Welcome to FTE. Lots of good people eager to help even if you have a chevy past. I think you got a great deal. Why not keep the bed and get rid of the crane, lower the stance? I think it would be a very cool. It's your truck and $$, the more you modify the more you spend.Good luck.

 

The bed was taken off by the seller. He knocked off a couple hundred bucks to keep the bed and crane... and frankly, I'd have zero use for either.
I'd leave everything as-is just to drive it around a little, but I'd have to replace a couple tires... and those are pretty expensive!! I'm thinking if it cost me $500 or more in tires... I can probably find a full F100 roller for less. I have, but the couple that have come up have been 5+hours away.. which I just might have to do...

Thanks though, this site is VERY helpful! I appreciate all the comments.

 

The Express bed is longer and wider then the F100 shortbox. But it's not a direct fit for your truck. You'd have to move your diff forward and cut off the excess frame.

Another option would be to build a box from scratch to fit the scale of your truck and pick up a pair of F250 rear fenders. That's what I'm doing on my truck.

 

If you don't want to change the wheelbase, could always make it a crew-cab. I thought about that for mine. Then a bed would fit "normally", course you still have the fender issue. 9' beds (not just an 8') are very very rare, I've only ever seen one for sale. Keep in mind the beds are almost identical from 53-72, the fender holes change in 57, but still.

I've looked into frame swaps as well. I kept my original frame rather than do a swap because on the F-600 it's a quarter inch think, it's a whole different beast than an F-100 frame. I have a friend who loves converting vintage trucks into 4x4, he's working on a '38 International (i think) right now, he's done several '56s and highly recommend keeping the original frame over a new one, even on an f100. Swapping is a lot more work.


Our trucks will have a few things different, for instance I have 6 lug nuts, but things should be close enough. With tires I suggest shopping differently than you normally would. Find where the school buses get theirs, semi-trucks, ect. You maybe able to get a good deal on them like $80 a pop.

Keep in mind F100 fenders are smaller, you'll actually be surprised by how much. I know a lot of people have said it's just the wheel opening (which it's not, they are wider and have a little more lenght, just look at where your running boards are, heck the running boards are even wider, count the stripes, you have one more than an f-100). Personally I think once you see an f100 after some time with yours they will look small to you. I've had a couple people stop buy when I was working on mine, mine is wider, it looks more like a fullsize truck where there's looks more like a s-10 (not saying anything against that, it's all on what you want in the end, I like mine big)


Whats the lever next to your steering column for? Looks like you have an extra... the crane?

You'll be happy he took the bed off for you, I had 9,000#s on the back of my truck, no idea what on earth I would have done with it! Not like I have a bunch of cranes or man power laying around.

I do think you'll want to do something with your suspension. These things where made to carry a lot... you have so much suspension that you might as well have welded the axles on, I feel EVERY bump, it's like riding a bucking bronco...

Now I had always intended even before finding mine to make it a 4x4. The F-600's bigger fenders and everything else was a God send. Course I've seen a T-800 (two sets of duallys) oddly enough a few blocks from me and that think makes mine look small, lol.

I would suggest figuring out what you want it to. Making it a 4x4 is possible, but there are things to consider. It will raise it, I shortened mine with that in mind, it's why I have a rack to it currently, to counter for a 4x4 axle up front so I wouldn't have to raise the rear. It's just easier and cleaner. Shortening it's hard, heck if you have a wheel base around 110 or so you don't even have to do anything with the driveshafts other than remove one since you have two... well I had two, I think you do as well, lol.


I would spend some time figuring out what you want from it in the end before doing anything about a bed, least anything requiring changing of the truck. I always wanted a 4x4, I still do... but I need to be able to afford what I want, so the project waits... and the cost of tires for it will kill me, lol... I like big and wide. But no point in taking it apart before I move, it drives now, be a PITA to have to push it onto a trailer or something... and I'm getting side tracked.



If you're going to daily drive it there will be a lot of little things you'll want to change. I think if you got some f-250 axles or so it be easy to swap all that out. They have leaf springs up front as well. Course if you want to keep your axles and suspension I had a guy stop buy with an interesting idea; he said on the semi trucks he ran that they used air bags that lifted the truck up when there was no haul, but when they needed the suspension they lowered the bags and put it back down on the leafs. Neat idea... course if you're not planning on moving a whole lot of weight, that idea could prove very spendy.


Have fun with it, you got one hell of a deal!

 

Thanks Stephen!
I might have found a lead on a 3/4 ton bed and axle. I'm waiting to hear if the seller still has it, and which axle it has. But the funny thing is that it's actually a registered trailer! But it has a 56 bed, frame rails, and axle. He also says it has 16" wheels, so I'm thinking the axle can't be that big. Hell, the bed is even the original red... so I wouldn't even touch that!
I'm thinking if that deal comes through, then maybe I'll back-half the frame to my existing 500 frame.
The problem is that doesn't fix my front axle issue. I'll have to find a way to downgrade the hubs or spindles or.. ? Whole I-beam?...

So, if I change the front axle, the rear axle, but maintain the 500 frame... Besides being .. (a lot?) heavier, I should be in good shape right?

 

I don't think you'd want to attach an f100 and f500 frame together, it would create one hell of a weak spot in my opinion.

What's wrong with your front axle other than the 5 lug nuts? (which isn't even really a problem right now, just makes for miss-match wheels)

The frames are heavier, but not enough that I would worry about. I think I figured it at 200#s or so, maybe not, been forever since I did the math, I just remember thinking it was well worth it.

