Almost finished reinforcing the rear fenders. It’s basically done but I want to put one more coat of POR patch on to smooth out any rough spots and depressions.

Basically I soaked the rusted area in POR slid the metal mesh in and reinforced with POR soaked fiberglass.

I then took the POR patch which is basically really thick POR and filled in any gaps and the spaces between what was left of the metal backing plate on the lower fender.

I clamped it all in place first covering the repair in plastic and then pressing the backing plate metal in tightly to the fender and compressing the fiberglass and mesh together. The POR patch acts as a glue somewhat like panel adhesive and reinforces the area and secures everything together.

I got the front body mount bushing back in on the passenger side. Just need to find a few minutes to do the drivers side and then start on the rears. I covered the mount in a silicone gel that is made by Toyota that is said to keep rubber parts in good shape much longer than without as well as restore older rubber parts.

I got my fan painted and my exhaust hangars.



Completed repair on passenger side

From behind on driver’s side

And on passenger side

Front of driver’s side repair

From the front with a board to spread the clamping force

Repair clamped together

Same

Can mount bracket cleaned and painted with POR

Body mount covered in Silicone grease

Me bushing in place

Fan painted

 

Are you gonna paint your POR, not poor, patch job? Or will the running board cover it ?

Also, how thick is the POR patch? In other words what size holes will it fill? I've got some small holes in the door of my 54, from pinhole size to a little bigger.

 

I think the running board will cover it. If not I think it will blend in with the black from the running board. If not I will get some touch up paint and randomly brush it around so it blends in.

It definitely fills pin holes. Clean them up from the back first if you can. Clean and use the metal ready product or Ospho to prep it. Paint the back side with regular POR or spread the past as a thin film if you don’t want to buy both products. Let it get tacky and then apply a thicker layer of paste. Depending on where the pin holes are I would do it from the back and let just a little poke out of the pin hole which you can trim later or wipe off with acetone before it fully cures.

in terms of how big a hole…Hard to say. You will know when you have it in your hands and use it for the first time. If the hole is too big prep and paint with POR from the backside and let it get tacky. Take an appropriate size piece of fiberglass cloth and lay it on a sheet of plastic and soak it with POR with a foam brush.

When both are fiberglass and the repair area are tacky lay the fiber glass across the hole from the back. If the metal area gets tacky before the fiberglass just lay the wet fiberglass in on the backside. It may just take a little more work to get plot to lay flat or adjust to curves.

Move to the front and layer the paste in to fill the hole waiting for it to firm up a bit and get tacky before the next coat. Repeat until it is filled in to your satisfaction.

 

I finished the fender repair and it is rock solid. Going nowhere as long as I own the truck. Will definitely outlive me. I put another coat of POR paste and then 1 layer of 2oz fiberglass to leave a smoother finished result. I still need to sand and feather the fiberglass edges but that has moved down the priority list as I am ready to start reassembly of everything but the drive train. Pics below.

I just picked up a bunch of parts from Chicks Trucks and he also did a bunch of machine shop work for me including removing rusted broken off bolts in my exhaust manifold and freeing up the frozen heat riser flapper.

The coolest bit is i got a set of 8 Lug front disc brakes which use the existing hub and I can keep my wheels. Nice kit. The instructions were missing so I emailed the manufacturer and hopefully they will send them to me next week.

Both front cab bushings are installed and I started on the rear cab mounts and bushing. The drivers side came off easily and I have a block of wood between the gram and body to keep the cab in place. The passenger is stuck on the top bracket some how and I need to spend some more time figuring out how to get it free.

once the cab mounts are done I will start putting the suspension and new brakes on so I can finally get it back on the ground and into the garage before winter.

 

Been a little while but good progress

I picked up all the parts I need from Chuck’ trucks to get the suspension back together and the truck back on the ground except the rear spring shackle bushings seem to be too big, the pins won’t go through one of them and in an effort to get them to fit I think I opened the other one a hair too much as there is some play in it. I ordered new bushings and will have them pressed in.

The front springs and axle are back on which to me is a big deal! I need to sort out the shock mounts and clean up my hubs to mount the disk brakes. I will post some pics of the issues with the shock mounts that need sorting out.

I got some more parts painted and have a bunch more now to paint now that I got them back from Chuck.

Its getting cold so I need to pick up the pace. My Garage is not heated. It will also be out of commission the first week in December until April as we are doing a renovation and everything has to be moved to the garage from the house and I need to open up one of the 3 bays for my wife to park her car when it snows.



Front springs and axle installed. Nothing is tightened up yet. I will snug it up before it gets on the ground and do the final torquing then.

