My wife found this beauty on Craigslist for me. Headed out to take a look at it yesterday. It runs well and I couldn't find anything more than some light surface rust on the exhaust, transmission and some little sections of frame. I do have some concerns, but all in all I'm astonished that the truck is in this condition - considering my 1978 Bronco has about 20x more rust than this does. It's got a flathead straight 6 in there.

Anyway - your thoughts, input, etc. would be much appreciated. I know almost nothing about what I'm seeing here. There's an entire box of trim pieces in the cab, including the chrome "bars" that go on the side of the hood. It has no bed, but I kinda like it like that.

Now for some pictures.

























So what do you think? What's it worth as-is? Engine runs fine (although it ran out of gas in the driveway before I could drive it ).

What would you do with it?

 

The first comment I have is, man that is one ugly bumper!! You can find stock one fairly easy, they're all the same on F-4 through F-6. I see you're in CA, you've got to contact panelman51, he has a bunch of parts and should be able to set you up with a decent stock bumper.

Second, there are some considerations when dealing with the larger trucks. The first, most important one is the the wheels. You posted some really nice pictures of the truck and from what I can tell from the picture of the front right wheel you probably have Widow Makers. These have been discussed numerous times so I won't go into the problems but you can do a search of FTE and find all the post. Since at this time you only have 19 posts, you need 25, you won't be able to use the FTE search feature but you can do it with Google. Use the term "truckdog" that's Stu's FTE handle and he is the resident wheel expert:

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/8...ternative.html

Also, some parts are a little harder to find on the bigger trucks than on the small 1/2 and 3/4 ton trucks. Brake parts like shoes and drums are hard to find, no one reproduces them. You can find cylinders and hoses at a good parts store or Job Lot Auto in NY.

The F-4 is a nice choice, IMO, if you're looking for a bigger truck with rear dual wheels. The F-4 is lighter than the larger F-5 and F-6, one reason is the F-4 has a single wall frame, the larger trucks have a double walled frame which tends to cause severe rust problems between the walls.

Looks like a nice truck. Value depends a lot on location. A truck like that in my area, the upper midwest, would probably sell for at least $3000+. Good old iron is extremely hard to find.

 

That's a nice looking truck. I'd keep it stock, but put a wooden flatbed on the back.

Definitely change that front bumper though! Is that actually a rear bumper off of a van or truck?

 

Agreed, but take it easy on the fugly bumper, buddy! My '78 needs a new one. In all sincerity, that was my reaction to it, too. Nasty looking on this old beauty.

Interesting on the wheels. Since I'm ANYTHING but an expert on these old trucks, I'd never even heard of widowmaker wheels. Having read a few of the Google hits on them, I do understand they're a multi-piece design that can basically blow up if when they lose pressure unless they're structurally sound and perfectly installed. That said, I don't exactly know how to tell if they're widowmakers or not. I'll take a ton more pictures when I get back out there today and post them. How much money am I looking at to upgrade to a safe wheel design if they are, indeed, widowmakers? The tires on these things are shot anyway, so include the cost of the rubber if you would. I imagine I'll need to hit up a commercial tire & wheel company for these things since my local tire shop probably can't hack these.

I was thinking the same thing ... stakebed with some nice, stainless hardware. Yes, the bumper looks an awful lot like the 1980-1986 F-Series and E-Series front bumpers. I'll take more pics of that, too, just for chyts & giggles.

 

Welcome to the forum from Morgan Hill. Where in CA are you??

That is a nice looking truck with the bonus that you get to drive it a little in between projects.

Dan

 

Thanks for the welcome. I live in Riverside - about 370 miles southeast of you. I'm looking forward to driving this thing today. If it runs well, it's coming home with me. I need it operable, though, so if it's not running I'll pass along the lead to someone else.

 

Nice looking truck. I second what Bob said about the wheels and parts.

Looks like your truck has a hood from a 5 Star Deluxe truck based on the holes for the extra trim pieces. The windshield also appears to have the stainless steel trim, but the rest of the truck doesn't show any signs of it being a 5 Star Deluxe. The doors are from a standard truck. Looks like there might have been some parts swapping on this truck in the past. Also, did you check the Serial (VIN) tag to match the title and the frame?

I have several 51-52 front bumpers, but they're for F1-F3. Not sure if they'll fit the frame on your truck. I also have other parts if you need any.

Knowing what I know about these trucks and especially the cost to get the WMs replaced, I'd probably wouldn't pay any more than $2k for this truck. It'll cost you an easy $1500 to get the WMs replaced and then you still need to figure out what to do with the back of the truck. A used flatbed in good condition will probably run another $500-1k. I'm not trying to discourage you. I'm just stating my thought process.

