It's a sheet of steel with nothing underneath. Pretty plain.

 

Your chart is a little flawed. It's the nice one from LMC, But.........

It shows the rating plate changing for the 52 models only, but that's not true. It changed in September of 1951 and the later 51 had it as well. R is the 239 engine code for the 51 (and I thought) 52 models.

F3R1 is a F3 truck with a 239 Flathead 239 V8 made in 1951. BF= Buffalo N.Y for the plant and the rest is kind of irrelvent - just the production number.

The means your truck frame and probably the front clip is a 51 F3. That makes sense because you have the longer wheel base.

So, now you have some choices. If you want to bring it back to stock, you can try and find a long bed for it (good luck). If you try to put a short bed on it, it will not butt up against the cab in the back. So, if you can live with th estake pockets in the center, maybe we are back to your original idea, put 52 F1 fenders on it. But probably, you are going to want to put the narrowed F2/F3 fenders on it so they dont stick out. I think the only critical measurement is going to be if youhave enough room from the center of the wheel well to the back stake pocket. I'll get you some measurements on fenders for F2/F3s and send them later this evening.

See- not so bad!





Ps if you send me your real e-mail address, I can attach this page without reducing it and it's easier to read.

 

Hi Doraville,

Ok here are a couple of great schematics. I'm not sure if you will be able to read them once they are posted but if not send me a PM with your e-mail address and I will send you the fullsize versions.

The question is: How long are the F1 and F3 fenders....are they the same or is one longer. I measured my F1 fenders and from running board to back edge on the bed side mounting edge, they are: 58 1/2" If you can get one of the guys with an F2 or F3 with the long bed to measure their fenders (under the bed from inside edge at the running board to back lip at the bed) that will tell you which of the two sets of fenders you have enough room to mount lengthwise. Remember each F2/F3 back fender is narrower that the F1 fenders by 2 1/2 inches.





You can see also how far back your tailgate should be from th ewheel center in these.

 

Here is another link that you may find useful.

http://abccompany.biz/fordtrucks/52FORD.DOC

 

Here's the page from Van Pelt, in all it's glory...

 

That's more better!

I tried to reduce the scanned one I have from the Chassis Parts Catalogue and you can see how far I got....still playing with the "how too's" on posting photo's since the upgrade!

HEY ROGER! Do me a favor: do you still have your bed standing on end????? Will you go out and measure one of your back fenders for length on the bedside edge and post it in a reply here? F2 Right? Thanks!

 

Dan - yeah, it's an F2 and still on it's side. I'm at work until after midnight, so will have to be either very late tonight, or early tomorrow, most probably when I get home tonight. That's about 10:00 pm SDC (San Diego Colley-for-knee-yah) time.

so you want distance across? At the widest point? Or, at the bottom of the bed? I can take any measurements you'd like, but I didn't follow what you asked for...

Roger

 

Thanks a bunch guys. I didn't mean to put you through this much trouble.

Here is what I think from looking at the truck. It obviously started out life as a 3/4 ton, long bed, heavy duty pickup. Somewhere along the line, someone decided to try to make it into a shortbed, but instead of taking 8" out of the middle of the frame to give it the right wheelbase, they cut off the end of the frame. They put a 53 bed on it, either because they had one handy, or because they're more readily available, or possibly because the dimensions of the 53 bed made it less noticeable that it was the longer wheelbase. I also think that it may be a bed for a long wheelbase 53 that has been cut down. Don't know why they did this instead of using a short bed, but I'm sure there is a reason.

I think that they used the 53 fenders because they are not as long from front to back as the 51-52's, which allowed them to move them back on the bed, further masking the fact that it is a long wheelbase.

I don't see a way to get where I want to be from here. I think that I'm going to make a few modest improvements to the truck and drive it while I continue to look for my dream truck. At some point, I'll try to find someone who likes the truck the way it is, and is not interested in putting it all back original (I'll make sure to give full disclosure on the bed and wheelbase issues). If no one wants the truck, then I'll just keep it.

You live and learn, but I have to admit that I'm a little embarrassed to have made such a rookie mistake at the age of 46.

I really appreciate you guys' help sorting all of this out.

Peace,
-Doraville

 

Eric - don't beat yourself up!! You have a nice truck, regardless! You shouldn't have any trouble selling it, even with the changes made to it. The girl I got MY truck from was planning the exact same thing, and it would have been pretty much exactly what you have, with the exception of the F2 fenders from '51, only she lost her storage. That's why I ended up with it - I offered my shop for her to store it, and she shot me a price I couldn't refuse.

