Hello,
I recently purchased an F600 that was converted to a boom and winch truck. It had been sitting for 20 years or so without running. It has a V8, standard transmission, two-speed rear-end, and a power take-off on the transmission to operate the hydralics. I was told it was a 1966 (am still waiting on title to be found.
These are my questions: We got it running pretty good, with only a trace of smoke from one bank of cylinders. The next project is to get it driveable, which involves complete brake/wheel/tire overhaul/replacement. It now has the 6 lug (about 8 3/4 inch bolt circle) split rims, with a double lug nut type rear dual wheels. The wheels are corroded beyond repair, and need to be replaced. No one around here would touch split rims anyway, so I need to find Budd rims or solid rims that will match the bolt pattern. The tires are presently 8.25 X 20. I am told by a tire shop that new rims will be $250 each to fit 9.00R X 22.5 tires, which are the same size and are tubeless. Does anyone have any ideas where I can get six rims for considerably less then the $1500 I am being quoted. Add tires to that and the truck isnt worth it. I would appreciate any advice that anyone has that might be helpful. I've even thought about changing the whole brake drum system if I could find out who to do it, if it would enable a cheaper more common rim.
The next question is serial number interpretation. I've noticed that some of you guys can decipher the meaning, and I would be very interested to know what I have here.
The id tag on the left door reads:

F60CX804601
156L F600 M61 A78
17000 164 3900 64

I could be mistaken as it is very difficult to read, but I think thats right. First off, it looks more like its a 64, and not a 66. I would be interested to know what size V8 I have too.

Thanks for the help. I appreciate it.
Jim Bates jimbatesoffice@***.net

 

Hi Jim, Welcome to FTE and the 61-66 forum.

I would be interested in what you are going to use the truck for. If you bought it for the looks, you might come out cheeper moving the sheet metal to a newer chassis.

Moving the rigging shouldn't be much of a problem if you purchased the truck for that.

Sometimes when working on a tight budget, being creative is a big plus.

John

 

Your engine is probably a 292 Y-block.
The dangers of split rims, while very real, are not as bad as most imagine. Any competent tire shop has a cage to put them in when inflating. Find a good set of stock rims and use them, they are cheap and plentiful.

 

John,
The rest of the chassis is in pretty good condition. The body work is actually going to require the most work time wise. I intend to use it as a local utility vehicle, and I do like the rather unique looks of this particular truck. The old man that built it was one of those do everything type of mechanics/handymen, and I'll have to post a picture so you can see what I mean.
But, the idea of $1500 worth of steel rims, not even custom chromed ones, kind of sticks in my throat. I was hoping that someone would know of a substitute rim that works.
Jim

 

Jim,

Where you able to locate replacement rims? I also have '66 F660 Dump with 4 remaining slit rims. Just wondered if you found a source.

Shindog

 

OEM type split rims should be ok and safe if you find a truck tire outfit that knows how to work with them. There is an older Firestone design that was dangerous even when worked properly--no one will work on those for sure.

Does your engine have a cross-over exhaust pipe accross the front of the engine? If so, 292.

Good luck with this. Don't cheap out on brakes, tires and wheels. $1500 isn't much money when you think about the consequences of a failure of one or more of these components.

 

Welcome to FTE

I made changes to the above information. You had the paint code tied to the wheelbase, the transmission code tied to the axle code (which is incorrect). The body code is M81, not M61.

F60 = F600 2WD

C = 330 Medium Duty FT engine (No 292's after 1964).

X = No such assembly plant code, the X is prolly a K = Kansas City Assembly Plant.

804601 = 1966 (1966 serial # range: 732,001 thru 914,000). If it was a 1964, the serial # range would be 445,001 thru 580,000.

156 = 156" Wheelbase

PAINT Code: L = Holly Green

F600: F600 2WD / 17,000 lbs. GVWR

M81: Medium Beige Crush Vinyl & Medium Beige Cody Pattern Woven Plastic / 81 = 81A Standard Cab

TRANS Code: A = New Process 435 4 Speed

AXLE Code 78 is not a two speed rear axle, it's a Timken Model H140. You prolly read the code wrong. The AXLE Code could be F8: 1966/67 Eaton 2 Speed / 6.33-1 & 8.81-1 / 15.000 lb. Rear Axle Capacity

17000 = 17,000 lbs. Gross Vehicle Weight Rating

178 NET HP @ 3900 RPM

64 = New Orleans District Sales Zone Office, where the original selling dealer ordered the truck from.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
330 M/D FT engine, the dizzy is in front of the carburetor / Y block (292), the dizzy is behind the carburetor.

The parts catalog application for a 1966 F600 shows the Eaton 2 Speed. Since the second digit of the code is an 8, I surmised the first digit is an F, because that code works out to a 1966 (or 1967) only.