1952 f6 coming from Nebraska





I figured I better learn to load pictures and start documenting my slooooow moving restoration. This is a 57 up ''block letter'' bed that I have cut, ground,welded,and hammered into submission . Just about got the sideboards mocked up and next comes the floor boards all white oak.

 

The stake racks look great, as does the truck. So we need some more pics of it.

But what happened to the Omaha Standard bed?

 

Hi Abe, The grain bed is dismantled and setting behind the chicken houses..That thing is a heavy beast compared to the ford stake bed, I kept the channel iron runners from it on the truck and with a little modification the stake bed slipped right on there so I got a stake bed dump .The thing about the grain bed is they clipped about 12-14'' of the frame ends so the when the bed pivots the chute is close to the ground .the ford bed is a foot shorter so I hope the bed is stable and does'nt hop around . Abe it's also your favorite color!

 

I didn't notice that. It's really faded, isn't it.

Do you still have the 56? I like that truck.

 

Yeah, it's faded but I like to find them wearing original paint, the old truck has some good bones very little rust to patch the hood is the worst piece,a lot of stress cracks and oil cans. My plan is either a 300 big six or a 351w mated to the t98 with a bendtsens adapter bell housing kit .It's tempting to go with a zf5 tranny cause the Bendtsens kit is gonna be nearly as costly as a zf5. I,m a little uneasy doing the zf5 setting up the hydraulic clutch and getting pedal ratio right would be a first for me . I still got the 56, she's patiently waiting her turn for a make over but I drive her just like she is.

 

Nice looking work on the Flatbed Rails!

 

Hey Alan, good to see you posting photos of your truck. The side boards are coming along nicely! How are you fastening the crossmembers of the script bed to the channel hoist rails? When the original owner of my truck had a hoist installed on my truck in 1950, they welded all of the crossmembers to the hoist channel subframe. The crossmembers were broken at every place where they welded them to the channel. I had to patch every crossmember where it was welded, so I bolted the channel and crossmembers together. I believe welding everything together made it too ridged, so instead of being allowed to twist and flex, every weld was fatigue cracked or broken. I checked the side boards on my truck and some are oak, maple, poplar and maybe even pine. The one partial floor board that I saved for a pattern was maple. I used white oak and post oak for my floor. I like the Cabot's Australian Timber Oil that I used on it. I coated the floor pretty liberally all over top and bottom before I bolted them in place. My floor would be the same as yours except for length. I could post some measurements of the rabbets, board width and grooves for skid strips if you need them.
Mark

 

Mark, I think your hoist has a true subframe which is probably a lot more rigid than mine. I've been looking at pictures of other grain bed trucks and a lot have a simple set up using the truck frame to pivot off of. Mine has 2 telescopic cylinders on the outside of the frame .To get the stake bed to fit over the channel iron I had some 3/16'' plate cut as spacers on each side sandwiched between lift brackets and channels some of the stake bed brackets had to be cut shorter to clear the lift brackets. so all my ford bed brackets are bolted to the channels rather than wood runners .I can pick up the front corners of the bed and it seems to give a little ,time will tell if it holds up. I hope to have my floor wood soon and yes thank you the wood drawings would be helpful.

 

Mark did you get my PM from Sunday?

 

Alan, I have a Dr appointment today , so I will try to make some sketches of the floor profile for you tomorrow and post them here. I didn't receive a PM from you on Sunday.
Mark

 

 

Alan, Here is the sketch of the end profile of the floor boards for the script bed. I am also adding some photos of my floor to help explain the sketch.





Note that you will need to knotch the boards for the front stake pockets. Also note, when you cut your floor boards to length, be sure that they aren't too long to allow the front stakes to fit the pockets. I made my boards about 1/16" too long and had to use a chisel to remove some wood from the board end in each pocket so that my stakes would fit.
Mark

 

Thanks Mark, Thats very helpful .Where did you get your bed strips? Mine were rotted beyond use and I was really frustrated because the 12' length was gonna cost around 250.00 for freight. but after much googleing I found a man in South Carolina just a few miles over the Ga. line that can custom make them and punch the square holes to my measurements . His business is called Trucks USA in Abbyville .I'm driving over there next week to pick them up. Hey Number Dummy that's one drawing of the bed i have not seen ,very detailed.

 

My bed strips are original to the truck. The floor was mostly rotted away, but all the strips were still fastened with the carriage bolts. Several of my strips have rust holes thru them, but I had them powder coated anyway and they work fine.
Mark