G"day, I have purchased a 1961 f 600 here down under. we had one on my Dads farm when i was younger. My question is, with the F 600's where there varying ratios in the diff ?.
This truck as with our original has a 272 Y block, how ever the one on our farm seems to have much better top end speed. I believe the tyre profile is the same.
Also my truck seems to have trouble changing down from high to low, it moves up through the gears and diff split but has to stop befor clicking back down into low.

First time post.

Thank you

Aussie

 

Welcome to FTE.

We had one in a '58: You CAN NOT downshift the two speed axle like a transmission. You can only down shift from Hi to Lo under load, assuming your axle is working properly. For example, if you are in 4th Hi, and start to climb a hill, you can downshift the axle as now the engine and drive train are under load. You hold the throttle steady, push the button down, and stab the clutch. The revs will match the new ratio and now you are in 4th lo.

Split shifting up and down is possible, but tricky. See if this works first.

 

Thank you for the reply on the shift down. Another thought i had was to fit power steering to the F 600. Does any one know of an after market unit or one from a later model ford that may be adapted to suit ?.

Also the diff ratio varyations that came out on the F 600, as i stated in my first post top end speed seems very low.

Thank you

 

The 61 probably used the same ratios as previous years. In my 60 F 600s, I have a 5.83/8.11 and a 6.33/8.81.
Not built for speed.

On the power steering, your best bet is to find a similar size Ford truck from the 60s or 70s that had power steering, and transplant the entire mechanism and linkage. I find that the manual steering is only difficult in close quarter manuvering, on the road it is OK.