I would wait to swap out your rear axle till you have the front one you want. If you're going 4x4 the gear ratio has to be the same, if not, you'll still have the huge wheels up front. If ride quality is an issue right now you can always remove a few leaf springs, thing has like 11 on each side, lol.

 

I'd have to see the differences between the frames to tell if I'd be scared off of welding them together. Albeit a tragedy in many folks' eyes, if people really cared for these big frames, then someone would trade me a F100 frame...

 

they are repoping the express bed now , all the stepside beds from 53 - 72 1/2 ton or express are the same so broaden your search , i had to cut and shorten the frame of my 1 ton anyway so that's how i got the wheelbase where i wanted it , it was a 30 foot long car hauler . there's such a big diff in the frame sizes / heights i wouldn't recommend welding a 1/2 ton to your f-5 . why not just keep the f-5 frame and tweak to what you want ? just think you'd have one hades of a ford battering ram when honda boy try's to run into you or pulls out in front of you .............................. if you get an express bed use the 1/2 ton rear fenders they are wider if memory serves giving you some more room for rubber . also i know there are diffs in the axles and such now after seeing blue ovals posts and digging in some of my notes . don't let that stop you use your imagination think outta the box , anything can be done if you want it bad enough . as i told stephen on his build too look at some of the ih straight trucks , got the same frame widths and you might be able to use the front or rear axles and any number of other goodies .... it's a possibility ............ THINK OUTTA THE BOX !!!!!!!!!! if you were closer i got a spare 1/2 ton frame ............. you can use a 53 - 56 under it .

 

Seems like all the deals are far away!

So, what's the difference between shortening the 500 frame and cutting off the 500 frame and welding on a 100 frame? I assume the 500 is a taller frame.. I'm not sure what other dimensions would be different than a larger C-channel. I figured that I'd either be cutting and welding the big frame to big frame, or I could weld the big frame to lil-frame.
What am I missing? (besides knowledge of the frame and experience with trucks...lol)

I'm still trying to find parts at this point... The trailer made of a 3/4 ton 56 ad is not responding...

 

Depends on how you shorten it. I chopped off the end, but I was also adjusting for the raised front. I personally don't like to splice a frame, it's just me, a mental thing. If you do there is some very good information out there on how to do it, I have Ford's manual on it, I believe the link is still in that old topic of mine (wasn't posted by me).

I have some charts that compare all the models, I get those posted here for you. (well some of them, I have like 50, lol)

Do you know what wheel base you have? (it's on the ID plate on the drivers side door, be 130 or 154), if it's 130 you might not have to do anything to put a 9' bed on it, the F-350 was 130 too...

A f100 frame is 5.92x 2.25 x 0.15" (thick)
A f500 frame is 7x2.77 x 0.25" for a 130", and 9.25 x 2.94 x 0.25" for a 154" frame.

You're frame is almost twice as thick and twice as tall than an f-100. This gives you some options to making a much stronger truck if you want. Changing axle set-ups on it is easy, you could put the f100 axle on it if you wanted in an afternoon (but again, I'd wait till you have the front axle you want or else it will look funny for a while, lol). You can change suspension set ups without having to change the axle as well.


The reason I don't like to splice frames is simply peace of mind. A lot of members do it without any problems, it's just one of those things where you need to have the joint done right, it needs to flex properly, if its too solid it will break at the edges of the joint. Course you're probably not going to be putting enough on it to break it, but for me it sits in the back of my mind and since I am building a 4x4, raising the back countered the front raise to come, so I just cut off the excess rather than splice.

You may look into other donor frames or set ups. The S-10 is used a lot for F100 chassis swaps, you could have everything set up for you and ready to go for a couple hundred bucks. Only problem with using a newer chassis is the kickup some of them have, it effects how you have to mount the bed, not a big deal, just something to remember when doing it. I have a link somewhere of a page a guy made showing how to put one of these old trucks on an S10 frame.

The reason I feel the splicing of a small frame to yours could be a problem is the two will flex differently. One is twice as thick as the other if nothing else. Maybe with the plate it wouldn't be an issue, but I'd have concerns about hitting a hard bump and having the front half of your truck reacting differently than the rear, might make it unstable, might do nothing at all, I just know the two frames will be different in how they flex.

 

Here, this will help in seeing some differences:

 

well my vote is to keep it a big truck and put a flatbed or roll back body on it and then you could use it to haul your chevies to shows or what not.

 

POS-f500, I also vote to keep it big truck so before you start removing axles & cutting frames drive on up to Morgan Hill and drive my 56 f600 it has stock susp. with 9r22.5 tires 154in wb.... then if it rides too rough and you want to swap axles I would look for someone parting out a 1ton step van (bread truck) lots of people are buying them for the 4bt Cummins diesel and scraping the rest of the truck. You could get the front & rear axles with tires & wheels for $500 or less
If you need tires, you can find them used for $50 at most any truck tire dealers
PM me if you want to drive the 56 f600

 

If I find myself in the area, I'd love to take a ride! Thanks!

Thanks for the help guys, and especially for the diagram and info Stephen.

I spent the entire day yesterday trying to remove a broken off bolt from the hood-hinge area. I broke 3 EZ-outs... (not so EZ).
I finally drilled it the rest of the way out and retapped the threads, but I'm not pleased with the threads. I wont know for sure til I find some of those wacky-looking hinge bolts though.

 

Mid-Fifty sells the hood bolts