Julie - I traded with Chuck. My '38, plus some cash, for his complete '51 and '54. You're right that they go for $150 to $200 depending on where you find them, and how complete. I paid $150 for my '52.

mtflat - Where did you see that '51/'52 F-3s had a one ton rating? Everything I've seen says light 3/4 for the F-2 and heavy 3/4 for F-3. The F-4 was marketed here as a one ton, but confusingly there were two optional configurations. The F-4s with single rear 20s were rated at 7500 lbs, and with dually 18s were rated at 10,000.

Adding to the confusion, no F-2 was sold in Canada while the F-3 was sold there as a one ton. And I've wondered myself whether the F-4 was even sold in Canada. If so, how was it designated? Since the F-3 was an F-68 or M-68 to reflect the 6800 lb. weight rating, was the F-4 an F-75/M-75, or was it (to really confuse things!), an F-100/M-100 to reflect the 10,000 lb. rating. I've read in other threads that the F-5 was sold there as an F-135. Since I've never heard of Canadian F-4s my gut tells me they weren't sold there, but I'd like to hear from some of our northern friends that know for sure.

According to the Chassis Manual the '48 to '50 F-1s came with either 4.27 or 3.73 gearing, and the 3.92 was intro'd sometime in '50 and carried on through '52. Both the '51 and '52 Dealer books reflect the change. You're right that the Shop Manual and '52 Supplement show only the later 4.27/3.92 options.

Interesting to me is the fact that both the Shop Manual and Chassis Manual show the 4.86 and 4.11 options for F-2s and F-3s, but none of the sales material or Dealer books show the 4.11 as an option. Stu

 

One caviat to the "Salesmans Handbook" (and the other books as well) is that as engineers found/corrected problems, or redesigned/replaced a part, the parts books and Salesmans Manuals were updated with "Change" or "Revision" releases. When the Technical Writers released these updates, the "owner" (great visions of our own Number Dummy Bill - young, tall, strapping, and handsome!) of the manual (who was on an update distribution mailing list) would recieve the package of changes and physically remove the effected pages and insert the new.

Point is that with these manuals we buy 60 years later, the reprints should have all the changes incorporated (and thus be complete), but an original manual may not have been kept current, so consistancy between the pubs may be marginal at best.

My 51 Truck (Salesmans) Handbook (all of which would be original btw - they were never reprinted) has pages from at least 4 change packages in it. The last page of the book has the name and date of the person who inserted the change package and a brief description of it.

If the rear end changes were late in the year, could be our Handbooks simply don't have the change pages those prompted.

I saw two of the Salesmans Handbooks for sale about 6 years ago on e-bay - I bought one of them. I've never seen one for sale publically since! And it was well worth the $175 I paid for it.

 

Julie - I think it's the other way around. The Dealer books, and both shop manual and 52 supplement, show the later option ratios but not the earlier 3.73. Only place I see the 3.73 is in the Chassis Manual section 4209.

The '51 I swapped Chuck for is complete except for one or more of the pages at the rear that deal with "Engineering Terms" as I recall Chuck explaining. He also included all the pulled revised pages with the book. As you might expect, Chuck is a heavily invested collector of old Ford stuff. He explained that, because of the problems you describe, Ford got smart and started (IIRC) in '52 issuing complete replacement insert sets each time a revision was required. The '54 that I got in the deal is a brand new insert set that was still in the wrapper. I already had an empty binder and dividers that I'd found at a swap meet, so it made a perfect '54 copy.

Edit - Plus, I think you'll agree, '51 was a big year for revisions. So the '51 revisions are pretty critical to having the whole picture. Things like the mid year changes to the VIN plates and numbering, or elimination of the 14" rear drums on the F-3s, were critical changes. Stu

 

Yep agree completely.

 

I finally quit arguing with someone on this forum and agreed they must be right. I don't have any proof that was the case....

Also on Canada trucks I've only seen F/M47 F/M68 F/M135 F/M168

http://www.mercurypickup.com/

 

I think I could argue it the other way, too, but haven't found anything official that called the F-3 a tonner (in the US). Somewhere, though, I think I read that the F-3 was originally to be marketed as a tonner, since it was essentially the same chassis and bed as the '47 and earlier tonners, but it was found to be much lighter construction than the competing new GM Advance Design tonner offerings. Thus the odd light and heavy 3/4 designations.

In support of the 3/4 ton rating, I can attest from messing with my own trucks that the F-3s are built a LOT less substantially than the war and post war era one ton Dodge PWs. My PW is built more like an F-5. On M-H F-3s I know that frame and axle fractures are common. Both of mine have had frame cracks. My V8 so bad it will someday need a donor frame, and the 215 truck will get a replacement frame rail since the fx is on the rail not having the VIN.

Edit - Reading your Merc site they say the F-2 was sold in Canada. New info to me. So it would have been an F-57/M-57, right? Anybody have one, or ever come across one? Stu

 

MT FLAT,here is a ford f-155.

oh ,and its a monkey face.

 

1951 1-ton for sure

 

Based on what? Stu

 

ok,im pretty sure that is not a 51.
there are no buck teeth and you can see it has a small back window in the second pic.

 

I can add either fuel to the fire, or an extinguisher. ;-)

I have an original 1951 Mercury Trucks sales brochure. 9 Great Series, 3 Mighty Engines, 12 Rugged Chassis. It says the M1 (4700gvw) is a 1/2 ton. (M2 is skipped) M3 (6800) is a one ton. M4 (10000) is a 1 1/2 ton. M5 (14000) is 2 ton. M6 (16000) is 3 ton. M7 (19000) is 4 ton. M8 (22000)is 5 ton. M5 and up are also listed as available as tractor trailer with even higher gvw numbers.

 

Roy, the truck in those pics above is not from the original poster, just to be clear.

 

Neat pics Roy. I'll add the 155 to my list.

Thanks for the info Wayne. I've seen those numbers posted before - and as you said, they're for 51/52 since they are F1/F3 etc. 48-50 used the F47/68 etc.

I suspect there were significant changes to weight ratings in 51. And I have no idea if or how Ford Canada differed from the Ford USA truck offerings.

 

Great info Wayne. Thanks. And to Roy too for the F-155 pics. Stu

 

Well one thing is for sure. You have to look about 20 places in the Ford or Merc Documentation to find all the clues to come up with the whole right answer. Very vague.

Now, are those Metric tons or English tons?

DON'T ANSWER THAT - I'M JUST KIDDING!

That's an interesting Brochure Wayne because the Ford Brochures handle each truck individually F1, F2, etc. I've never seen one that had all models discussed in one brochure - Love to find one!