Hey guys, so I've got a 1949 f155 (from what I understand it's basically just an f6 but correct me if I'm wrong.) It's an old hay truck. Long story short, I'm trying to stuff a 12 valve Cummins in it. I've the the rear axle setup figured out. It's going to be a dually dana 80 with a 4 link with some heavy duty airbags. And from what I've measured, the engine and tranny will fit fairly decent. But... where I'm stuck is what to do with the front suspension. I'd love to use the stock front suspension (cause that would be easiest,) but it's ancient. If any of you have modernized the stock front suspension, that would be awesome if you could share some tips. Because I'd like to run airbags all around. I was planning on using the suspension from the donor cummins truck, but that's janky as hell and I would have to cut it up. Plus I want to use this truck in the future for buisness advertisements so it's got to look pretty decently good enough. My last option is my favorite, but also most difficult because I have no idea what I'd be doing. I could custom fab a whole front suspension (I'm a welder) but I just really dont know where to start. Unless theres a full front suspension set up that I can get and bolt/weld right in that's not a million bucks that would be another option. Any feedback or tips would help a lot!

 

Some info on the F-155. Personally, I don't think I'd cut it up or change it. It's pretty rare.

https://www.nzmuseums.co.nz/collecti...ord-f155-truck

 

Thanks for the info! I would have liked to keep it all original but the engine block was cracked, and the rear axle is just not worth it to mess with and make work. Plus I want to make it a cruiser that's reliable and safeish. So it needs new suspension. But, that is another reason I'd like to keep the front end but just modernize it. I'd like to not need to cut into a lot though.

 

To my knowledge there are no suspension kits for your truck, but any class 8 truck salvage yard will have all the components you need to do a custom job, including axles, bags and arms. And that would also be a good opportunity to explore disc brakes.

 

I wouldn't think an F-155 in Canada would be any more rare than an F-6 would be here in the states, relatively speaking considering the population and production differences. Proportionally, the farmers here and the farmers there would be using the same trucks for hauling goods to market. There's certainly nothing particularly special about them to command any more money or desirability than a comparable F6 here in the US.

There's really nothing wrong with the front suspension on the F6/155. It's definitely sturdy enough to do what you want to do. The biggest downside is the lack of brake drums available. The originals are only good for .020 wear, and finding any in good enough shape to turn and true for new brakes is difficult. New ones are not available. If someone could come up with a disc brake conversion for these trucks, and in a bolt pattern to match the Dana 80 you're planing, that would be amazing.

 

That would be the dream eh. But sadly I dont think anyone will because it's probably not worth it. And yeah, brakes are my biggest issue. I could probably somehow adapt another spindle setup to it but I really dont know if that'd be worth it.

 

That's actually probably a good place to start, but sadly we don't have much for class 8 salvage yards anywhere near where I'm from. People here think there **** is worth too much so they keep it and let it rot in their yards and won't sell it to you for anything under 1.2 mil. Plus the thing is I'd like to avoid chopping it up, and getting stuff off other stuff sometimes means you gotta do some choppin.

 

I would look at newer f550 2wd front axles. I think they are just tube axles, so it shouldn't be too bad to get one narrowed to the correct width for your truck. You could even try to adapt the radius arm suspension that comes on 2005+ f 550s, or use a pre 2005 axle and just adapt the leaf spring perches to fit on the stock springs.