I am going to buy a 68 f850 superduty dumptruck with a 477. I was looking for more info on it and if there is any professional place to buy parts for the truck and especially the engine. I know there's eBay and other random sites but anybody reputable.

 

You will probably be better off posting this in the heavy truck forum.

 

Ford used the term "superduty" that far back?

 

Moved to the large truck forum.

 

Ya I think they used the name back in the 50s too

 

'Super Duty' referred to the large block 401/477/534 gasoline V-8's that were made from 1958 to 1981.

 

As Louisville Joe correctly mentioned, the 477 is part of the 401 thru 534 family which have many interchangeable parts. One of the later versions, but lesser known, was the 475. The refined '77 thru '81 versions of the 475 was a brute. So include the 475 in your searches also.

 

That's right, there was a 475 as well. The 475 was interesting, it was really a 477 intended for the F-800 to make it more competitive against a certain brand X truck who's 427 made a lot more power than the FT-391. Problem was the 475 was only rated at 200 h.p./338 ft. lbs., better than the 391 but still short of the competitor's 220 h.p./360 ft. lbs.. To make matters worse, the 475 ate a lot more gasoline than either the 391 or 427. The real solution for Ford was the truck Lima 429, which was competitive with the 427 and eventually replaced all the Super Duty V-8's. The 475 was dropped at the end of the '79 model year, the 534's lasted in the C and L series until 1981. VERY few were sold in the final years.

As for parts, not much is out there anymore. Tune-up parts, gaskets and water pumps seem to still be around, anything else may require some searching. The Super Duty's have been gone a long time and they were not related to any other Ford V-8, although the design is somewhat similar to the MEL's

 

Joe when I was a kid I drove this new 1964 534 5x4 for ten years. And
it went another 10 or more yrs after I left. I cant remember anything
other than tires tune ups filters lots of polish & wax. He also had two new
"gutless V6 Cummins" ugg. But my truck usually loaded pulling a trailer
with a dozer on it; 534 didnt care Im passing them Macks loaded on
hills like butter. Who cared at .29-.30 cents a gallon.
Example; a 15yd load delivered was about $25: X 10 loads a day=$250
plus $20 hr dozer X 8hrs = $160
gross $410 8hrs
-$100 fuel
__________
tot $310 per day $1860 6 day wk
thats just one truck not to say about cheap ins, no cdls no bull crap back
then. Oh yea, no. plates about $20 bucks a year. then a truck was a truck
not by the weight baloneie.... thats what I remember... Im just sayin
sam

 

fine looking truck there. There is one similar for sale near me right now. If I go by there I will snap a pic. It is for sale.

 

Your timing is off: The Fors Super Duties were introduced in the late 50's to compete with the large International V8 gas engines. The Chevy / GMC had the 348 W block and optional Buick / Pontiac engines, but no real gasoline V8 truck engines.

The 427 Chevy big block engines didn't come out until the mid sixties, by which time heavy trucks were well on the way to Dieselization.

The 427 Chevy is also a modified car engine, and doesn't have the durability of a Super Duty Ford.

The later Super Duty incarnations were emission driven derivatives of the initial design. Unfortunately, the combustion chamber concept was not emission friendly. In the end, high gas prices, low production volumes as fleets switched to Diesel, and the outmoded (for emissions) combustion concept killed the family

 

You are right, but I was talking specifically about the 475 version of the 477 that came out around 1974. The Super Duty's were intended for heavy trucks, but the 475 was supposed to be a higher powered engine for medium duty F series truck.

GMC didn't have a heavy duty gasoline V-8, but their V-6 family that came out in 1960 was very competitive, particularly the 478 V-6, 637 V-8, and 702 V-12. The 702's were about as powerful as a gasoline truck engine ever got outside of a Hall-Scott.

The cylinder head design of the Super Duty was indeed a problem as time went on. I remember talking to a Ford engineer after the 534 was dropped and he told me that they had to retard the timing and lower the compression ratio so much on the 534 that it was only slightly more powerful that the Lima 429 but much less efficient!

 

Thanks for posting the neat photo of truck in its prime. I agree, the 429 was the solution to the 427. Very comparable performance, however, they are both not as durable as the Super Duty's that were older heavier chunks of iron, similar to 50's and 60's IH and GMC engines. Super Duties were designed for long term durability, not fuel efficiency or maximum power output. One example, the 475-477 weighs in at 1215 lbs vs. 850 lbs for the GM 427. Here some more details on the new "475" introduced in 1977.

 

Now THAT'S a right purty old truck!