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I just bought a 1963 F600 dump truck. The good, it starts, runs, and the PTO/hydraulics work, bed lifts, and clean title. The bad news, head gasket must be blown, the dipstick was a creamy white. I didn't let that stop me. They really shouldn't give me days off in the middle of all this shelter in place. I loved the body style. My addiction started with a 1965 F100, step side, with a 352. I loved that truck but was not in a place where I could restore it as it needed. It was a California truck. I am in the St. Louis area. For now, it's parked on my property. Next I have to find a manual and figure out how to remove the engine so it can be rebuilt. I am a newbie to this. And just for grins, what do you think it's worth? There is significant rust in the floor pans, like I can see daylight on both sides. The dump bed is solid and in good shape. Thanks. Like I wasn't dropping enough on things that go bang.
F600K353398 132 A F602 81(A?) F F2
Last edited by davisg; Apr 13, 2020 at 06:43 PM.
Reason: Adding pic
I will. For now, I'm showered and kicking back in my recliner. I am familiar with the fact that split rims are dangerous. Thanks for looking out of me! I do appreciate it.
You deserve your own thread for this truck. Numberdummy might be by to decode your warranty tag. Running, lifting the bed, clean title--you are well ahead of the pack in the '63 owner ranks!
Cab parts except for fenders are the same as the pickups. Engine removal is simply unbolt, move forward, lift up. Due to the height of this truck, all this is easier said than done. You may or may not want to remove the hood, depending on what equipment you have to pull the motor. I would pull the radiator to protect it and you should have it cleaned out anyway.
How are the brakes? There are several sources for all the brake parts EXCEPT drums. NAPA medium/heavy and others have the parts, but you have to talk slow and make sure they are looking for medium/heavy parts, not car and light truck.
You deserve your own thread for this truck. Numberdummy might be by to decode your warranty tag. Running, lifting the bed, clean title--you are well ahead of the pack in the '63 owner ranks!
Cab parts except for fenders are the same as the pickups. Engine removal is simply unbolt, move forward, lift up. Due to the height of this truck, all this is easier said than done. You may or may not want to remove the hood, depending on what equipment you have to pull the motor. I would pull the radiator to protect it and you should have it cleaned out anyway.
How are the brakes? There are several sources for all the brake parts EXCEPT drums. NAPA medium/heavy and others have the parts, but you have to talk slow and make sure they are looking for medium/heavy parts, not car and light truck.
I can talk really slow. I found that helped with "I'm looking for an x for a 65, F100, with a 352." No, not 351, a 352.
By trade, I'm an oncology nurse. This time we are in makes me pretty beat after a shift. I like the idea that thinking this through keeps my mind off of "that other stuff."
The way I see it:
#1 through who knows...
pull the engine, rebuild. While that is going on..
Fix or new radiator
Fix but more likely new fuel tank, and guessing, but haven't checked, probably can't move it inside the frame
While I'm there, since the hose to heater core is deadheaded, replace the heater core and any associated fans that aren't working
Since I don't really know if the tranny works, all I ran through was first through part of the field and up onto the trailer and reverse off of the trailer. And to the question of the brakes, when my wife was giving me the STOP look and signal as I was backing off, it did stop. Even though she is farm raised, she didn't understand with a dual wheel set up, you only need one on the ramp. Anyway, should probably pull the transmission and have someone look it over.
With that, I think I have spent enough money. My logic says the rear end is the rear end. Either it's good or it's not. Repairing/working doesn't need to coincide with engine, transmission work.
And questions, I have them. I have driven split axles previously, and I'm sure there are youtubes, but what is the shift pattern for this between lo/high? Double clutch?
And I know which **** is the PTO, but to the left is a big old **** that I have no idea what it does. If someone knows off the top of their head, I'd appreciate it. If not, I'll take pics and keep digging.
I do love that once again I have an ignition key that goes in on the left side!
Any thoughts or process ideas are welcome.
I will take more pics soon and post. Thanks again, and thanks in advance for all the future advice.
Last edited by davisg; Apr 14, 2020 at 06:42 PM.
Reason: correct misspelling
We had a '58 F600, 292, T98, two speed rear axle, and a hoist for the bed, just FYI as to "Is he making this all up?"/
First, let's go back to post 2. IF you have widowmakers, that's going to be expensive and time consuming to fix, so keep that in mind. If you don't, tires are still a bit pricey but you are in much better shape. WM wheels are dangerous, so inspect those tires and wheels.
How does the 292 run? Does it really need a rebuild? Have you done a compression test? Or is it a blue cloud special?
Radiator--fix as needed, you're on that already.
Is your fuel tank leaking? Maybe just some minor fiddling if you are lucky.
