I just bought a 48 Ford F3 from a old high school teacher and he really screwed me over! He told me that the engine was ok and it isnt. i have broken valves, a stuck engine and a cracked block. Does anyone out there have any idea what the body off the 48 will fit on if I want a truck that i can drive daily and have 4 wheel drive? I am in deprite need of help. please let me know if you have ay answers

Thanx mitch

 

The body of your 48 Ford pickup won't easily fit on anything other than a 48-52 Ford pickup frame. With enough cutting, welding and custom fabrication, including shortening the middle of the frame, people have made the early body work on circa late 60's-70's frames. But it's not a job for a beginner, or the faint of heart. Did I mention there's a considerable amount of custom fabrication, cutting and welding involved in doing such a project? And I mean a lot. If you're looking for a quick and easy way to have a daily driven 4x4, your options would be to open a really big checkbook, or find yourself a clean late model and be happy with that. Tackling a project of this magnitude is going to be neither quick nor easy.

 

As a general rule, frame swaps are frowned upon by the population of this board. While there have been many body swaps done onto various 2x4 and 4x4 frames, none are an easy swap and they always involve considerable surgery to the body and frame. Most full size truck frames from the early 70's and on are all too wide and most are too long. I've also seen S-10 swaps done, but they are useless unless you like a truck bed that's only about 10 inches deep. The shape of the frame requires raising the bed floor. The biggest drawback in my opinion is what it does to the value of the truck. I watch lots of trucks sell on fleaBay and the trucks on non-stock frames either don't sell or sell at a much lower price.

I'd say it would be much easier to find a good replacement engine for your truck. If you can let us know where you're at, someone here on the board can probably help you out. I've got quite a few flathead V-8's myself that need new homes.

If you're determined to go the 4x4 route, consider doing a 4x4 conversion on your existing chassis. That's the way that I'm going on my '52 F-2 and several others have done it with good results as well. The existing suspension system lends itself well to installing a live front axle. Early Bronco's are about the right width and a Dana 44 out of just about any mid-70's truck can be easily narrowed to fit as well. After that, you can either add an engine, trans., and transfer case combo as a package out of a donor and call it done or install a divorced transfer case and run it with a stock engine and transmission. You've got lots of options now, but once you light the torch, you only have one.

 

Ok Maybe I'm not putting 2+2 together right here.

The major complaint was the F3 engine right...so why the frame swap? Why not just repair or replace the engine? And if you wanted a 4x4 daily driver why did you buy the F3 - I'm confused.

 

Just swap out the engine - don't see what all the stress is for/about?
No point in creating a whole load of work you don't need to (unless the rest of the truck is also in trouble...)

 

As stated above most on the board frowns on frame swaps. Since at this time you don't have at least 25 posts you won't be able to search of this site using the site search but you can do a search using Google:

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/8...ternative.html

Enter "frame" and "swap" and you'll get a lot of hits on the subject that have been posted on FTE.

If you want a 4X4 there is a member of the board, jpb222, that has achieved this using the stock frame of his F-1, which is close enough to the F-3 that I think you could do the same on your truck:

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/7...d-f-1-4x4.html

 

There were original 4x4 conversions done by aftermarket companies back in the day when your truck was new, with MH being the most prolific. You may be able to find an MH chassis and rebuild it.
As said, there are a few on here who have somewhat sucessfully transplanted a bonus built to a 4x4 chassis, but it does require a lot of fabrication skills, and modifications (widening fenders etc.) as well as comprimises. You are looking at at least a full year's work or much longer and appreciable cost. My honest suggestion would be to sell the 48 and buy yourself a later model running 4x4 for whatever you need a 4x4 for, you'll be way ahead financially and be driving immediately. If you really want a 48 then still buy a later model 4x4 for driving and work on the 48 at your leisure. I know that isn't the answer you were looking for, but it's the reality.

 

OK so I am sorry that i was a little fired up yesterday about what all went down with my truck. I honestly dont want a 4X4 i want to restore to an original, but updated brakes and 12 volt system. I was so angry that I let what my budy said to me get to me about frame swaps. I just needed today to get me head back on straight and a good slow day at work to think. So I do apolagize to all you guys. I truly love flat heads and this was going to be a project that i was going to work on with my grandfather, but due so some resent events i will be doing it by myself in memory of him. So BlueOvalRage you said that you have some flat heads looking for a good home. i am going to look into the engine a little harder and find out what i need and maybe one of youur engines. I do not know were you live but I am way up in Fargo ND.

Thanx for all your halp
mitch

 

No needed to apologize, one of the uses of this board is to bounce ideas off of. Although most here don't believe in frame swaps there are others who have successfully done them. If you have the skills, money and time to do it I say go for it. I personally wouldn't do it because I know I'd get half way through it and give up. I'd rather stick with stock but that's just me.