And when you find the one you want, you'll be ready for it! I had very little experience with these 6 months ago, when I bought it, but I've come a LONG way, thanks to the guys (and gals!) here. Mine's well on it's way, I've rebuilt the tranny, gotten a rebuilt motor, and have started on the frame and body work. It's totally stripped to pieces, even though my original intention was to simply drive it. But, now it will be pretty much "correct" when I am done, and hopefully, by the end of the year, or next summer at the very latest. I get a lot of time to work on it, which is nice, plus a place to work on it, nicer yet. The $$$'s are coming in and going out at a steady pace. So, hopefully...you can see the start of mine in the link in my signature.

I looked at your gallery - can't really tell, but it looks like a prime candidate for a back-half-graft - make it an extended cab, right up to the rear fender, a very short box (all fender!). Man, that would be cool....or not....(hey, BobJ...a little Photo-chopping action here???)

R

 

Looking again at Bob's prints, and your truck, it almost looks like they cut off the front, and moved the fender rear-ward, if it's a '53/'56 bed. Bob's pic looks like two stake pockets in the middle, front and rear of the fender. Looks like your fender was moved back to under the rear stake pocket, then the excess taken out of the front. Just my observation...

Where's the indentation for the tire inside the bed? It's just strange where the stake pocket is - centered on the fender...

R

 

I guess my thoughts on this were that no matter how the bed was cut, the fender got mounted centered over the back wheel. What I was thinking was to measure both F1 and F2/3 fenders in length to see if an F2/F3 fender could be mounted centered over the wheel as it's supposed to be and come out somewhere close to the correct positions in front and in back. The front shouldn't be a problem and he could mod a set of running boards to fit from front to back fender.

My concern was does he have enough room from the center of the back wheel to the back stake pocket to mount an F2/F3 fender (and ideally have the 1 1/2 inch space). If he does, then he can mount his fenders and the truck will appear exactly the same as an F1.

The experienced eye (or some jerk with a tape measure) may notice it's a little tall but overall it will have the F1 look he wants - center stake pocket excepted. We should probably focus on the F2/F3 fenders because he has the wide bed and with F1 fenders he's gonna end up with the Dumbo Butt Truck - then we'd really be in trouble with him (her).

Thanks for the reply on the fender measurement Roger. I'm looking for the length measurement from front to back. On the bottom, from the point where the fender bolts to the running board at the inboard point closest to the bed edge of the fender, to the same point on the rear of the fender. In other words the lineal distance the fender runs from front to back where it mounts to the bed side but at the bottom of the fender. Oh WTH...here's a pic - tough to put into words.



And DV don't worry about all the help, we love fixing stuff like this. We know all this stuff because we made the mistakes in the past too After we get your truck all fixed, we'll all be over to tell you what color to paint your house and where to put the pool! we're here for ya.

PS I looked at your original picture and you do have F2-F6 front fenders on your truck with the larger openings.

 

Dan,

I don't have a 51-52 fender to measure, but just from looking at the diagrams I don't think they will fit for the reason you mentioned. There's not much room on my truck between the back wheels and the back of the bed. The 53 fenders appear to be much shorter from the center of the wheel opening to the back of the fender than the 51-52 (which is probably why they used 53 fenders).

 

Hi Guys,
I'm also a newbie to this forum, just signed up because of this thread. I've also just run into a couple of the same issues. When I picked up my truck it was a farm truck with a rotten flat bed and because the running boards had obviously been hacked with a torch I knew it was originally an express box. I haven't had any luck finding a raised panel box so i picked up an 8 foot box and thought it would be good enough for now with the proper fenders on it.
And this is where the fun starts. I don't know the exact year of the box, but it won't fit without chopping about 8" off the FRONT ( to center the bed side wheel indents). From my cab to the center of the rear axle is 47" and there is 54" from the front of the new box to the wheel indent center. I doesn't look like there is room to cut a full 10" off the back with the 52 fenders though. May end up with a 6' 10" box., granted, longer wheel base. The other intresting thing is the box has only has the middle stake pocket, maybe Ford changed them after 56 again. The drivers fender also has the fuel filler neck in in.

Hope that helps,
Steve

 

Welcome to the board 52MercM3. When you can you should start a gallery so we can have a better understanding of the issues that you are having. Photos may also help identify the bed you are using as well.

 

Sorry so late in responding...my fender is 59 inches long, at the bottom of the bed.

R