I have got a 1958 Ford F600. I am on the fence of what to do with this this. My original intentions were to haul about 14000lbs of equipment on it 100-200miles a day mostly highway, partly backroads.

Upon inspection and purchase of the truck I have become conflicted. The truck is not quite "cherry" but is seemingly all original. It runs. It has all of the factory spare mount parts. Two barrel tuned well. Runs like a champ. Factory grassburner. The only things I can tell are evident changes are the "west coast" towing mirrors were added early on, a diode under the hood looks newish, fuel pump may have been replaced(but maybe not, there is not much oxidation on the cast aluminum housing), PO replaced the brake master cylinder and wheel cylinders and threar lines. Five of seven tires are up. Two speed rear "acts" right. Cigar lighter works. Wipers work. Heater blows good on hi works on low too, missing one hose. Has dent in drivers door. All glass appears original FoMoCo etchings. Has 5spd, believe it to be New Process with no overdrive. Has throttle **** on the dash. Haven't check all the lights yet. Has no bed on it.

Carburetor had fuel leak, on the front right(looking at motor)where the little diaphragm had a pinhole. Someone(PO) torqued one of the little screws and stripped it, so now it leaks like crazy(steady drip when running). I took it to the a friend to drill and tap for a bigger screw. I'll put a new diaphragm in he should be done with it this week, as a favor I'm not going to rush him.

The brakes "don't work", I believe when the PO put his new brake parts on he did not put new springs and other associated hardware with it. Or wire brush/sand the contact surfaces of the moving parts. I have found wire brush and new return springs complete a drum brake job nicely.

The day it came home

Manifolds looked pretty good to me

Was trying to get the door edge and roof

Passenger side view of engine. You can see the fuel pump, it looks newer than the rest of everything

Driver's step. Real solid.

VIN Tag in the glovebox

Radiator tank

Passenger fender view of the engine

Now you can see the dent

Drivers side, you can't hardly see the dent in the door from this angle

Drivers side horn

New brake master cylinder

Driver rear

Too speedy

Spare on ground

Ignore my junk pile

 

That's a good looking rig!
I have a '59 F600 dump truck, it's in rougher shape than yours, but has a fresh 292 engine with 4V Holley. I have a lot of fun hauling a dozen or so loads of gravel a year, but I wouldn't want to work it daily.
You can't be in any kind of a hurry with a load on these. Mine will run 60MPH down the interstate at 17000 GVW, but it takes 2-3 miles to get to that speed.
One of my biggest concerns are the brakes, these have a single circuit brake system. Get a leak, you loose all braking. I don't know how well the emergency brake works with a full load, but I doubt it would keep you out of a wreck. Maybe I will try it out on the back-roads someday. I have thought about putting a more modern master cylinder on and re-plumbing for individual circuits front & rear.

 

Is this a tool we can use on our old trucks? Says its 1 1/2" with the 13/16" square. i think its the tool off a m35.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/392196058020

 

I'm not sure if that will work, but 1 1/2" hex and 13/16" square are the sizes needed for the wheels, so I would think so. Yo can also find a combination socket for a lot less and use it with a good impact wrench, like this one on amazon.

 

For doing the rear lugs, I'd also have a pork chop in case the inner lugs come loose while trying to loosen outer lugnuts. If you plan to haul 150+ miles a day, I hope your ready to do a lot of maintenance. Stopping is more important than going. Definetly replace the rubber lines. Have you taken a good look at the rear axle? The 2 ratios should be stamped on the flat of the differential by the shift motor. The 2 speed will really help. If you want to help your engine, get rid of the crossover pipe and make a dual exhaust. You can buy rams horns, but they can get pricey, unless you have deep pockets. Or you can take off the pipe, block the front access on the passenger side, and make a bend down from the left manifold and go back. Opening up the exhaust will definetly help your engine.

 

So I went ahead and ordered that lug tool. Looks like I'll use it once to take the wheels off, inspect the brakes, then decide if I want to even mess with them.

I get the carburetor back from a machinist buddy Wednesday or Thursday. The carb had stripped srew on the bottom front from previous owner trying to stop a fuel leak from a leaking diaphragm.
Anyway I get the carb on, fix the the turn signals/brake lights front and rear, probably have to run new wires entirely. Then I can drive down my gravel road a bit too see if it stops at all. If it stops at all I may start in on the brakes and see how well I can get them to work. I believe from researching about this particular system the booster may be my source of no brakes. I think the booster assembly can be rebuilt but an aftermarket may be in order just to get rolling.
If the brakes do nothing, I will inspect them to see how f-ed up they are, shouldn't be that bad PO said he put new wheel cylinders on, the old ones are in a box so I believe him on that. But I don't think he replaced the return springs hold down springs or wire brushed all surfaces and greased the appropriate places. So I'll see then if its "in the wheels" or if maybe its that 60 year old booster under the cab.
What it's doing now is the brake pedal will go to the floor without a whole lot of resistance. Now it doesn't just fall or stomp right to the floorboard it goes down like its actually pushing fluid but when you get to the end it doesn't rebound. I'll say the pedal comes back up but its not from the pressure in the system its the pedal spring. One thing is the truck was not running when i did this, two is it really felt like the brakes pushed out but didn't pull back together thats my reason for hoping its the springs.
If I fix what I can and relpace the booster and get them working I will decide whether to keep it as is OR trash the entire drive train, axles, suspension, radiator, gas tank, OR sell it to someone interested in doing a proper restoration, it is an excellent candidate for frame off, very complete.

I would also trade down for a 1948 F5 or F6 cab possibly with frame to build out what I had intended to do with the '58. ... Which would be a 6cta Cummins 13spd rtx with fabco tc38 going to a fsd-9h up front with manual hubs and fsd-14h in the rear with military 48" Michelins on double beadlocks, may go with air brakes for parts availability on those axles, plus the engine will be setup with air.
I have thought about doing a ISB motor with a zf6 4x4 but thats been done, plus there's no replacement for displacement. And this truck will likely be my flagship for my farm and business so it needs to be able to haul a serious load on occasion and get it to some off the beaten path locations, and it needs to look the part of a capable vehicle.
I have no problem doing the work or forking out the loot to make it happen but I don't like the idea of butchering a fine truck that someone else may restore to perfection, but a cab/frame with no drivetrain could get a new lease on life as a diesel terrain tamer.

Let me know what you guys think.
It will probably be the weekend before I have a better idea of the brakes and all. The Cummins/Fabco swap will probably cost as much as a full restoration depending on how parts hunting goes but it would be in the 6k-10k range. Possibly less if I find the right donor vehicles could go with a marmon setup for a lot cheaper but I had a international 4800 with fabco gear and dt466... it was sweet but rusty so it got traded off.

 

These numbers here?

 

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