Has anyone purchased the 48-54 Ford 100-600 series truck chassis only or the 44-52 Ford car and truck parts manual catalog? Wondered if anyone can rate the quality of the manuals. Truck that I purchased came unassembled so I did not have the chance to photo and catalog the parts. Two of the online companies where I found the manuals are Bishko and Lloyd's. Are they reliable online companies?

 

I have a 48-55 Truck Chassis parts book and the 44-52 Body Parts book, both originals, not reprints. They are Ford parts department manuals the counter guys used to find replacement parts for people needing them. In that respect, they're the best you can get. Whether or not you will be pleased with the "quality" of them would depend on your expectations. If you're looking at them for an assembly manual, you may be disappointed. While there are some exploded views and a lot of valuable information that can be quite helpful, they are parts catalogs, not a how-to manual.

 

If you want the best parts and exploded drawings manual for your 48 what you want to get is the "1948-1952 Ford Truck Chassis Parts Catalogue" if you can find one.

Here's a pic:



And here's a pic of the Body Parts Catalogue Merc recommended.



I bought a CD titled "Ford Truck 1928 thru 1956 Chassis PArts and Accessories Catalogue (14 Volume Set)" and was very dissapointed to find there were only 2 catalogues that I found of use. And, the 48-52 Chassis Parts Catalogue is NOT on it.

 

Thanks for the response. I should have been clearer in stating that I was looking for part catalogs so that I could identify and then search for the parts needed to assemble the 48. Wish all a Happy New Year, Heritage04

 

Welcome to FTE

The 1948/56 Ford Truck Parts Catalog (does not include body parts for 1948/52) is available on a CD from hipoparts.com for around $20.00.

Carpenter sells reprints of the original bound paper catalogs (Vol I = Text / Vol 2 = Illustrations) for 200 BUCKS.

The problem with the individual year catalogs is: Ford changed the basic part numbers in 1956 for steering and driveline parts, so if you have one a these, you will be looking for part numbers that no longer exist.

For example, the old U-joint basic part number was 7039, it's now 4635.

One a the members of this forum was looking all over for U-joints (using the old part number) for a 1951 F6.

The U-joints he needed...under the new part number...are still available from Ford!

There's also this to consider: The problem with old Ford parts catalogs is, the Ford part numbers themselves are also old.

Ford is in-famous for updating 10's of 1000's of part numbers EVERY year.

My fav-o-rite example that fits this criteria is: B-1012 .. Lug Nut / Are you ready...?

B-1012 was replaced by: B-1012-A, COAZ-1012-A, C9AZ-1012-A, E6DZ-1012-A and E8TZ-1012-B!

This means the same lug nut that fits a Little Deuce Coupe, also fits a 1960 Ford Galaxie, 1969 LTD, 1986 Taurus, and an 1988 F150, and a ton of other stuff between 1932-1996.

 

Bill, is there any cd or catalog out there that would show the conversion #'s? I saw that CD you mentioned on hipoparts.com, they also have the 1957-1963 one, would that one show the new and old numbers? Joe

 

Nothing is available on a CD, and even if there were, they would prolly be next to worthless.

You need O-S-I = Obsolete-Supercede-Interchange Parts Catalogs, good luck finding any.

Ford came out with 4 editions every year, then combined them after many editions were printed into one huge O-S-I catalog several years later.

Then the cycle was repeated again, but these newer O-S-I's do not include the older part numbers.

In 1967, Ford began using microfiche slides. The O-S-I's on microfiche are much better, because when new editions came out, they included all the older part numbers found in earlier editions.

Have a microfiche reader? Even if you do, these slides are very hard to find, because when Ford went to computers in the 1990's, most dealers tossed the microfiche, and ALL the paper parts catalogs into the trash.

I have the 4th edition of the 1975 bound paper O-S-I catalog that includes some 1948/60 part numbers, but most of it is 1961/74. I also have slides that cover 1948/94.

I bought the paper catalog on ebay, got the slides from Pasadena Ford when they closed in August 2008.

This dealer, in business since the 1920's, saved everything, so I lucked out. I knew the parts manager, so he gave me 80 bound and loose leaf paper parts catalogs, a viewer and 500 microfiche slides.

Some dealers still have some of these catalogs (and etc). Check out long-time dealers in your area, because you just never know.

I usually hit all the local dealers when on driving trips looking for this stuff, and I've been to TN (attended the 2008 F100 SuperNats in Knoxville).

But, I flew in/out of Charlotte, so I didn't bother looking for any, cuz I didn't wanna have to box them up and ship them or haul them home on a airplane.