Brakes: Make sure the master under the hood is topped up. Inspect the inside of each tire and look for "wet" spots, a sure sign you have a leaking wheel cylinder. If you don't find anything, proceed with caution as you get the feel for the brakes.
Transmission: T98s are synchro in 2-3-4, so if there is anyway to safely run this thing through the gears, try it. Check the oil first.
Rear axle: You do not have to split gears. Especially empty. Hi range can be used as "5th gear". I will post a link to a thread with the Eaton videos on shifting.
If you do split, it is probably a straight low/high through each gear. (our '58 and another IH we had was; it too had a 4 speed main)
PTO: You found the PTO. The other **** should be the hydraulics. Engage PTO, pull the other lever out. Up she goes. Push the second lever halfway in, it holds. Push it in all the say, down it comes. Be sure to push the PTO in when you are done.
--Your parking brake, other than leaving it in gear, is on the tail of the transmission. If you disconnect the driveshaft, the truck will roll over you. You may or may not suffer injury or death.
--Once up, the bed will usually stay up, or settle slowly as hydraulic pressure leaks down. UNLESS YOU ARE UNDER IT, in which case it will crash down, damaging the truck, causing your estate to suffer a loss in value.
Double supports are recommended if you are even looking under there.
--Making sure the PTO and hydraulics are in the "off" position and the bed is down before moving will prevent you from tearing down electrical lines or tipping over more easily.
--To inspect or work on the rear brakes, you can pull the axle shaft, take off one nut, and pull the whole dual wheel/hub assembly. Have a helper when you do this.
That's enough for now. Check those wheels and brake fluid level and tell-tale marks.
I’m assuming the engine needs a rebuild since I have a creamy white fluid on the oil dipstick. Haven’t yet tried to see if the radiator holds fluids, but I think the two are connected in ways they shouldn’t be.
i have cheated death enough times that I don’t like to give it an edge. All the safety ideas that can help me live long enough to enjoy tooling around in this are appreciated! Yeah I watched a YouTube from a guy working on his bed. He didn’t use the support that was attached to the bed and he used a piece of aluminum tube between two relatively small areas as he sole safety device to hold up his bed. The sick side of my brain was thinking well at least he’ll have video of how it happened.
Good to know dropping the driveshaft leads to freewheeling. It’s parked west to East and where that is is a good slope. Definitely will move it to north-south which is flat. The luxury of room. And the downhill side is chocked.
Last edited by davisg; Apr 15, 2020 at 10:22 PM.
Reason: Correct misspelling
Hub piloted widow maker Firestone RH-5°s. I’m gonna go into this and probably belabor every point assuming it’s new information to you. Below are pictures of the RH-5° showing how it goes together - and can violently come apart. Do not attempt to mess with them yourself unless it is to pull the valve stems releasing the air. Be especially careful around the outer duals.
The hub piloted mounting system was only used on early Fords in 1963 and 1964. Below is a picture of this system that was pioneered by Motor Wheel Spoksteel in the 1930s.
There are no similar wheels today that are either the safer locking side ring 20” or tubeless 22.5” styles. This will thus require that the wheels be replaced with more traditional stud piloted wheels. You would be best to buy new fasteners. I’m quite sure that your current lug nuts are all right hand threaded. Ford references have this wrong stating that the truck has left hand threads on the left side and right hand threads on the right. Before buying new fasteners make sure I’m right (or wrong) on this. This modification does not require replacing wheel studs. Pictures below.
Replacement wheels having the 6 x 8.75” pattern have been discussed here a lot. A good source would be a military surplus dealer. That is discussed in the below old threads. Stu
I’d like to take another shot at this to hopefully save davidg from twisting off wheel lugs on the left side of his truck. Plus hopefully he reports back what he finds on the truck to settle whether the Ford reference is right, or the numerous other industry references. Bill (ND) will agree I’m sure that the Chassis Catalog shows both right and left hand threaded fasteners used on the 63/64 F/B/N-600 trucks. But every period industry reference I have, as well as current on-line references I checked, show only right hand threads used on hub piloted mountings. The below shows the NWRA code for these original lug nuts to be X-1342 which crosses to Ford C3TZ 1120-A. This is a right hand threaded nut, with no left hand equal cited.
When davidg swaps out his widow makers for safer stud piloted wheels these original lug nuts won’t work on the replacement wheels. Either all new Budd style nuts, or saved right hand threaded used ones from the donor truck, will be needed. The original wheel lugs on the truck can be left in place and used with the new stud piloted fasteners. Additional right hand threaded nuts will be needed for the other side of the truck.
If all this proves wrong (and the Ford catalog correct) those of us that help with wheel questions will want to know. The next guy that shows up with a 63/64 F-600 will be helped. Stu
