Hi everyone,
I'm looking at a 52 F4 locally...

Read a bunch - think from the reading that the biggest concerns are likely to be the wheels and brake drums...

Anyone care to confirm or correct?

Is the wheel a servicable two piece wheel, one piece unit, or one that needs immediate replacement? Not sure myself and have seen conflicting information...

due to diameter and general looks I'm leaning, but confirmation would be great to have.

thanks for any advice!




- from looking at the tag, seems it was originally vermilion - it's green now, possibly with beige/tan below that on the hood at least...

Any thoughts, offhand on the pros/cons?

Thanks!

 

Hard for me to tell from the pic, but if your front wheels have a skinny locking ring around the outside of the wheel (rim) your rears are likely the same, and if so are completely serviceable. Truckdog has better eyes for that than me, and would be the ultimate authority. F4, F5, and F6 share the same brake systems and all the parts are readily available EXCEPT the brake drums, and that can be challenging because there are no new ones available, and there are no repops. You are limited to scrounging up good used ones and/or using oversize linings. Hope yours are good.
That's very nice straight and solid looking truck you have there, good luck with it.

 

Looks like a nice truck. The wheels pictured are hard to see clearly, but they do look to be 18” diameter which means probably they are the widow maker Firestone RH-5°. To be sure you need to look to see if you have the pictured “band” like area on the concave side of each wheel. That band is the widow maker joint.

The best F-4 replacement wheel in my view is the motor home 19.5”. The Budd 89340 wheel is still fairly common to find in yards on 1970s/80s Class A Ford and Dodge based motor homes. The 8R19.5” tire is an almost exact diameter match to the original 7.00-18”. Stu

Edit - your pictures of the front wheel didn’t load on my phone right away, but looking now I see clearly that that wheel is a widow maker. Looking at them all will tell you if they all are the same. Stu

 

appreciate the tip on what to look for for the positive identification...

(not to mention the plethora of info shared over the years on these vehicles...)

 

I didn't see the pic of the front wheel before for some reason. Yep, that's a widow maker.

 

I had went back in after the initial posting to directly add the photos...

At first, I had a link to a folder online with the pics -- didn't think I'd be allowed to have direct post photos for some reason...

In any event, thanks for the advice!

 

I scored 7 one piece budd wheels off of a 1970s dodge motor home....I found them in a junk yard and paid 100 bucks for all of them....they are 1 piece 19.5 wheels

 

And yes they are the "widow maker " wheels..... try to get rid of them the one piece budd wheels....

 

Welcome to the forum from another F4 owner. There are several F4s represented here. You are in good company. I also have 19.5" Dodge motor home wheels on my truck. The 8R19.5" tire is a good match for the F4. That is a very nice truck you are considering. Keep us posted.
Mark