Hi All-
Finally picked up a 1965 F100 after years of drooling over them. Ran the tag number off the door and it comes up with something else than the previous owner told me. Im hoping someone may be able to shed some light on the situation for me. The issues Im having are the wheel base, trans, and axle code. The owner told me that it was an f250 from California and was originally a utility truck. It's 4 speed, straight 6 and a long bed that was cut down to fit. Second hand knowledge said it had some sort of utility bed on it which would make sense with the weird wheel base. The front wheels are also 6 lug (5 lug, my bad) and the rears wheels are 8 lug, any ideas on this? Why would the from an rear wheels be different patterns? Seems like a hassle for a spare tire.

Thanks!
Kelly

Vin# F11BR685354

1965 F100 (4 wheel drive) 300 CID from San Jose CA built in August 1964

Wheel base 120 -Cant find this anywhere?
Color A
Model F110
Body N81
Trans N -No Idea?
Axle 09 -Ratio?

GVW 5600
HP 150
RPM 3600
DSO 71

 

This is your problem. It is common for the original door to get hit in an accident, and replaced, but the original Warranty Plate is not transferred. The Warranty Plate you have now appears to be from the donor door, not your truck originally.

You should immediately find the frame VIN and do some comparison. This VIN is stamped on the upper passenger side frame rail about in line with the front of the engine. If you need to clean it off to see the VIN (it is a faint stamping), use a wire brush, not a grinder.
It is very important that the frame VIN match the title. It is the VIN the state patrol or DMV uses to identify the truck. They are not supposed to use the Warranty Plate, although they sometimes do.

The frame VIN will tell you the series of truck, the engine, the assembly plant, and the serial production number, which will tell you the month of manufacture.
All other information specific to your truck would have been on the lost Warranty Plate.

Best of luck to you.

There have been some major aftermarket changes to your truck not reflected in the door's Warranty Plate. I would make sure the title matches the truck, though, before putting any money into it.

The 8 lug rear axle fits the F250 designation.
6 lug wheels in the front seems to indicate a front suspension not normally found in F-100/250 series trucks.

 

I won't get a chance to crawl under it till sunday so Ill report back what I find then. Ill look at the front and rear ends to see if I can find any tags also. Thanks

 

VIN stamped on Warranty Plate known as the Warranty Number. FoMoCo said it was not for title or registration purposes (see pic below). One reason why:

People replaced damaged left doors with used doors. 99.9% of the time, they failed to install the original Warranty Plates on the replaced doors.

F100's have 5 lug wheels on a 5.50" bolt circle. F250's have 8 lug wheels on a 6.50" bolt circle. F250's were only available with 8' beds.

The only factory 4WD trucks that I'm aware of that have 6 lug wheels were made by Dodge & Studebaker.

I don't know diddly-do about Dodge's, but I have some Studebaker truck experience as I've owned two of them.

IMO, you bought a 1965 F100 4WD "Frankenstein Monster" with parts swapped from gawd only knows what.

It would be extremely unlikely that the above F100 4WD Warranty Plate replaced a 1965 F250 4WD Warranty Plate.

Most people haven't a single clue how to decode Warranty Plates, which would be necessary in order to swap 'em around.

* Do not believe a single word that private sellers claim, as they lie just like used/new car dealers, lawyers, politicians and TV evangelists.

Do not believe the miles shown on the odometer, as it reads to 99999.9 then returns to ZERO!

Pics from 1964/72 Ford Truck Parts Catalog:

Left: Parts catalog example of 1964/65 US Warranty Plate / Right (lower): Styleside bed: 1957/60 F100/350 - 1961/65 F100/250 4WD - 1961/66 F350 - 1962/63 F100/250 2WD - 1966 F250 4WD

 

Bill, there's also a ton of Chevy/GMC 4x4's out there with 6 lug wheels.
I think they started with factory 4x4 in '56 for the GMCs and '57 for Chevys. These were built with Napco parts on the GM assembly lines. The first all GM 4x4's were in '60.
As far as I know, 1/2 GM 4x4's still have 6 lug wheels today.

 

Update:
The VIN I found on the front frame matches the warranty plate on the drivers side door exactly but I still have some unanswered questions.
I've got a 5 lug front axle and an 8 lug rear axle
The wheel base on the warranty plate says 120 but everything I've read says 115 or 129. The owner before me stated that he cut down the bed to fit on the odd wheel base.

 

A previous owner swapped the rear axle, it's probably from an F250 since it has 8 lug wheels.

The 120" wheelbase is not odd, because...

120" wheelbase specific to 1961/65 F100 4WD's. 1965 F100 2WD's and 1966 F100 4WD's w/a 6 3/4' bed have a 115" wheelbase. 1965/66 F100/250 2WD's with an 8' bed have a 129" wheelbase.

1961/65 F100/250 4WD's, 1966 F250 4WD's use the 1957/60 Styleside beds. Called the "wrong" bed by enthusiasts, because the bed lines don't match the cab lines.

1966 F100 4WD's have coil spring front suspension, use the same cab and Styleside beds as 1965/66 F100/250 2WD's.

Haven't seen a pic, but if a Styleside bed was cut down to fit the 120" wheelbase, it was probably an 8' bed from a 1964/66 F100/250 2WD/1966 F100 4WD w/a 129" wheelbase.

Left pic: 1964/66 F100/250 2WD & 1966 F100 4WD Styleside bed / Right (lower) pic: "Wrong" Styleside bed.

 

Im terrified to try and put the truck in 4wd since the front and rear axles are from different trucks. Is there any way to tell the ratio on the axles by looking at them? Will there be some code stamped on them to let me know the ratio? When you look at the warranty plate it has no second axle code listed for the front, there is just a rivet in the spot where a second axle code may be.

 

Spicer/Dana front axle ID tag located under two of the bolts that retains the inspection cover to the housing. Don't be surprised if it's missing.

Look on the axle tubes for a stamped ID number, could be either 7 or 8 digits, like this: 603010-1 or 603010-11

3rd digit of the Warranty Plate AXLE code refers to the front axle, but not all 4WD's after 1963 have this 3rd digit. None after 1979.