However, to each his own and no one else's opinion matters if you like the truck.

Here's a picture of what your hood moldings should look like.

 

Thanks for your input. Your comments are exposing my ignorance, though... I do have a lot of trim pieces in the cab, but I think it's just the bar in the middle, not the "swooping C-shape" that surrounds it in your picture. I'll get more photos of that.

I'm not overly concerned with the prior parts swapping, provided they look ok. This won't become a showroom beauty on my dime. I just want to restore it a bit, make it pleasing to look at (which won't take much) and make sure it's reliable.

Help me with the VIN tag issue - where should I be looking for these? I do have the VIN (good or bad idea to post that here?) but don't know what to look for on this.

I'd love to take a look at a bumper for it. Where are you? As previously stated, I'm in Riverside, but that was while you were typing up your reply!

 

What the panelman said, the bigger trucks are more to drive and maintain than the smaller trucks. As long as you realize that the truck should work out fine for you.

As for the wheels, look on the inside concave side and look to see if there is a 1 1/2" band running the circumference of the wheel. If there is then it's a WM. Truckdog has posted a lot of very good pictures of WMs in his many of his post. If you can bring up some of his posts. At this point you have 21 post, post 4 more and you can use the search feature of the FTE site. Here's a link to a page on my web site that Stu and I have worked on with information you need to know about the WMs, sorry I forgot about when I did my first posts:

Ford two piece rims

Ilya, the bumpers from he smaller trucks will not work on the F-4 and up trucks. The mounting is different and they'd look funny because they're thinner lengthwise and too light weight for the bigger trucks. I have a F-4 and up bumper on my F-2 because I had a couple laying around and I also liked the beefier look on the truck. I had to modify the mounting brackets on the bumper to bolt it onto my F-2.

 

I also wanted to add Stu talked to, I think, American Wheel in WA, they sell through a tire store chain on the west coast, Schwabb? They'll take the centers of your WMs and install them into new rims. Stockton Wheel in CA will also do them, or at least they used to but there's been a death in the family and the company has changed ownership so I'm not sure what is going on with them but it wouldn't hurt to check with either of these places. Again, Stu has all the information in many of his posts.

 

Good info. I actually had that window open but have been reading all the other Google hits. The photo and info you posted should help. I'll look at it closely when I get there today.

 

Nice... I was just looking for a website for American Wheel but can't find one. Everything wants me to click on American Racing Wheels which is obviously totally different. I'll have to just call them and see what the story is.

 

I can't tell from your pictures whether your wheels are WMs. If the light colored outer rim is just painted on the rim, rather than a separate piece then they are WMs. Since the truck is a dual rear wheel model you probably have 18" wheels and tires. Even if the wheels are not WMs, finding 18" truck tires will be a challenge.

To do your Google search you might have better luck using my full user name. You can also Google the technical term, Firestone RH-5°, and read about them.

The best replacement, IMHO, is a one piece 19.5" x 6" wheel. These were also made in a 5.25" width. These were used on many '70s era motor homes. They are a Budd product having the part number 72070 for the 5.25" and 89340 for the 6". Our member Josh Madsen has a set of these for sale. He lives in the Salt Lake City area. They also show up on Craig's List, but seem to find new homes fairly quickly. One set I was gonna link for you I now see is sold.

It's a real nice looking truck. Good luck with it. Stu

Edit - If you want custom wheels, American Wheel Specialist in Pasco, WA, is the wholesaler for the huge Les Schwab Tire chain. Since you live in CA you'd have to work through your local Schwab. Also Stockton Wheel does these, but the technique used is different that used at AWS. AWS doesn't have a web page. Stu

 

Thanks, Stu. I've found a thousand posts on these things - about 800 of them are from you or Bob.

I'm reading (or mucking, anyway) my way through them. I don't "speak tire" so I'm learning as I go. Would it be safe to say that a reputable commercial tire place would be able to help me out with this?

 

I have a set of the 19.5" on my F-4. I was able to find them after posting an ad on line looking for RV wheels. I actually found two sets within two weeks, I bought both and sold one to recoup the cost for gas and all the wheels.

One piece of advice I offer is your WMs, if what you have are WMs, are worth something. If you can find a junk RV. In both instances I swap out four WMs for six tubeless wheels so the owners could drag the RVs to the scrap yard.

If you go the tire store route I doubt if many will help. The Shwab stores seem like the only places that deal with this type of wheel. If they can't or won't help your best bet would be to go to a place that deals with trucks.

Stu, you kind of disappoint me, by now I'd thought you'd be able to sniff your monitor and tell if they were WMs or not