. Can anyone ID this steering box? The guy threw it in but wasn't sure what is came from.

 

Frame isn't in great shape but fixable if you can weld. Can't help you on the steering box.

 

that's a Vega steering box....they are worthless to use on any hot rod , so send it to me

where did you buy the frame?

 

Your close enough that you could just come and pick it up. I'll leave it on the porch under the mat.

That's cool, I guess it's worth almost as much as I paid for the frame.
I got it off craigslist from a guy in Owatonna

 

i thought it was from owatonna , i saw it on craigslist. i think he had a 283 engine for it also ?

if you have no plans for the vega box , i may be interested

 

That cab and front tin is beautiful.

 

That's the one. He said the engine, trans, and rear end came out of a '57 chevy. I didn't get the motor because I kinda want to run something other that a sbc.

The tin isn't as good as it looks. There's a lot of bondo under that paint, and they used rebar to roll the lip on the fenders. It's all fixable and I'm having fun learning how fix the sheetmetal. Right now I'm working on the drivers door, which needs the bottom replaced

 

Looks like a good start. I have a '38 that I've had since I was 14 years old (be 57 next month). That rear suspension setup will have the rear end sitting sky high. On my '38 I used the rear springs and spring hangers off an '80 Isuzu pickup to hang a '74 Camaro 10 bolt rear, along with stock front suspension. You can see from the photo in the sidebar how it sits, just a comfortable pretty near stock ride height. I think just about all '30s and '40s trucks were prone to rust on the door bottoms, if that's the only serious rust you have you're pretty fortunate. Hope you plan to keep the roll-out windshield, nothing better than the wind in your face at 60 MPH, last year for that feature. I think any truck looks better lettered for some business, so mine is lettered as a shop truck for Drake Motor Co., the Ford dealer here from prehistoric times until 1956.

 

Thanks 38fordpickup. That's an awesome truck you have. I've been looking into some of the parallel leaf kits but the Isuzu springs sound much cheaper. I plan on lowering the front but not drastically. Just dropping the original axle and maybe reversing the spring eyes, but we'll see. I don't want this thing to scrape the ground. Definitely keeping the roll-out windshield. The mechanism still works perfectly.

 

So here is a little update. We were having some extremely cold weather a couple weeks ago, so I decided to go outside and disassemble the chassis. Once I got it down to a bare frame I moved it into the garage. It was heavy carrying it all by myself, I call it the hotrod workout program.

Here are some pics of the frame issues

Front crossmember was torched to clear a fuel pump, and some angle iron was welded on for motor mounts.


Rear of the frame will need to be patched in the same place on both sides. You can see the c-channel gusset they added.

 

I used a 3" drop axle with the original spring. Gave me a nice drop, I think.

 

A got a new front crossmember. It's a little different but rivet holes and width all measure out the same. It's got a slightly different shape with less drop. I'm guessing that pickups and cars had different crossmembers? The frame is from a 41 pickup and the new crossmember came from a 40.

 

Yours is perfect. Did you drop your original axle or go with a new dropped one?

 

It's new. If you want all the info on it I can get it to you.

 

That would be great

 

Man, when you get ready to reverse the spring eyes on the front give me a call, I got a portable machine I made for doing that I can bring over and help you do it...and give you an extra set of hands on anything else you need...

 

The '41 has a deeper front crossmember because Ford offered a 6 cylinder for the first time in '41, and the deeper crossmember was designed to clear the 6 cylinder oil pan. Other than that, the '41 pickup frame is same as '40, so the '40 crossmember will fit. These crossmembers were prone to crack around the area where the center of the spring nestles in the crossmember. I took the one on my truck out of a '39 Standard two door, about the only good part left on a car that was rusted to precious memories.

 

Thanks for the info. I was sure that it would fit but I just didn't know why it was different. Makes sense now.

Ruiner, you should come by some time. I want to get the front end mocked up with a motor before I start messin with the springs, so it could be a little while. I did manage to sell my International so I have a little money to play with!!!

 

Cool project. I really like that year of Ford truck. Can't wait to see more of it.

 

I'm not looking to get paid, just help out...what are you running for a motor? I can help you fab up the motor mounts and whatever else you need...

 

I haven't decided on the motor yet, but I really want to try and find a running y-block. I know it's not the easiest motor to fit in there but I don't really mind modifying the firewall and there's no floor so it shouldn't be too difficult. It would be awesome to have you help out with the motor mounts and I could probably use a little help when it comes to patching the frame.

 

I just picked up a Y-block. It's a 292 out of an old school bus, which is good because I really wanted an old school motor. It would have been really cool if it came out of an ol skool bus, then I could have had me one of them ol skool rodz but some things just don't work out the way you want them to.
Seriously though, I am pretty stoked on the Y-block. It turns over fine and the guy told me it runs so I am hoping I can use it for now without rebuilding it.
I'll get some pics up soon.

 

The '40 crossmember will lower the front of your truck a couple of inches. Park a stock '41 pickup next to a stock '40 pickup and you'll see that the '41 nose is higher because of that deep crossmember that was unique to '41 pickup. If you went with small block Ford power, the deeper '41 crossmember would probably make things easier. With small block Chevy power (I have a 307 in my truck), the '35-'40 crossmember clears fine.

 

My 39 was used on the dragstrip in the 60s.
They did some terrible things to my frame but they used 66 Chev pickup trailing arms and coil springs on the rear axle The coils are weak but the Arms are Extremely Good

 

I've been seriously considering using truck arm rear suspension. I just think I should be able to do better than parallel leaves.

 

Truck arm ain't bad if you don't mind a rougher ride and handling...I'd rather see you use a parallel 4-bar and panhard bar...easy enough to build your own, or order a cheap kit...or stick with leaf springs...

 

hmmm, a rough ride and handling, that's pretty much the opposite of what I want...

 

Ask Fiddy how he likes the 4-bar on his Willys pickup, he has a nice setup on that truck...otherwise a parallel leaf axle that's properly setup would ride nice too, and would be cheaper with less fab work...you can make a truck arm suspension ride soft and handle halfway decent, but there are better options if you're not looking to abuse it like a truck...