Hi,I just bought a 1955 f350 with a 9' express bed,with 8 stake pokets,it has 6 lug 17" wheels,I have never seen one,Does anyone know how many were built?I want to put a 12 valve cummins,& a ford ZF 6 speed in it.I also want to put a dana 60 rear end under it,but If the truck is hard to come by I may leave it all original & put all of the new powertrain into my 55' F450.Does anyone have any pics of F350's with the 9' bed?Any information is helpful.

 

Howdy,

How are you planning to adapt the ZF to the 6BT?

That ZF is a perfect choice. Use one from a 4x4 ( or an F450) and you can put a trans mounted parking brake on it too!

I have considered a similar thing using an E4OD in my 55 F-600.


Cheers,


Rick

 

Fordcummins.com makes the adapterplate,it cost me 800.00.By using the ford ZF I saved about 600 pounds in weight over the cast iron dodge5/6 speeds.

 

A neat project to be sure, keep us posted.
I bought a nice 56 F350 this summer, it runs too well to mess with but a diesel would be great.

 

You might want something bigger than a Dana 60. A Dana 70 is the same size but will take much more abuse.

 

I had a ZF out of a Ford F-350 that I sold. I only got $400 for it.

Maybe I should have kept it!!

It was the 2 wheel drive model though. I would have probably had to replace the rear case to get a parking brake unit on it.

It looks like the Ford-Cummins adapter will work with an E4OD also. Mine is from a 94 F450 with a 7.3L N/A diesel.

I am thinking that the E4OD built right will work well behind a 6BT. The one I have was used routinely to haul an equipment trailer with an excavator on it. I think the whole mess must have weighed around 20K and the trans went 100k with only a small leak in the front seal.

If you put one of those in a 50's F500/600 you MUST use an OD transmission. The highest ratio axle available is 5.83:1.... if you stick with an OE axle or you won't have the gearing to go very fast unless you have an over drive trans or an aux transmission

I have a 6.80 single speed rear axle right now and with the 39" tires I have to run nearly 3500 rpm to go 60mph!

With a 5.83:1 axle and a 0.70 OD I will only need to turn about 2050 rpm. For highway cruising you need to have the engine turning that slow if it's a diesel! A Cummins likes to turn about 1600-1800 for best MPG.

Do you already have the engine?

 

Yes,I have the engine,twin turbos,intercooler,big pump,propane,big injectors,& a lot of headwork done.It will have way more power than I will need,I already have a nice disc brake dana 60 with 3.54 gears & a posi.I moved the spring perches,It is ready to bolt in.I already have a nice round pipe front axel with disc brakes,out of a late model dodge,I had to narrow it,& add some spring perches,but it is finished & ready to bolt onto the original springs.I am going to use a gm hydrobooster for the brakes & run it off of the cummins powersteering pump.I am having a machine shop redrill all 4 hubs & rotors to the original 6 lug 17" wheels,so the truck will look original.I just found a nice old 1950's era goosneck trailer with some military axels under it,it will go behind it & I plan on driving & using the truck/trailer to bring home junk,more old trucks & haul tractors.Maybe even a pto winch in the bed,before I am done.

 

Here are a few pics of the 53 F350 with 9 foot service bed that my Dad had a couple years ago.

http://public.fotki.com/heck91426/53_f350_expressserv/

I have more pics of it if your interested.
reallly looooong running boards. lol
The bed wood was different widths. the center boards were wider than the outer boards.

had a 6 cylinder with some crazy rear end gears. did 45 mph top speed.

 

Yes I would like to see more pictures of it,It is like mine,I looked today & the tag on the glovebox door says it has a 130" wheelbase,that makes the runningboards nearly 2' longer than a half ton.You just don't see that many of these f350 trucks around here in east Texas,so any pics of one would be great.

 

Because there aren't many around. I asked the same question a while back as to production numbers, because my father has a 55 express. There wee only 5000 something from what I recall. That means probably less than 50 today in running driving condition.

 

<TABLE cellSpacing=1 cellPadding=4 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=alt1 vAlign=top align=left width="10%">Looking for: </TD><TD class=alt1 align=left>I need an express bed for a 55' f350,it will be over 9' long & will have 8 stake bed poket holes.Not 6 like the f250.


I personal messaged you about this. let me know
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

 

The express box is 9'-4" long. Good luck finding one for sale.

 

i need to go over and measure it but does this look like an express bed?

http://www.fquick.com/images/vehicle...jpg?1194740276

 

Nope that is just a flatbed, the expres bed looks just like the F-100 pickup box but is longer higher and wider with more stake pockets.

 

I'll second abe's info. The pick up box is just like the F-100, but is easily identified as it is the only one with 4 stake pockets per bed rail.