Hi, Im new to the site and was hoping to get started on getting some tips and assistance, you know, general networking.

Im a born and raised resident of the interior region of Alaska. I traded a previous project car, a 1966 VW Karmann Ghia for my current 1959 F350 dually stakebed this past fall (its winter here...). The VW was the project that I blew my money on when I was 18, initially I loved it, but quickly it became apparent that it was way more work than I had intended, after a few years of burning up money I finally came to the realization that it really wasnt a useful car, even though it was pretty, and that like most of my friends and neighbors, I wanted a pickup. Put it up on Craigslist for trade and lo and behold the 1959 dually landed in my lap.

The truck. Ok, so its a 1959 Ford F350, with the dually rear axle and a stake bed. It has a 1975 300cid straight 6, four on the floor and a 5.14 Timken rear axle. The bad: Its 2wheel drive (bad in my terrain) It currently doesnt have a working speedometer, and a marginally functioning fuel gauge.



Things I would like to seek advice for:

Are there any good aftermarket windshield wipers?! I have only been able to find repros, and they all suck! Im looking for a modern-ish replacement.


Help with the speedometer; the gauge works, the cable is good. The problem is the gear. I cannot find out which driven gear I should use. Surprise surprise, there isnt an online calculator that factors in the 16x7.5 tires and the 5:14 rear axle. I just bought one on a whim and stuck it in the port. Only problem is, I cant get it to stay in contact with the drive gear. From about 0-20mph it will read alright then it starts bouncing up and down.

Is there any way to secure the driven gear to the drive gear?

What drive gear should I be using?

 

Welcome to FTE! I think you will enjoy the truck much more the a VW!

Do you have any wipers at all already? Electric, Vacuum?

 

Thanks, I do, much heavier duty, much more useful. Ive already enjoyed the utility alot, even though its mpgs are about 1/4th of the vw. haha.

Yes I got some blades from napa, they are stock style and a repro arm from MACS but the arm didnt fit the blade, a made it fit, but the blade is just a hair too long and slaps the windshield frame in its travel. Id really like to replace the blades and maybe the arms with a modernized set up. It has the electric motors im pretty sure.

 

Welcome! And good wipers will be a real advantage up there. I don't think it would be overly difficult to convert to 4wd. You probably want a dana 60 front axle, fairly common. Not sure how it will connect steering-wise. Lots of t case options. You will most likely want to go to a modern rear axle so both ends will be 8 lug. I've seen a couple of rusty/dead f350 4x4 diesels from the 80's down here on our craigslist for about 900.00. This would give you a ton of parts. I have a '59 f350 too, and when I'm bored with work or life I start thinking about converting it to 4wd, but then I realize I probably won't drive it much in the winter as they began salting our roads a few years back.... Hope you can send some photos soon. If you don't convert to 4wd, I have a set of 17.5s for your truck, tubeless if you want them. The 16's that you have are what's known as widowmakers, and very difficult to find someone to mount tires on them because they are unsafe. Do a search here for 'widowmakers'.

 

I probably wont have the facilities to do anything like an engine swap or a 4wd upgrade for some years to come yet, but the idea fascinates me. I could find a comparable f350 dually w/ diesel and basically do a body swap, that might be the easiest. They are something I could find locally. The wheels are not widow makers, I had it over at my local redneck used tire facility, they are 6 lug split rims. thanks for the offer though, but many thousands of miles and a couple hundred bucks in shipping separate us.

 

MadDog; Welcome to the Orphanage!
According to my book and assuming you have aT98a/T18 trans the Driven gear you need is a 20 tooth #01T-17271-C and the Drive gear should be a 6 tooth # 01T-17285-B. With your 16 X 7.50's
I'm no expert, just trying to help! Now there is a Sweet little young man that goes by the handle NumberDummy that will "prolly" be along shortly to clear this all up if I have misspoken.
Good luck in your quest!

 

Haha, thanks! Thats a good start! Do you have any idea how you secure the driven gear in the housing? so that it remains in contact with the drive gear? When I was poking around, and tried to install the driven gear that Id bought on a guess, it didnt appear that there was any obvious way to do that.

 

01T-17269 Is what looks like the bearing that threads into the trans and holds the driven gear in place and also is what the cable housing threads onto.
Do you have a parts catalog for the truck. If not you can get one on the BAY for about 20 bucks in CD form. Thats what I'm looking at, but can't print the picture for you.
Good luck!

 

Thanks, That sounds like what Im missing! I'll take a look


Got some photos up!

 

X2 on the "widowmaker" wheels. Mine came with a 17" set of these & I couldn't find a tire ship that would touch one. 4x4 shouldn't be too difficult; you already have leaf springs & all these truxks used divorce-mounted t-cases anyway. Only thing that might require custom fab is steering links. On the wipers, I think the arm & blade from 61-66 trucks will work for ours. I haven't done this yet, but when I ordered 1 to replace an assembly I was missing, the 58-61 piece I got didn't match the factory one already on the truck, & the quality of the replacement was extremely poor. Like you, I modified it to make it work, bit it looks like *****.

 

Welcome to FTE

No such thing as a rear axle for DRW's only. What makes the difference is the rear hubs and brake drums.

Number of teeth of driven gear determined by type of trans, tire size and rear axle ratio.

When the engine was swapped, the original T-98 4 speed was also swapped as it won't bolt to a 240/300 bell housing.

So, your truck either has a Warner T-18 or New Process 435 4 speed. The problem is...finding a driven gear with the correct number of teeth with either of these trans' and a 5.14 axle ratio.

Both the drive and driven gears are probably nylon. The originals would have been cast iron or steel w/a fiber gear (driven), steel drive gear.

1963: FoMoCo replaced Timken with a Spicer/Dana 70. Factory installed 4WD first offered for F350's in 1979, previous F350's with 4WD were all conversions, usually performed by Marmon-Herrington.

Driving the low slung Karmann Ghia on the roads in the wilds of Alaska must have been an adventure in itself.

I was in Anchorage last May, rented a 4WD Bronco because, one never knows what the weather may be. This was the 4th time I've vacationed in Alaska, all began as cruises.

 

Not sure what you are talking about when you say DRW?

Good to know about the tranny, and yes both the drive and diven gears are nylon.

Actually, I never had any problems with the karmann, it was very light and had enough ground clearance relative to size. That and it having a flat body pan. If there was a problem it was heat. Being aircooled and rear engined, there was no way to get warm air on the windscreen, so youd have to go down the road with ice scraper in hand.

The saying around here, is "you dont need 4 wheel drive unless you really want to get stuck." I can definitely say you dont really need 4x4, after all, it doesnt help you stop, which is when most accidents occur. But I have been in plenty of situations where I would have been stuck if I hadnt had the option of going into 4. All of those were situations that I wouldnt have gotten into if I had hadnt had 4x4 at my disposal though either.

 

DRW - Duel Rear Wheel, say that ten times fast! LOL!

 

Oh, ok, makes sense. I didnt think I claimed that the timken 5.14 was dually only, just that it wasnt in any of the speedo gear calulators with my set up. But that does make sense.

So ive been looking around at the wiper problem, and honestly I think I can find blades fairly easy, so where could I get some good wiper arms. I prefer the "bayonet" types, with the nub, thats at least the stock type. I was not happy with the one I got from MACs, is there any other source, other than a junkyard?

 

There are wiper arms for sale right now on Ebay.

1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 Ford Truck SS Wiper Arm RH New | eBay

Not sure if they are what you want though.