Hi Everyone,

I am considering buying a 1950 F3 that is about 15 miles from my house. Here are the pictures of the one I am looking at.













The engine is shot though everything else looks pretty good. In my research, the bed appears to be unoriginal (don't know for sure), though that is fine with me because it is perfect for what I will be using it for. I am not necessarily looking for a restore project using all original parts, but I would like to save what I can as I find these old trucks to be really dang cool.

The guy selling it suggested looking for an older truck (60-70's) that is pretty much intact and just swapping out the other trucks engine, transmission, etc into the F3.

So, my questions:

• The obvious - What are your opinions on a fair price?
• Has anyone ever converted the rear axle to a dually? (i've searched and couldn't find much, but I am sure it has been done)
• Any other general advice would be appreciated.

Thanks so much and I look forward to hearing back from everyone!

 

Welcome!

Prices for F3s are an interesting exercise. Couple of questions:
Where in the world are you? Because with the bigger trucks, location matters even more than with F1s.
Are the wheels original? If so, Google 'widow makers' as they are completely unsafe.

Others will chime in - my dirty guess is fair price in current condition would range from $1500 to $4000. Remote location (fewer buyers) and widow makers puts you in the lower end.

DW

 

Thanks for the response!

I am located in Iowa. As far as I can tell, the wheels are original. I have looked a little into the Widow-maker issue and will obviously need to change out the wheels to make this as safe of a drive as possible. I haven't looked around a whole lot on how to fix that specific issue, which I should probably do.

Thanks again and any other input is appreciated!

 

First, welcome. Glad to have you in the group.

The truck seems real solid. Your profile says Iowa, but that's a big place. You might add location to your profile in the corner of your posts. The truck most certainly has the 17" widow makers that they all came with. But since you want to make the truck DRW it's not really a hard problem to fix. IIRC an F-350 cab and chassis model (not pickup) DRW axle from 73-75 has the same 34" wide rear frame, along with your trucks 8 x 6.5" bolt pattern. It should bolt right in, but would require driveshaft work. For the front any SRW F-250 wheels up to the 97 HD model will fit. As for the truck's value, I'd base that on the degree of rust and other bodily abuse you find. From your pics it looks solid, and has a complete stake bed (non factory). I think I'd be in the $3000 neighborhood, less if you can do it. Stu

Edit - if you do not do the DRW conversion, you still need to be rid of the widow makers. Since you have 14" rear drums on the stock Timken there are only two straight forward wheel swaps, either tubeless 17.5s or 19.5s that first were available in 1956. If you want to hear more about this please say. Otherwise an axle swap to a 1972 or earlier F-250 Dana 60 will be needed to give you 12" rear brakes. Stu

Edit Edit: before somebody else says it, you could also try to find an F-2 complete Timken or at least the backing plates and drums that are 12" for all years 48-52. Stu

 

Welcome to FTE!

I waited until Stu responded with answers to your questions, as I don't know about any of them for an F3. I agree it looks like a solid truck in the pics.

I would keep that bed and maybe change the stakes. How wide is the bed? If you're going to DRW it should be about 80" to 82" wide so the rear wheels don't stick out. It looks wide enough in the pics, but you should check.

Here's a drawing with the F4 - F6 dimensions, which are all DRW trucks.

 

A fair price could be just about anything, but I got my 1950 F-3 for $800 here in Colorado. It was an Arizona truck most of its life and I think I got a pretty good deal. Mine had the original bed on it and I went with an F-100 9 inch rear. The original flathead was froze and sitting in the bed along with the transmission. I won't be using it as a heavy hauler...strictly cruising.

 

Wow! Thanks so much for everyone's input. This seems like a great community and looking forward to being a part of it!

Matt

 

If you do decide to buy the f3 and get rid of the widow makers, let me know I can use 2 of them if they are relatively rust free

Ed
near Philadelphia