Rear cab mounts in


This is the fan I painted before off the ‘62 motor. Chuck took a look at it and said not to use it, it has been welded back together. You can see it in the center. I painted the ‘55 fan and am all set.

This is the ‘55 fan you can see the difference.

 

I just found this build thread - very impressed with you work! Where did you find the disc brake kit and do you know if the mfg. has one for a 1956 F500?

 

Thank you very much!

TSM mfg. here is a link to their site. I would call them as even though It is not listed they may make a kit or make one up for you.
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https://www.tsmmfg.net/ford-truck-ec...rake-kits.html

 

No pics today but I was able to get the bushings honed on my spring shackles by my neighbor so I could put the rear springs on today.

I thought the new pins and set pins would just slide into the fittings on the frame but it required a couple of hours of careful work on my back and sitting under the truck with a 1/2 round and rounded file to clean up burrs and smooth things out so they would fit in smoothly. I am not clear why they needed to be cleaned up but it must have been rust and flashing that didn’t need to be taken care of in the factory as they probably had some kind of press to push the pins in.

i basically ended up doing the install almost twice because I didn’t realize you had to connect the rear first and then attach the front of the spring. I put the front in first and had to take it apart. They are heavy to do by yourself!

I couldn’t line up the cut out for the set pin on the drivers front and it won’t rotate so I can adjust it like the rest. I have to pull that pin out and realign it on the next couple of days.

I got my spindles de-rusted and I need to do the hubs next so I can get started on the front disc brakes. Getting the bearing seal out has been tough. It won’t pry out so I need to come up with another alternative.

The next big job is getting the rear end in. It is about 50ft from the truck and too heavy to move by myself. My neighbor suggested putting the wheels back on and rolling it over but I am not sure if the truck is high enough to get the passenger side of the diff rolled under. I will see in the next day or 2 when it stops raining. It is still too heavy to lift AND put the wheels on so I will need to macgyver something. I am sure I can come up with something.

 

8pack, thanks for the link. I looked at their kit and apparently they make up to F350, !956. My truck has a 5 hole ( with widomakers) instead of an 8 hole so I will have some creative parts swapping to investigate.

 

They are a small custom shop. Give them a call before you try and macgyver something they may already have a solution for that they may not have on their website.

I am no expert on those widowmakers but everyone says to get rid of them as a #1 priority as they are dangerous for you and everyone around you. But not my area of any first hand experience.

 

I have already been in touch with my local Les Schwab dealer and will coordinate with them on my wheel and tire needs.

 

Very small update.

I have not gone back to do the set pin alignment on the rear springs yet so I haven’t solved for moving the rear end into position.

However, I got my crusty rusty spindles and hubs cleaned up like new and painted in high temp primer and paint, cast metal finish. This has me all set to start on the front disc install. I have a question on the king pin installation which I will put in another post.

I still need to get the rear drums primed and painted. Hopefully over the weekend. It is supposed to rain for the next couple of days so any outdoor work is on hold.



After soaking in Rust 911 and cleaned with a wire wheel.

Taped off and painted hub with cast metal Duplicolor engine enamel and primer.

Taped off and painted spindle

 

Big day…I have the rear springs properly installed and the differential is in.

I painted my drums in cast steel paint and the hats on my rotors I painted black to hopefully keep the rust at bay.

I got ready to put the wheels on the back of the truck but can’t find the lug nuts. Aaaargh, how do you lose 32 lug nuts?!!!







Installed with new drums.

 

Here is some additional information on me installing the diff by myself.

I was able situate the rear on 2 car roller wheel dollies and got it under the truck.

i connected 2 ratchet straps on each end inside the spring perch. I ratchet it up was about 5 inches from spring. I jacked up one side at a time and adjusted the straps along the frame and differential to get the rear to swing into the right spot. With the lower plate and u bolts in place I slowly snugged up the nuts and adjusted the diff to align with the springs.

some quick pics

 

The set pins to hold the large pins for the shackles and springs in place came with nuts but no lock washers. Looked up in the assembly book to confirm they were needed. Bought a bunch of stainless lock washers and installed those.

I put the shock posts in the cross member and spring mount but since the truck is up on jack-stands at the bumpers the differential hangs too low to attach the shocks. I have to wait until the wheels are back on.

I bought 8 replacement lug nuts still holding out that I will find the pile of originals. I went to get the wheel mounted and it is too heavy for me to lift by myself and not mangle the painted hub. Tomorrow I will get a jack under the tire and raise it up into position so I can get It them temporarily mounted.

After reading some threads on the TSM front disk kit it looks like I need to find new steel wheels. Not sure what years to look for front wheels at the junkyard. I may do a separate post on finding the right wheel size.