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A friend of mine in the Houston area is almost finished with the restoration of a 1938 Ford Tonner Express (1 ton pickup truck for those not familiar with the lingo). All he has left is to touch up a couple places in the paint, clean the tires, and install the hubcaps. Here are pictures:
Looking at the truck this afternoon it seemed larger than my F-2. I find that odd since they both are basically the same size (same wheel base and bed size). Maybe it is because the tall 7.50-17 tires on the 38?
Looks like it has the 'heavy duty' 3 speed. I have read that there was a special 3 speed tranny for these, but never seen one in a tonner. I'm basing this on the shift lever. And yes the 7.50 x 17s are just under 34" usually and give it that stance. Does he have NOS hubcaps?
Hey GB, Have you room for a 46-47 tonner with a 6 cylinder and I believe, an original script stakebed? Got a guy at work that keeps pestering me about buying his.
Heck, I got me ten acres of room. Just not the money to buy more trucks. If it were an express pickup, rust free, I might just have to sell something, but I have a lot of flatbeds already. Out of curiousity, how much?
Looks like it has the 'heavy duty' 3 speed. I have read that there was a special 3 speed tranny for these, but never seen one in a tonner... Does he have NOS hubcaps?
The transmission is actually a regular Ford three speed transmission, like came in the cars and 1/2 tons. But, the gear ratios are different. Where the cars have a 2.82 first gear, these have a 3.52 first gear. Likewise, second gear in the car is 1.60 and is 1.899 in the truck unit. I have seen one of these low gear light duty three speeds in a 41 3/4 ton. I tried to get some interest on here from the big truck guys since I think this would be an even better answer than the heavy three when replacing a crashbox, but noone was interested.
The original hubcaps are somewhere in new england getting the stainless straightened.
Originally Posted by Joe777
Beautiful! He can be proud of that one. And look at that garage! I have a bad case of garage envy
This is the last restoration my friend says he is doing. The shop is a space he has rented while running his restoration business. He is moving out by the end of the month, I think.
Originally Posted by GB SISSON
Looks like he's still running the cable brakes. I found them to be very effective, even when loaded.
Yes, the truck is almost much 100% stock (the fog lights are sealed beam, technically sealed beam came out in 1940...)
I agree, cable brakes in good shape work very well. The cable brakes on my 37 sedan will out stop the hydraulic brakes on my 53 sedan. The cables are a lot more work to adjust though.
When pulling a trailer with my '38 tonner I always relied upon the trailer's electric brakes. At first I kept a 12 volt battery on the trailer to run them, hooked up negative ground, with a wire to the controller in the cab... Truck was 6v positive. I have no idea what went on between the trailer ball and both truck and trailer polar opposites. The brakes worked but I was so green then. Why didn't the ball arc weld itself onto the trailer's coupler????