If you do decide to keep it stock you should know most parts from a F-1 will fit your truck so when you go looking for body, trim or mechanical parts most will fit. Some like front fenders, rear fenders and boxes are F-2/F-3 specific. Brakes and wheels are also different than the F-1. I have a list of interchangeable parts on my web site:

Body Part Interchange Guide

Since your truck is a F-3 it's a good chance you have stock Widow Maker wheels which you will want to get rid of. Because of their bad design they are dangerous and you will have an extremely hard time finding a reputable tire who will work on them. I have another page about this:

Ford two piece rims

Some of the F-3s have larger rear brake drums, but I keep forgetting which years, but if your truck has the larger rear drums you might find it difficult to find rims that will fit over them. There are two ways of getting around this problem. First, find a same vintage F-2 rear axle or better yet, find a pre-73 F-250 rear axle, you can find one with better gearing than the stock axle which will make your truck more enjoyable to drive at highway speeds.

Another upgrade is the front brakes. No one that I know of sells disc brake conversion kits for the larger trucks, only the F-1. If you want to keep the stock appearance with the eight bolt pattern wheels you can do a disc upgrade using stock parts from newer trucks that are readily available. Again, I have a page for this:

F-2/F-3 Front Disc Brake Conversion

Good luck with your truck and don't be afraid to post more questions or suggestions. We all can learn something new.

 

I'd suggest looking back a page or so at the thread titled "Restoring 49 F-3". There is good discussion there about wheel replacement options. Like Bob said, your rear drums are the early 14" variety that will make wheel replacement a bit more difficult. Later rear ends used 12" drums that any 16" wheel from a pre '97 F-250 will work on. No matter what else you do with the truck, your stock 17" wheels will need to be a replacement priority. Stu

 

I work at a ford dealer so i was able to try the old rim on a 96 super duty and they fit. Perfectly... except I have no rear drum right now. so if i just left the brakes up front stock and put new pads in them and then did rear drums off a 96 would that work also? also a little off topic but what is the BEST manual to use for the engine, trani, truck specs and procedures.

thanx mitch

 

Mitch,

The very first purchase you should make is the Ford truck shop manual. You can buy reprinted versions on eBay, they show up regularly, or from one of the many auto literature places, do a Google search, or one of the many reproduction parts vendors. The shop manual will give you 99% of the information you need to work on your truck, the rest you can find here. An original version is the best quality but the reprints are almost as good. They usually sell for around $30-35, worth every cent.

As for the rear axle, there shouldn't be a problem with the stock and the newer rear as long as you go with drum brakes. You won't be able to find new shoes for the front,unless you have a connection through the Ford dealer who has them but I doubt it. You'll have to have them relined but again, working for a Ford dealer you won't have any trouble finding a place to do it.

 

Mitch,

I don't think that you're going to get any part of the rear brakes to fit on your stock axle. Honestly, I think that your best course of action on the rear brakes is to swap the entire rear axle out of your truck. In addition to the brakes being hard to find parts for and it being difficult to find modern, safe, one-piece wheels that will fit over them, you will also have to deal with the ridiculously low gear ratio. While a 4.11 was available, the most common ratio was a 4.88. You'll find that the stock axle with that gear will give you a top speed of about 50. There aren't any gears available for swaps in the old Timken axles, either. The hot ticket is to find a Dana 60 rear axle out of a '67-'72 F-250. These donor trucks are easy to find in the salvage yards and since they aren't nearly as popular as the 9-inch Ford axles in the F-100's, they are pretty cheap, too. It will literally bolt right in to your truck. They require no mods to the truck or your original hardware and the overall width and spring perch location are perfect. All you have to do is grind the shock mounts off of the axle. The common ratios are 3.73 or 4.10. Either would be great behind a stock flatmotor with a tall, stockish sized tire, but 3.73 would be ideal if you aren't looking to load the truck down. They also come with nice, big 12x2.5" brakes. Big enough to haul down any load you will probably ever carry, but small enough that you can use any common 8-lug wheel.

As for the engine, I can make you a heck of a deal on a good block, crank, and rods if you want to build a new motor. I can even get the parts tanked and fluxed for you first to ensure that you're getting good pieces. I could also set you up with a complete running long block if you'd rather do that. Getting either one from Indiana to North Dakota may be a challenge, though. If you'd like to discuss that further, we should take it offline. You can't send or receive instant messages until you hit 25 posts, so keep participating and then drop me a line when you get there and we'll chat.

 

What if i took the Dana 60 rear axle out of a '67-'72 F-250 along with the brake setup would this work or will i need to have it cut down. Also we definetly need to talk engines. i am in the prosess of pulling out the engine right now i am going to pull trani and engine out i will have the front fenders and grill off and then push the truck out side and give me some space to tear it apart. but from what i can see through the spark plug holes its not pretty at all. kinda a bummer but it was sorta expected.

thanx for every ones hellp so far
Mitch

 

As noted above, that is exactly what you want to do, as that truly is your best option, for all the reasons noted above. There is no cutting necessary. It is a direct bolt in.