Projects 1956 F-350 Build Thread

Hey everyone,

Heres a few pics of the 1956 F-350 dumptruck I purchased from the original owners son. It was purchased in Confluence, PA. I want to thank "twink" for the heads up on this truck.

This is how it looked when I bought it:









I knew when I bought it that the bed was gonna go. I wanted a flat bed dump, plus the bed was pretty ugly.

My dad and I along with fordf1trucknut went to drive it home but we had a few issues and had to leave it there. The water pump started leaking really bad, the fuel pump appeared to not be pumping enough fuel and the carb was nasty.

We took the carb off and brought it home and ordered my parts.

When the parts arrived, we went back down and got everything installed and fired it up. We headed for fordf1trucknut's house, but a few miles down the road it started to run rough and shut off. We unhooked the fuel line to find a lot of dirt in the line. we blew it out, fired it up and took off. About five miles down the road it happened again. This happened four times before we made it to fordf1trucknut's house.

I want to pause here to formally thank fordf1trucknut for all of the work he has done on my truck. He is a very good friend and the most talented car guy I know. I couldnt have done this project without him. I would also like to thank his wife and daughter who have been very patient with all the late nights of us working on the truck.

Fordf1trucknut started by plasma cutting the old bed sides off. We left the original floor intact. He welded on 2x6 square tube for the bed sides and added side board pockets.

My dad and I cleaned all the crap out of the gas tank.

He has also done a ton of wiring and so many other things too numerous to list.

I have six new tires for the truck and I bought new F1 front fenders because i like the smaller wheel well.

I will update this thread as we get more done. Here are a few pics of the demo and fabrication.


fordf1trucknut plasma cutting the old bed sides








fordf1trucknut welding the bedsides


My dad (Tobey56) grinding and fordf1trucknut still welding!



Me grinding on the left while fordf1trucknut keeps welding.
Treated 2x6's for the bed

 

Junior you are gonna have guite the parts hauler there

 

Sweet old truck!!

 

Whats your plans for it???

 

You are gonna have a kool hauler there!

 

Theres just something about huge old work trucks. This is a cool project. looking forward to seeing what you do with it.

 

The guys came up today and we got more done on it. making the flatbed and cutting up the old dump sure gave me a nice farmers tan on my arms and neck... I haven't welded that much at one time since I built the frame for my 59 land rover.

 

Didn't get too much more done on it this week but here is how it currently looks.....

 

NICE truck!

 

nice 56!!

 

Nice truck! We don't see many of the commercial rigs around anymore

 

Hello Everyone,

Its been a long time since I updated my thread so I thought I would show you the progress to date. To start with a few months back I found out that the heater core and radiator were bad. I had the heater core redone and bought a new all aluminum radiator. My dad (Tobey56) and my friend fordf1trucknut helped me get those installed. My new tires from Coker are now on the truck. The other day fordf1trucknut came over and he and my dad installed new plugwires, points and rotor. I got a new condenser and cap but had some issues with those so I am waiting on the correct ones to get here. I also have new plugs coming.

Last night my dad and I sanded the steel bed and gave it two coats of satin black Rustoleum. we also painted some of the frame because the red was driving us crazy. I will clean the frame real good when spring hits and then I'll paint it all.

I had the day off today so I spent the whole day in the garage installing treated 2X6s on the bed. I was able to get all the holes drilled and bolts installed. I will be building side boards in the near future.

I have a new headliner on its way.

The next projects will be installing a new seat cover and installing a double bowl master cylinder. Im sure I will be enlisting my dad and fordf1trucknut to help with that.

Thats all for now, I'll update again as work progresses.

Heres some pics of the bed:

 

Looking good with the wood finally installed !!

 

Thanks!

 

I'm finally updating my thread! Lots of things have been done since my last post.

Here's a pic of Fordf1trucknut welding some patch panels in on the cab while I drill holes in a patch for the inner fenders.



Here's a pic of my dad, Tobey56 getting the doors ready for paint.



The painted hood..



Here's the cab getting some bodywork.



Trucknut did an amazing job with all the welding!!!



The rest of the tins were painted by trucknut and my dad and are ready to go. I'll post some pics when we bring them up to install them. The cab was painted by trucknut on Sunday. Turned out good! My dad and I worked some this evening on the double bowl master cylinder install. The fenders were rotted pretty good so I purchased new steel F100 fenders for it. I like the look of the smaller wheel well opening of the F100 fenders. We also decided that the doors looked better without the custom cab badge so trucknut welded the holes for me (along with a ton of other welding)

I again want to thank my dad(Tobey56) and fordf1trucknut for all their help. They are teaching me a lot and I help with the things I can do. I couldn't do it without them.

The truck is gonna look great.

I will post some more pics of the tins and cab this week

Thanks for looking

Shawn

 

Looks Great!

 

Keep the story going. I love how you have revamped the old work horse!

 

Looking good. I can't wait to see it back together.

 

Anxious to see the F100 fenders with those big tires...My '55 F100 has gobs of room, (especially since I moved the axle forward to center the wheel in the fenderwell!)

But I have 15" wheels and proportionate tires on it.

When you fit the fenders, take a side view shot of it, please. (I am curious to see if FoMoCo moved the axle back in the big trucks, like they did on the F100s.)

You guys are excellent, by the way...that metalwork is nicely finished. Very thorough.

 

Thanks for the kind words on the metalwork. I wish I had that much talent but when I weld it looks more like I used a torch the metalwork/welding credit all goes to fordf1trucknut! He's a great friend! If it wasn't for him and my dad I wouldn't have a clue what to do (I'm trying to learn though).

I will have a lot more pics to post as work progresses.

Shawn

 

Comin along nicely guys... i'll have to stop by and check it out sometime

 

Great looking 56! Keep up the good work!

 

Last weekend we got the double bowl master cylinder installed. The F350 and F100 must have different stock master cylinder mounting brackets because the conversion bracket we got needed cut and welded by trucknut to get the proper alignment with the brake pedal. My dad did most of the install. It turned out good!



On Saturday, my dad and I got the windshield and the rear glass installed





Tonight we got the fenders mounted up as well as the front valance. It looks so much better with the F100 fenders as opposed to the stock F350 fenders!







It's getting there! Hopefully tomorrow we can get the hood mounted up and maybe the doors and get everything lined up. I'll post some more pics as we get more done!

 

Nice. Can't wait to see it done

 

that's sweet don't see many hd builds on here

 

those fenders made a huge difference... lookin good

 

The truck is pretty much done!! We just have some minor things to do now. Saturday my dad pressure washed the 50 years worth of gunk living under the bed while i got the wheels cleaned up and painted. I painted the F350 emblems and the hood emblem and got those installed. Today my dad and I worked a few hours to get everything finished up. We got the frame and everything under the bed painted and I got the rear wheels mounted up. We also installed the new floor mat. I ordered some F100 side mirrors and installed them today. They will work pretty good for now.

The only thing left to do is redo the seat cover. We had a little issue with the retailer on seat foam thickness. They are sending us the correct foam and a new bottom seat cover. We had a few defects in the paint that my dad is sanding and buffing out and other than that its ready to roll!

Can't wait to drive it!

Here's a before and after pic of the truck (it hasn't been washed yet)

 

Very nice

 

wow... major improvements and looks awesome. now you just need to put some miles on that beast!

 

Nice truck!