What was once a minor hassle when I restored my F1 in 1999 is now a major hurdle now that I have MS.

I'm a big guy and the clutch and brake pedals coming out of the floor are so high I have to put my knee in my chest to clutch and brake. This is becoming increasing impossible as my legs fade.

Is it possible to lower the pedals to near floor level? (According my truck manual it isn't).

Failing that, how difficult would it be to swap out my stick for an automatic transmission?

And even then, I would still need to I lower the brake pedal?

Looking for solutions as I really want to keep my truck but there is little sense in doing so if I can't drive it safely.

Thanks guys. I love this forum. I know I couldn't have restored my truck without it.

 

Sorry to hear of your situation. About the only way I can think of to lower the pedals would be to go to hanging pedals, and I don't know how much you'd gain.

 

I have an extra set of pedals that he can have for this purpose if somebody smarter than me can figure out how to modify them. In the meantime, I will study them myself and see if I can figure something out.

 

I have my pedal assy (52 F-3) out sitting on the bench and will see if the pivot point might be able to be changed, then maybe we can shorten the stroke needed to operate?
w

 

My thoughts are that the travel of both brake and clutch could be made less. This would involve shortening both pedals and keeping both the brake and clutch in perfect adjustment. Think about it, the brake, if adjusted correctly, should only travel an inch prior to applying the brakes. The pedal should be solid at this point.
The clutch should only have about an inch of free travel and then release long before the pedal hits the floorboard. I've seen clutches run without the return spring and far out of adjustment. This leaves the pedal down several inches. Note: I saw this last scenario recently. Any of this would require considerable work and I would not attempt without a set of replacement parts.

 

i dont see why you couldnt just shorten the brake and clutch arms so they dont stick up as high through the floor as they do stock.

 

I can't remember if the arms are rounded or flat, if flat just cut off and bolt back together, if rounded just weld back together even if the hole in the floorboard needs to be inlarged, Garry

 

The arms are kind of oval-rounded. And there wouldn't be any problem enlarging the floorboard hole because all it would involve is making bigger holes in that set of plates there.

 

Potemkin, does the truck have power assist on the brakes? I would worry about shortening the pedal as this might change the effort needed at the pedal to get the truck stopped. I am a total newbe regarding these trucks so take what I offer with a grain of salt. I do think that you could just shorten the pedals as suggested, but this will require a bit of trial and error regarding adjustments, etc. If the brakes do indeed have assist, then this might be a simple adjustment at the booster rod?
w

 

Check the after market equipment for people who drive, but use a wheel chair. There should be some ideas you could copy or purchase. There was a article in one of the truck magazines. A wheel chair person modified a panel truck in the UK, if I remember correctly.chuck

 

I routinely cut/reweld these arms. No big deal and can be done without any disassembly (assuming you are careful with your welding).

 

Since several of us agree it can be done and you've done it I would think the OP would appreciate a few details as to how much to cut out, where the cuts were made and why it was done.
and I thank you, Sir, for your contributions and I know the OP will.

 

The best place to cut is just below the pedal mounting point, this is where the arm twists and the pedal attaches. This cut can be made rather simply with a hack saw. Once the upper portion of the arm has been removed, the next cut is made further down the arm at a point that has been determined to be right for the driver. I usually depress the pedal (before making any cuts) and see how far off the floor the pedal goes when fully depressed. If the pedal sits at about 5 inches off the floor then I know that I can realistically remove 3 inches of the arm without impacting the full travel of the pedal once the modification is complete. There are many factors that contribute to these measurements...type of clutch, type of brakes, etc. so it is a judgement call on the owner to say how much to remove.

I usually do trucks that have automatics in them so only 1 pedal is done but in the case of a standard shift setup you will have to match the height of the brake pedal with that of the clutch. This is a simple task, once the depressed height of the pedal has been established, and a length of pedal arm determined, then cut both arms the same amount and you will have matching heights when finished.

When welding I grind bevels on both sections of the arm to ensure good weld penetration...this is standard practice but I mention it here just because I am not sure who is doing the welding or their level of experise. While I didn't specifically mention it before, I am assuming that the person doing this job would remove the rubber pedals before welding. However I do usually re-attach the pedal when I am tacking the arm so that I am sure that the pedal sits at the proper angle before I finish welding it in place. Once again, don't weld on the arm with the rubber pedal attached.

Another tip is to position the threaded tab (the section of the arm at the top to which the pedal mounts) so that it points away from the steering column. This gives you a little more clearance between the pedal and the column.

I don't have any photos of this proceedure so I hope that my "words" are clear enough. The process has some variables so it is difficult to write a "cookbook" version but common sense is usually sufficient to fill in the gaps in the write-up.

 

If needed here are some pictures of a Ford C4 behind a Flathead in an F1 chassis
There are adapters available for the swap.

Flatmotor-C4 Install pictures by smedly_dunlap - Photobucket

 

The brake pedal seems easy, I'll need to adjust the clutch pedal to see how low I can go with it so I know how much I can cut out of the current pedals.
My uncle has agreed to help with the welding.

And DOC, I may just hit you up for those spare pedals if this doesn't work!

Thanks to everyone who contributed.
This forum continues to be a blessing to me.
Anything to keep this truck I spent so many hours rebuilding!