I got another truck today. A guy had a '51 flatbed on eBay a few weeks ago starting at $400 and no one bid on it. I contacted him after the auction and arranged to go up to see it today. I bought it for his $400 starting price. It turned out the truck is a F-4 with a loose flathead eight, not currently running but was told it was running when he parked it. It was sitting in the same spot for the last five years. The cab is almost mint, with a little rust in on back corner, the front fenders are repairable and the tires don't look too bad and they hold air. The truck is complete and doesn't seem to have been molested in any way. He also threw in a new repair manual, a spare door and two brand new, still in the box, water pumps, he even had two keys for it. I went to buy the truck for parts but as I was trailering it home I got to thinking about it and I think it is just too nice of a truck to part out. I am going to get it running and then do some rust repair and a quick paint job.

I am more inclined toward the '48-50s although I have bought a few '51-52 for parts. My better half doesn't like the '51s, she says the grill looks like the beater on a manuer spreader, she's a farm girl. For some reason this '51 has tweeked my interest. It will make a nice addition to my fleet.

One question I have is about the rims. In previous posts there were many discussions about split rims on the larger trucks. This truck has 20" tubeless tires on solid five stud rims, did only the F-4s come with these? All of the F-5 and F-6s I have had had the split rims, either the twist type or the snap ring. The problems with the split rims have always made me shy away from the larger truck. Any info would be appreciated.

 

Bob, it sounds as if you have a keeper in that F-4. It would be a shame to part out what seems like a very solid base truck. Not enough people are restoring the bigger trucks, so someday they may just disappear from our landscape.

As for the tire/wheel debate, I was was one of the original starters to this subject several years ago on my F-4. The F-4, 5 & 6 all use the split rim wheel as standard equipment. All had 5 lugs on 8" diameter. The F-5 & 6 had 20" dual rear wheels of different widths & plies (load capacities). The F-4 came with 20" single rear wheels as standard and 18" dual rear wheels as optional. I've haven't heard of any one having the sinlge rear wheels on their F-4. The load capacity may have been too close to the F-3 (6800 vs 7500) with the single wheels. The DRW F-4 had a 10,000 lb. GVW. I've heard of several people with 20" DRW on their F-4's, which can't be standard. Be glad your F-4 has the 20" wheels, as 18" tires are hard to find and only come in one tread pattern (highway tread).

BTW, does your F-4 have SRW or DRW. If you have "solid" wheels they may be from a different (newer) truck. The other thing is the split-rim wheels "look" solid on the convex ( side. The ring is on the concave ) side or inside touching the brake hub on the front axle. See my gallery for a better look.

Fran

 

At first I never liked the grills on the 51-52 but gonna have three of them now. You lucked out with solid wheels. I guess no one in the states will touch them but work on them often in Canada. You got to put some pictures up. Hopefully I can get my third truck today (fingers crossed).

 

This morning I took a better look at the wheels, the tire on the front are 8-22.5 and the four on the rear are 7-22.5 and they're all tubeless with one piece rims. I am assuming that means they are 22 1/2" wheel, are the 22 1/2" tires hard to find? The ones on it are a little dry rotted from sitting flat for quite some time but have really good tread and hold air.

I am not in a hurry to replace the tires, I have enough projects right now. I am the middle of redoing a '49 8N tractor and I still have to get my panel finished so I can get to the Dash to the Dells this fall. When I get to the F-4 I am not going to go too nuts, just clean up the rust, build a new flatbed and paint it. I just couldn't let this one go.

Here are a couple of pictures: I really like those turn signals.

 

Boy am I glad I saw this post about the wheel size! My 51 F4 has 4 18" wheels and 2 20" wheels on it. I wasn't sure what was correct but I am now. My truck is rated at 10,000lb GVW so it should have had dual 18" rear wheels. This forum is the best source of info!
Heck of a solid truck you picked up for $400 too! I'm still in the process of trying to finish the brake job on mine. Brake parts are pretty much impossible to find for the F4 and F5's it seems.

 

Congratulations.It seems to be a nice old truck.Looks to be in pretty good shape.

 

Brett, I hear ya about the brakes. Folks in this forum say Joblot.com has parts for the big old trucks, including brake parts. I've asked them for a catalog, but haven't gotten one from them yet.

Fran

 

Brett,

I'm sure this truck needs brakes because it sat so long and when we pulled it from it's resting place the back wheels were locked up. They started moving once we got it on hard pavement. Where did you get parts for your brakes. I hear a lot of people mention Job Lot also for parts for the bigger trucks. There is a brake remanufacturer near here that I can usually find parts for my F-2 if no one else has what I need, I am going to try them if NAPA can't help. Better yet, I'll go down to AutoZone and ask Biff behind the counter

One more thing, while playing around with the truck this afternoon I think I discovered it has the sycronized transmission that was talked about in another discussion on this board last week. Reverse is over and up, not over and down like in my F-2. If only it was a Five-Star cab

 

Nice find there Bob... just need to find me one of those... well not in that good of shape, cuz I just need the clip (as you said thats too nice to part out). I like the price too, certainly can't beat $400 for a complete truck.

 

Nice find and good luck with it. Glad to read that you are fixing it up instead of parting it out, love those old work tucks that survive as most where worked and beat to death. Had a real nice M6 afew years back but sold it as I am more into the 53-56 trucks. Have a 60 F600 still that isn`t too bad and may get it running one of these days.

 

What a solid looking truck!... and what a steal!
Way to go!

GW

 

I was quite lucky when it came to the brakes on my truck. I'm having the shoes relined at a local shop here in Tampa and really didnt need anything else. I was going to replace the drums but found out they were virtually impossible to find so I just cleaned mine up instead. Joblot.com is really the only outlet that I have found with anything available for these trucks. My local parts store/machine shop was helpless trying to locate anything for this truck and they dug through every old book they had. Knock on wood, the wheel cylinders alll seem fine with no leaks. I just hate to change anything on my truck since it's quite complete also.

I'm gonna be smiling from ear to ear when I can drive this baby down the road for the first time! Best of luck to everybody and if I can help you in any way please email me!

 

I took my wife over my shop today to show her that the truck looks a lot better once I put the front left tire back on, it came off while pulling it out of the seller's drive way, and inflated the rest of the tires. I did this before taking the above pictures. Anyway, as we were walking around the truck I was trying to instill in her all of the good points of the truck. I told her we needed to name it, she likes to name vehicles and I thought this was one way to endear her to the truck, as we were looking at the truck she notice some very faint lettering on the front of the hood. We were able to make out "ROGER", so that is what she named it. She said it looks like a Roger.

She's pretty much has resigned herself to the fact that I am keeping it. She knows after sixteen years of marriage it doesn't pay to argue with me when it comes to anything that pertains to old trucks.