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Welcome all to an east coast relic with a neat history and some rust, but being overall in good condition. List of things it was missing or did not come with from factory: passenger sun visor, heater, radio, dome light, spare tire, horn, side door access panel and it's down a wiper. I have recently acquired an original side door access panel same color (Glade Green).
This is where it sat for 5 or 7 years before I rescued it giving it hope and a cleaning, not sure which it needed more. Yes i'm still cleaning it!
Story of the truck, worked for the state of New Jersey state hospital Trenton from 1950-1960 hauling garbage since it is equipped with a Hercules mason dump (6.5' x 10') as the logo on the doors tell, also the wallet and ID left behind in the glove box by the brave soul who manned it (rest his poor soul).
Then in 1960 it was put into auction with maybe 20-40 thousand miles, who knows but it's current millage is 73,081.1 (hopefully soon to be climbing again). It was bought by a farm up in west Windsor (not far from Trenton) that back in the day as I was told was very large but is now only about 10 acres or so (fourth generation farm now). There it was used to haul rocks off the property and grain into the silos (That's why the dump is all built up 6 or 7 ft) and much more as on a farm anything and everything needs to be hauled around and haul it did, that's probably the last thing it did since it's still in low gear. Now from what I understand it's a 2 ton truck meaning don't put more than 2 tons on the frame but I believe it can haul max 16,000 or 14,000 (maybe because the dump bed ways a ton?) and the owners son told me he would put 6 or 7 tons of grain in the back and it held up.
Fast-forward to March 24, 2014 which is the date I rescued it from the cold clutches of the creepy clawing carnivorous scrap yard that it would have went dragging it's hind wheels like a... like a... well you get the point.
So now it lives in my driveway and regularly sees the light of day .
Without the wooden structure all built-up on the back dump.
Please pay no attention to the ford exploder short trac that somehow got in the pictures
Here's more pictures of the truck (and my dog) to lure you in if your not already hooked.
I think they dropped a big rock or two on the roof which would explain the dent and broken glass.
Looking down.
Looking left.
looking out.
looking right.
Toby just being stupid (he can't help it ).
Now i'm slowly tearing it down into all it's basic components down to the frame and I have all of the body pieces in the garage on one side and the frame of the truck on the other side with the dump bed off. Reason for taking the dump bed off was that the bolts needed to be replaced, at least 2 out of 8 but also corrosion between the frame and wood cushion strips. It didn't make it by like 2 inches when we pushed it in with the dump bed on so taking it off allowed it to fit by an inch or two. Also made it much easier to work on now that i'm beginning the painting process (POR-15) on the frame which will be classic chassis black and for the transmission drive line and other parts underneath. For the engine and back differential I found that ford Thunderbird red seemed to complement the semi-gloss black. Now that winters coming I got to heat the garage to keep making progress and such (not sure how i'm going to do that) but i'm doing the brake system all new, the wiring harness (12 volt), new fuel system including gas tank (gas tank would have been fine if they didn't leave gas in it for 5 or 7 years), new interior, all glass windows, all new rubber weather seals, maybe some gaskets, and eventually some new tires since I got 4 different treads and one re-tread. Whew, sorry if you don't like reading a lot here's some more pictures!
semi-flat black and ford Thunderbird red.
Don't worry it didn't stay outside too long like this.
I could see a nice stained board of wood running down the side of the dump.
The rust also tells where the body is from.
Mud flaps were dry rotted when I touched them and they fell off.
Tag says capacity is 3 cubic yards.
Guess this was truck 45 or department 45 or just 45.
There was a family of dead mice in the glove box also one in the seat (I think he was the bread winner).
Glade green or Meadow green sure looked nice. I got plans to clear coat it, like a rust-oration.
Passenger side door is ok but driver's side is sloppy.
Was the fire wall made with asbestos? Either way it smelt like the rest of the truck so I chucked it.
Floors pretty solid but I think i'll reinforce it with mat fiberglass underneath with the help of POR-15.
Ripped all the old cushion off the seat, interior was all tan before.
Think i'll keep the aftermarket blinkers.
Had to finish disassembling these pieces to make room for the truck's frame so here's some pictures of them on the other side of the garage.
Here is the dump bed all blocked up off the frame. I also winterized the dump bed with two layers of tarp, and it's on a pitch to let the water drain out.
Yes these are genuine widow makers! (Want to trade?).
Tires look cozy (hope they don't explode this winter).
This is the stage i'm at now with the frame inside the garage where (hopefully) I can do some body work to straiten out this really thick metal. Also if your guys have any suggestions to fixing the corrosion problems theses trucks are prone to between the inner frame where it's really hard to get at would be appreciated. Anyone know where to get replacement U-bolts? More questions to follow after this batch of pictures.
