Hey Dano,
You did a ton of suspension work!!!!!! It looks great. I think you'll be happy you took the time to center that front axle - it just looks better. Excellent write up & photos! You have been busy while you were away!!!!

So... Are you back on the road?

Ben in Austin
1950 F1

 

Thanks Ben! Yeah pretty much my year in review there... lol It was alot of work, but WELL worth it. Yeah the truck still is up and running. It's kinda buried at the moment as I've got my '78 F150 Supercab torn apart for some minor repairs.
Only have two things on the '56 that need address. The charging system is just not putting out enough amps at idle. Just at idle. Increase in RPM and it catches up. Not sure what to do with that. It has a 100A alternator, Ford style externally regulated. The other issue is a more permanent and certified fix to the steering arm I welded up. I've been watching it, hasn't given me any reason to worry, but you know... murphy's law..

And i could REALLY use some used bed wood. Don't wanna buy new yet, not till i get close to painting it. My wood is wasted. Rotted bad.

 

Very nice job. I enjoyed reading through.

 

Looks great, liked the sway bar install

 

Hi i just finished reading your thred I enjoyed it a lot and learned a lot so allow me to congratulate you on a job will done. Regarding your alternator issue did you consider changing the alternator bully to a smaller one which will make it spin faster resulting in more power at idel
Looking forward to see your progress and the finished truck
By the way I just started disassembling my 56 F100 and I'm now trying to install MII front end

 

I missed all these updates back in January...truck is looking great! As always, we appreciate your detailed write ups. Thank you!

I will probably have to deal with bump steer eventually, so it's good to see somebody going through it ... I also wasn't sold on a front sway bar, by may consider it now .

 

Looking real nice and I love the detail you put into the truck and also into this thread. I have a 56 that I am also running a 390 / C6 in. Well, truth be told running is a bit of an exaggeration, the truck went through hurricane Ike while I had the hood off getting painted. Flooded the engine with rain down the intake. So after moving to Oregon and rebuilding a car for my son, I now have time to get back to my project. one thing I am looking to do is improve the cooling. I was considering the alluminum radiator you put in your truck. Do you like it now that you have dual fans, and do you remember what radiator hose you used?

 

awesome, its great to see progress

 

Sorry I've been a bit of a ghost around here lately. Seems life takes away from playtime these days. Glad to hear your back on your project. What part of Oregon did you move to?


Anyways to answer your question, YES. The Dual fans were a HUGE improvement. Now it will sit in traffic no problem holding at 190* give or take on a hot day. However, now its just getting the charging system to keep up with the fans at idle. I installed a 100A alternator, factory Ford 1G case as nothing else will fit on the FE in the stock location. All the other Hybrid and GM cases are too long and hit the cyl head. SO... It charges, however still not well at idle. If you come up off idle, it picks right up. So survey says... the alternator isn't spinning fast enough at idle. So I picked up a few overdrive pulleys for the alternator through Summit. I've got the Powermaster pulley on it now which isn't the smallest one I bought. The March pulley is just a bit smaller but isn't chrome, but rather billet so it didn't match my alternator exactly (its Chrome). Now it seems to be charging at idle with the smaller Powermaster pulley. In drive, not sure yet as I have the front spindle tore off of it. But it will be going back on here soon.
As for the hoses, the lower I believe was from a Ford Super Duty Napa #8092. Now I whacked and whittled it down to fit as it's a lot larger and longer but it had the curves I needed to snake it around the power steering belt and clear the cross member I left in that I should have removed (the y-block front mount x-member). Also had to use a bushing/sleeve Gates#26392 to bush the lower radiator snout up to the hose size. Hose fit fine onto the waterpump without a bushing/sleeve. The upper hose I believe was from a 92-96 F150 w5.8L Gates# L-1034.
The radiator I used was a Champion Aluminum stock replacement type (driver lower outlet, centered upper inlet) 3-row radiator, 1/2" cores. They offered a 4-row, but it was $$$ more. Not sure if that would have done any better or not anyways. The dual fans and better coverage from them made a huge difference.

 

Well as said in the above reply, had some troubles with the charging system and my 100A alternator. Seems as the FE belt system just doesn't spin fast until you come up off idle. So I went on a search and found 3 overdrive pulleys at Summit and decided to get all three for experimentation purposes.
Here is the Powermaster #110 installed on my 100A Ford 1G externally regulated alternator.



I also purchased 2 others, a Tuff Stuff performance and March Performance pulley. Stock OD pulley on the left. Quite a size difference. The Powermaster's box is in the upper right.



The Powermaster being the largest of the three, figured I'd start there first. At this point it seems to now be charging 13-13.5v, fans running with lights on at idle. A far improvement over barely 12.5v with just the fans running and no lights. Sub 12v numbers with the lights on too. Still need to check it in 'drive' but cant at the moment as I have the driver front spindle tore off for repairs.
So far, happy with what I see and still a couple slightly smaller pulleys at my disposal.

 

Great thread! There's a ton of information here. My problem is, trying to read it all during work breaks.

 

Thanks! Well that's why I do it. Try to pass along as much info as I trip across to whoever can use it. Makes life a little easier for the next guy... at least I hope!




Well got my spindle back and my weld job checks out good. So its all set and ready to go. Figured I'd snap a few more pics of it up against a stock spindle and arm to better illustrate what I did, with it out of the truck.




Here is reinstalled, it's a tight fit. About as close as I can get that arm to fit without hitting the I-beam. Doesn't touch, even when dry-steered on the ground.






Now just need to button up a couple things and go take it out for a test run!

 

Just keep telling yourself the headaches are part of the fun of an old truck. Great thread

 

Great thread. I look forward to working out the bugs someday on mine..

 

Thanks! Yep, headaches are all part of the battle. But its enjoying the victory after those battles! Here's a few shots of the truck mid-July at my girlfriend's house. I did a couple of pics in a 'vintage' appearance and man... it looks convincing as if it was sitting on a front lawn in 1973!