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Fixed this problem this week. A PO installed the passenger side bracket that the fender mounts to a little low and forward of the original position. I should have fitted the fenders before final paint and assembly. The fender on this side was about 1/2" low and since it mounts to the bottom of the bracket I could not shim it up. I have the front end off to rebuild the engine, tranny, and front suspensions so I went ahead and cut this bracket off, repositioned it and weld it back on. Now to see if the fender fits properly.
Wish I had a picture but I don't. PO welded a piece of long hex onto the center of the rear drivers side wheel hub. Looks to me like he used that as a PTO shaft to drive a water pump or something similar probably by jacking the rear up and setting the rear end onto something. My bottom drain plug on the rear diff is almost flat like it had been sitting on something a lot.
Well so far (haven't had the truck long) the worst PO move was to fill the cab corners with spray foam instead of actual metal. My "rust free" truck seems to be a lil more "rust full" the more I dig into it.
These are small complaints, but I am not sure why my PO cut a hole in firewall and perfectly good glove box insert. Heater fresh air hose? They also managed to chip away at part of the Vin tag.
They also "touched up" about 25% of the truck with brushed on black paint. It is a 49 F2. It was definitely a farm truck. The color matches well so I may just live with it an try to wet sand some of it a bit.
... Dug into my latest gem and found more interesting, but non essential updates.
....Two things to notice in the first two pics: the gaping hole in the firewall and those hot wires rubbing on the throttle linkage......
...And those wires have been taped up/repaired. Must have been sort of exciting when the sparks flew.....
...And the hole... easiest way to install a hand throttle.......
....Neatly bolted to the bottom of the dash....
....Now, just why do you need a hand throttle installed when the factory already did that?
... That's because you need that hole for a new ignition switch......
....And why a new ignition switch? ... because the key was broken off in the old one.....
....Which has nothing to do with the ignition anyways....... I just had to check the stock ignition switch to see if was still good or dead... It was ... dead...
That's about the only thing that would save this guy from the firing squad......
..And fortunately the column was not locked. So I could steer it to load it....
Stan. ...............
...And more..... We have all used a bungee strap to hold things in place... But how many here have punched a hole in a perfectly good part to secure it.....
Stan. ...............
Wow! That is mindblowingly bad! I feel good about my work after seeing that!
I like this thread. I noticed it had been sitting dormant for a few years before being revived.
Truck is a 1955 F250.
The PO of my truck said many things so I can not be certain how long he had the truck and how many others owned it before him. Some of the small customizations included:
He said he "restored" it about 10 years ago....
When someone changed the axles to F100 axles from a 1957 F100 they welded the two tie rods together in the middle. Considering how worn out the kings pins were I can only imagine it was driven this way for a long time.
12 volt conversion was done but still positive ground...
The wiper "system" was installed but only the driver side linkage was there and it only moved about half as far as it should have because the drive arm on the wiper motor had been shortened. When I lengthened the arm I found out why they shortened it, the arm could not even go around all the way because it was hitting the cross brace and if it did get around it would cam around on the wiper end and jam into the cab. It was the wrong motor and mounted at the wrong orientation.
Once I replaced the axles and put disc brakes on the front I was able to start driving it. This is when ALL the paint on the intake and the grease used to seal the valve covers burnt off which smelled awful for weeks.
The rear farm bumper had braces welded to it and to the box neither of which were really attached to the frame. When I first cut the braces off the bumper came loose.
The original timing bracket was missing and a piece of wire wrapped around a bolt was installed in its place.
There must have been water collecting on the floor of the cab. Instead of investigating they bypassed the heater core. The water was most likely leaking thru the antenna hole that that they made with some sort of stabbing action.
There had once been something welded to the back of the frame and then torched off again.
The dash has big 2" gauge holes cut like the previous picture here all the way over to the ash tray.
The restoration also included a paint job where EVERYTHING visible was painted THE SAME COLOUR but nothing on the underside so it is all surface rust underneath. Then for parts he wanted black he painted over the blue...
I am still super happy with the truck though, it gets slightly better everytime I fix something on it.
Funny my second post is about what the PO did wrong...hopefully the next guy who gets this doesn't do the same. Bought my 53 knowing it had a Big Block Chevy, not knowing it was from a Cadillac and was Front Wheel Drive. Not sure if I want to get rid of it or find someone that can reverse engineer to make it RWD again.
In the early seventies I bought a 1950 F 1 from my dad. Good looking truck no rust flathead v8. I took the engine and put it in a 50 ford car. Installed a 327 in the truck. Decided to repainted. I found the front end sheet metal was welded together didn't need bolts and the rear fenders were welded to the bed. I sold it like that minus the engine. It was a really neat job of welding you couldn't tell except by very close inspection.
Elmo
04-04-2016, 11:58 PM
