I am in the process of converting my F-3 to a F?? since I am using a F-1 frame and moved all of the rear, drive shaft, engine, tranny and drive shaft to the F-1 frame. REAL beast of a job to cut over 64 rivets that held the drive shaft support and tranny mount.... Gotta cut the intermediate shaft, hook up brakes and then it will be ready for the body. Body will be basically and F-1 bed and fenders with my F-3 cab... Little more to this but once I get it done I will write more details. ONLY reason I did this is I could not find any F-3 bed nor parts so started on this.... at times I wish I would have paid (costly I am sure) to have a metal shop make the bed.
Anyway, hope to have this done by the end of the year... I am sure I will have challenges I have not gotten to yet! :-)

 

HI.I have a 51 f3 which i want to shorten the frame as you did can you tell me where you cut the frame and what style of cut you used to join it back together,the amount it would be shortend i assume would be the difference in the wheel bases,pictures would be great if possible any other help would be appreciated.THANKS MERV

 

Merv,

Cut the frame just behind the cab leaving the bed mounting hole with a 'Z' cut, take out 8 inches and weld the frame back together. I took the 8 inch frame section I cut out and welded it back to the inside of the framerail for extra strength. This reduces the wheelbase from 122 inches to 114. Next, cut 12 inches of frame off the rear (the F3 has more rear overhang than the F-1). Now the frame is exactly the same as an F-1. When the 8 inches comes out, the rearmost running board support bracket moves up so that F-1 running boards bolt on which means that you don't have to remove or replace running board brackets. An F-1 bed and rear fenders will bolt on although you may have to redrill a few bed mounting holes. If you have good F-3 fenders up front you can keep them if you don't mind the extra wheel space cutout or you can replace them with F-1 fenders. You will want to replace the rear fenders with F-1s since they are wider than F-3 rear fenders.

You can check out my gallery for pictures. Those are all I have.

 

I have a 1952 F2 project truck that has been sitting for the obligatory 10 years in the project vehicle queue. I’m finally getting serious about a restoration project. Like everybody else’s F2, the bed is rough.

A few years ago I talked to Dennis Carpenter. He said that he’d make bed sides for me if I didn’t mind waiting until they were doing a production run of bed sides. The idea is that they stock new F1 bed sides. He mentioned that if they have an order, the only difference is length & they could cut a pair to the long bed length. I should have taken him up on the deal at the time. It’d be worth a call to see if they’re still willing to do that.

That leaves the bed front and tailgate which I assume are wider than the F1 versions.
What I will probably do is straighten my bed parts as good as I can get them….this won’t be a show truck.<o></o>

 

No so. You're fortunate you didn't order one. The F-2/F-3 Express beds are longer and taller than the F-1s. An F-1 is 20.25" tall while the F-2/F-3 is 21.73" tall. And as you know, the F-2/F-3 is 54" wide and 96.05" long while the F-1 is 49" wide and 78.06" long. This comes from the 1952 Dealer Handbook.

The only way to have an Express bed is to fix your own, or find one that's in better shape. Stu

 

Yes....and the more that I look at the one I have, the more repairable that is appears to be!!

Actually, mine bed is a little rough, but I think I can straighten it out. It'll definitely pass the 10 yard test, but up close it'll look like the railroad yard truck that it was in a former life.

Dan

 

Merv, if you have any other F-3 conversion questions or any that you would rather not post here feel free to PM me and I'll try answer them.

 

Only problem there Vern is he's a new person with only 1 post so PMs are impossible for awhile. You guys might need to swap real e-mails!

Hey Merv! Welcome to FTE. Why not start a seperate thread and introduce yourself to everyone!

 

Hello,
I'm back again....with another long-bed question for my F2. I found a guy selling a trailer made out of a long bed that appears to be from a 53 or newer pickup. It has flat sides and the rear fenders appear to be different than what I have on my F2. I know it wouldn't be correct from a purist standpoint, but has anybody mounted a later model bed onto an F2? I haven't actually seen it other than a picture....I'll have to drive 120 miles to go pick this thing up. I'm thinking that adapting a later model bed would be a little easier than shortening my frame.

Thanks,
Dan

 

Hey Dan,

Is this your F2? Picture taken when I brought it home.



It's also in the background of this photo. Picture taken after I stripped it for parts that I needed.



Just convert yours into an F1. I've got an easy way for you to do it.

F1 frame. The hard part was already done.


Looking forward to meeting you in person in the next few weeks.

 

The one in the background is one that I picked up for parts. I have another F2 that my son bought at the railroad museum in Portola CA about 10 years ago. That one will end up being the project truck. Since then we have restored three other cars, but the truck was put out to pasture (literally). I developed a household rule for all of my kids....if you want to drive, you have to rebuild a basketcase car. This applied to 3 sons and my daughter! Now that they're off at college....I bought the truck project from my son & I really do want to make a driver F2.

To characterize my project....it does have a few bullet holes in the windshield. When I was trailering it back from Portola, while stopped in traffic, a lady in the car next to us asked "is that the Bonnie and Clyde" pickup trck"? My reply to her was...."No....this is the actual pickup that Wyatt Earp rode into the shootout at the OK Corral"

I'll dig up some pics!

 

That boxed in chassis is very tempting....will it get dissimmilar metals corrosion with a Chevy engine bolted to it?

 

You can unbolt it.

 

Haven't done that but I did bolt a 51/52 F-1 bed on a shortened 48 F-3 frame so my guess is that it would be a relatively easy job. Make sure the fender holes are in the right place. Depending on how much newer the bed is the fenders may be mounted higher up...but even then all you would have to do is redrill the fender mounting holes and patch the old ones...