Literally just makes it!
Had to drill out two bolt studs for the manifold as they were cracked off in the block.
This side was thrown out of alignment, maybe he hooked the wheels on this side with a load in the bed?
This side was in alignment but the U-bolts were in bad shape compared to the nearly perfect U-bolts on the other side.
Leaf springs in alignment.
Leaf springs out of alignment.
U-bolt corrosion.
Pulled theses out of the axle.
Guess this be where the spare once lived judging by the odd hook thing. Seems to me that the only way this could have been done as nice'n bent and wavy as it is, would mean doing (well i'm no expert but to do it right the first time and achieve despairing the rear) about 10-15 mph into your barn wall or farm equipment to achieve this grade of a ripple (Again i'm no expert but i'd have to give it an A+ due to it's waviness).
Bearings, rollers and such.
Getting the wheels off was an 1-1/2" socket but for the front drums the nut that holds on the bearings and drums was an inch, so when I finally got to the rear drums I found a lovely 3" nut with a lock washer and behind it another nut to take off.
Deep socket set that was needed for the back tires and a square socket for the inner tire's lugs.
Harbor fright socket set 1-5/8" - 3-1/8" weighs like 80-100 pounds.
Here lies the wrench used to take off the tires as you can see it's taken some abuse.
So the U-bolts are near the top of my list next to brake shoes front and back as well as drums (not sure if mine have enough meat on them to resurface). Figured I would take the rims to All American Tires when it's time to get on the road with a load. Went to Hersey Pennsylvania's fall swap meet to find this problem child which, probably is the hardest part to find but most important to the survival of this truck... would be none other than the exhaust manifold since mine is shot and not repairable (Looks like previous owner tried taking it off to replace but messed it up even further cracking cylinder 1's exhaust pipe). I believe the flat 6 226 and 254 are pretty similar and as headers go they aren't available as of now, but if and when Reds headers makes a set I will buy one. Hurry up Red!
Thanks for the pics, the truck is way above average for an east coast truck.
this should be an easy one. The dump body tells it all; truck had an easy
life especially hauling hospitol papers and carboard rather than sloppy
loader operators dumping rocks on the roof and hood....
Welcome Dan! Excellent post - very complete and well shown. While you have some alignment issues, the rust seems remarkably minimal. Good to have you aboard and glad that you're rescuing worthy old iron.
Wow, thanks and reps for such a great first post. U bolts and center bolts are available. Google or other search engine. Those large truck fenders should be no trouble to find. Much easier, less time consuming than repairing yours. Manifolds are available but bring hefty $$$s. A header may be the way to go. Yeah, a split manifold and dual exhaust. Keep us abreast of your progress. Welcome to the forum. Be aware, we are enablers.
BTW, love the yellow Bird.
Best first post ever!!! Keep us up on your progress.
I had U-bolts made for my rear. I called a local machine shop and they pointed me to the place to get them made. It is a big truck repair shop in my town. Actually they couldn't have made the u-bolts any narrower. The same place also made my 00 gauge battery cables. Hopefully you have something similar nearby. shipping on heavy stuff gets pricey.
The wavy rear crossmembers are bent like that due to it being stuck and pulled out or pulling out something that was stuck. A chain would have been looped around the crossmember as it is easily accessible to reach under the truck.
Welcome and nice truck! I was wondering what color green that was. The cab I just picked up was that color too. Then it was kinda pinkish red and finally yellow.You are making some good progress, keep it up.
Hey Dan where on the east coast are you located? I have a spare tire mount for an f4 if you're interested. I think I remember seeing that truck on Craigslist before.
11-09-2014, 12:11 AM
that it would have went dragging it's hind wheels like a... like a... well you get the point. 
.
).
Seems to me that the only way this could have been done as nice'n bent and wavy as it is, would mean doing (well i'm no expert but to do it right the first time and achieve despairing the rear) about 10-15 mph into your barn wall or farm equipment to achieve this grade of a ripple (Again i'm no expert but i'd have to give it an A+ due to it's waviness).
the U-bolts are near the top of my list next to brake shoes front and back as well as drums (not sure if mine have enough meat on them to resurface). Figured I would take the rims to All American Tires when it's time to get on the road with a load. Went to Hersey Pennsylvania's fall swap meet to find this problem child which, probably is the hardest part to find but most important to the survival of this truck... would be none other than the exhaust manifold since mine is shot and not repairable (Looks like previous owner tried taking it off to replace but messed it up even further cracking cylinder 1's exhaust pipe). I believe the flat 6 226 and 254 are pretty similar and as headers go they aren't available as of now, but if and when Reds headers makes a set I will buy one. Hurry up Red! 
