I think the 51 was a 5 Star by the looks. The trim outline on the hood, extra bolts still in place for the other horn, and little pieces on the inside of the doors that probably held the armrests.

The plan with the '51 is to sell it once I've swapped off the parts I want for the '52. If it doesn't sell complete, I'll part it out and junk whatever is left. Hate to do that as someone could use it as a good foundation for a street rod at the least.

So last night I got to looking at the hood for the '52 leaning against the back bed and remembering what Ben said about hoods and doors, along with the sudden high winds we get here at times(see broken tree in background), I decided to re-attach the hood. Foolish in the sense that it will need to come back off to remove the cab, but in the meantime it's a bit more 'safe' I suppose. As well, when I throw the tarp over it now, the rain won't cause it to sag and leak around the engine. The running boards are just sitting on the brackets.

Went out and took a couple quick shots. Looking more like a truck, at least. I was amazed at how strong the hinge springs still are. On set held the hood up while I got the other aligned.

 

All 51-52 trucks were 5 Star. The additional options were available in the Extra package. Thus, 5 Star Extra cab trucks. Save and transplant all of the Extra options into the truck you're building.

51 and 52 hoods are different. I have two pairs of solid F1 running boards, but both sets needs some straightening on the sides.

 

Your engine and all flatty's are a work of art.

 

Thanks arctic. I love the look of them too, and since I don't expect Ferrari performance from a '52 pickup, the power issue is a non-issue for me.

Seems someone told me that recently and I forgot the 'extra' part. Was probably you when we were discussing the front valance.

Will try to PM you about parts. Now that I'm a supporter it should waive the 10 day requirement. Wife has thrown down the spending gauntlet for the time being until I sell more of my other 'stuff', but I know I need a number of pieces already. It's good incentive to clear things out.

 

Okay, well! It's been a while since any significant updates but basically there hasn't been a lot to report since September. Most of October was spent traveling, out of town, back for a week, gone again.

And since I wasn't aware of the proper way to start or flag a build thread (should've read more), I'm just going to take my original blabbermouth thread and convert it to a build thread since it contains most of the previous photos. This way you'll know that I wasn't another flash in the pan and haven't given up or lost interest. Onward...

Finally had a little bit of time last weekend to tear into things more, so I tore the old bed off the back. The bed is actually solid as a rock but the PO chose to stick one of those sheets of grooved plywood and use that as a bed, which didn't go over well when he left it outside the last 5 years. I'm not set up for or experienced in body work and since the cost of a repop bed complete will be less than paying someone to do this one and also buy the wood, straps, and hardware for it, I'm going to send it down the road. Aside from one small area inside on one of the stake boxes, the rest of it is surface rust.

Here are a few shots of the bed off the truck and the STYLIN' plywood bed! Gotta say, even empty that bed is rather hefty. Especially with the thick steel support brace someone added to the back. Gravity was my friend when it came time to remove it, but when I tried to lug it off today, Gravity whispered "Hey, why not just leave it there for now? She hasn't said a word about it..." This too will change, though.

 

Don't go too far away with the old bed until you get the new one all done. You'll want to, at the very least, make a template for the fender bolts. New beds typically don't come drilled.

 

Of course, once the bed was off I discovered a few surprises. Some I actually expected, like the rear shocks having not been replaced when the front were, and the possibility that the rear brake hose would be bad since the front were both cracked. Well, the back hose looks like a critter chawwed through it. However, the actually brake lines look new.

The biggest shock was to find the thin piece of channel iron (part of the spare tire hanger?) bent backward and when I looked closer, it became clear that an entire rear cross member is MISSING! Looks like it was torn out. Fortunately the '51 donor has both pieces. But I gotta say - the riveted spring hangers and cross members do not inspire confidence. I noticed that one hanger has been updated to bolts. Is it standard practice to replace all rivets with bolts or am I overreacting? The back hangers will definitely get the treatment since those rivets held the cross member in place.

Also discovered more damage to the back of the cab, stuffed in and including an ugly weld scabbed on for some reason. All to be cured with the cab swap from the '51.

More to come...

 

I was not aware of that, good to know! Thanks for the heads up, Wayne. I know one kit i looked at didn't have the stake holes cut but the pockets where present.

Hopefully I can find a home for the old one. Someone added new rails down the inside of the bed and did a great job, but they're not punched for bed bolts. They also didn't weld those little filler pieces back onto the rails. But all the bed panels are solid as can be, just needs a good blasting and painting.

 

You'll need to remove the rivets from both rear spring hangers, replace the crossmember from your donor and reinstall everything back to normal with grade 8 bolts. It will be ok once it's all back together. This is the reason why I don't like rear crossmember relocations which are common among some folks that move the gas tank aft and use the Mustang tank. Sure, it may fit, but it compromises a lot of frame stability. You can see yours is all twisted up there. The angle iron (spare tire brace) buckle probably happened at the same time.

 

The twisted frame and missing member are the most annoying things since finding all the cab damage. It annoys me more because I have a good, straight rear bumper with brackets that just needs to be cleaned up and sprayed then it can be installed. That left frame rail is so twisted that it won't fit until the tail is pulled back over and straightened. But only the top is out of line. Trying to pound or pull it back will move that entire piece of frame sideways, not just the top. So it'll need to be pulled, but not until the rear member is reinstalled for support. I might have to install the bumper on that side and lever it downward to get it straight enough to line up the other side.

I think this one was damaged when someone either tried to pull stumps or something too heavy for it or maybe yanked it out from somewhere it had sat for ages, as the PO painted right over the ragged edges when he sandblasted the frame. I cleaned it up over the weekend and got the rear wheels off too, now it's up on stands until I can find some 15" F-150 rims with decent tires for it. Here's a few shots of how it looks now, including the frame damage. I did manage to straighten the ruffles in the back edge of the left frame rail using a sledge hammer for an anvil with a household framing hammer against it. The rest will wait until the frame member is fixed.

 

In that close up photo of the right side of the differential, looks like the steel brake line is rather pitted as it passes through its bracket. When I was younger I had two significant brake failures, both from pinholes in rusty lines and running a single type master cylinder. It's a really horrible feeling when the brake pedal drops to the floorboard and just lays there. On a brighter note, if you are going to run modern wheels, you have a complete set of 'innie' hubcap wheels to sell to someone. They can be hard to find. Hint: Sell them and give the money to your wife when she's heading out shopping. This is a very good tool, and will reap benefits you will surely need down the line..... Good luck with your project. Stay on track and enjoy the ride.

 

I was thinking along the same lines of GBSISSON. Brakes are something you don't want to take a chance on. Replace all the lines and swap in a dual chamber master cylinder.

Keep up the progress. It is looking good. Mine started in similar shape almost 2 years ago and hoping to have it on the road by the two year anniversary (two months from now). Just do a little bit each day/week and you will be surprised what you will accomplish.

 

Thanks for the encouragement, guys. I have the desire, it's just a matter of getting the time/finances to catch up with it.

I think what you're seeing on that brake line is grease with some of our red clay soil dust on it. But I'll scrape it clean to make sure. I took that shot to show the clean metal of the line where the black paint is chipped off, but it's out of focus. The entire frame on back looked rusty when I took the bed off from sitting for years with the dust and dirt blowing around it. Hosed it down and sprayed it with WD-40 which cleaned it up a bit. The PO did miss a few areas when he sprayed that I'll need to cover up too.

Gonna hang onto the 16X4.5 original rims for now. Though they have an excellent 'patina'!