I joined the forum a few years ago, but never got too serious about posting anything yet since I haven't worked on my 48 Ford F1 or my 48 Ford F5 that have been in my family since the late 50's.

My grandfather owned the Fords and they have been sitting in the field on our family ranch for all my life. The last time the 48 Ford F1 pickup was registered with the DMV was 1963.

Anyway, the pickup has a rusted out floor board due to a cow that broke the left door window many, many years ago, and the rain and snow just blew in there during the winters over the years.

But the F5 truck has a great cab, fenders, and hood, so I will be using the hood and cab from it to build the pickup from.

I wasn't sure what motor or trans I wanted in the pickup, but my brother basically donated his 79 Ford F350 2wd pickup which was a factory cab and chassis motorhome combo, so it has a 34" wide frame. I going to remove the body off the frame on the 48 F1 and transplant the body mounts over to the 79 frame that has a 73 Ford 460 with a C6 trans. I'm going to swap out the 1 ton axles (4.10 rear dually) and most likely get a dropped spindle front axle and find a nice Ford 9" rear for the back.

I will get some pictures of how the trucks are now and during my progress of a build.

I hope to find someone that will want the F5 front fenders that are in good shape in exchange for some nice F1 front fenders.

I'll have the F5 chassis for sale also if anyone is interested.

Thanks,

Doug

 

Welcome to the forum.

Most will try to talk you out of the frame swap. Many get started, but few get completed.

Best general suggestion is to stick with the stock F1 frame, install whatever engine/trans combo you want, install a 9" out of a 57-72 F100, and rebuild the stock front axle (or swap to any of several favorites, like Mustang 2 style systems, Jag IFS, etc).

It's your project, though, so make it whatever you want.

Don't know where in NE OR you are but found this on CL in Ontario:

http://boise.craigslist.org/pts/3673467550.html

 

Welcome I agree with dmack91 . Good luck.Dude

 

Hey Doug,
Welcome Aboard! Sounds like a fun project. Hmmmm..
Personally I like all your pieces but I'd go another direction.
I'd strip off that F1 Chassis & use that as the base for your truck.
Put the F5 cab on there & bring over the drivetrain from the later model truck. After Market fenders are available for the F1 in reproduction - I think we paid somewhere around $300 ea for those.

I think I've seen one member make it through a frame swap - too much cutting & chopping. There is one for sale here in Austin - noone will touch it - been for sale for years. Please talk to Dmack - he's in Oregon & can give you great advice.

Good luck over there.

Ben in Austin
1950 F1

 

Welcome to the forum, and the frame swap might be quite a bit of work, but could end up in a very cool truck. I love a challenge, especially when others tell me that I can't do it. Are you near Milton-Freewater? I used to have family there - an uncle that owned the Redi-Mix. Years ago my brother and I drove two mixers from Houston to Milton-Frewater that my uncle bought in Houston. That was quite a drive! North East Oregon is one of the most beautiful areas in the country! Have fun with the trucks whichever way you choose to go!

 

Hi Doug, welcome to the neighborhood.

 

Welcome Doug. I hope you enjoy the camaraderie here as much as I do. My advice is to enjoy the journey - at least that's way I had to look at my project because it took 10 years to get it on the road. We do love to see someone else s progress so please start a "build thread" - this is mine. https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...on-a-f100.html

 

Welcome to FTE Doug! When you have time please check out our Oregon Chapter here: Oregon Chapter - Ford Truck Enthusiasts Forums

You can join our chapter here: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/p...usergroupid=84

Have some fun in our daily BS thread here: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...bs-thread.html

We have a great bunch of guys and quite a few in Eastern Oregon. We will be having our annual GTG here at my shop in Condon May 18/19. Come join us!

 

Could we see some pictures? Here is how.

Quote:
Originally Posted by 76f350spercamprspeal

Welcome to FTE, Best Damn Forum EVER!
------------------------
Here's How to Post Pictures:
1. Login to FTE.
2.Click User CP (In the Top Left Hand Corner)
3.(On the Left, There will be a list, The 5th Option Down, will say "Pictures & Albums) Click That.
4.Then, Click Add Album, Enter a title, and description, if ya want to.
5. Click Upload Pictures, Then click Browse, Locate the Files of your truck. (You can add 3 files at a time)
5. Click Upload.
6. Add a description to the individual pictures, then click save.
7. Add more files if ya want.
8. Click The Picture you want to post, it will give you two codes at the bottom, Right Click The Second one (It say's BB Code, Then Say's [IMG]http:blahblahblah...[/IMG])
Then, Once that is highlighted, Right Click, Then Copy, Then Paste it into your post.
You can add up to 30 Images in one FTE Post.
If, Ya need any help, Don't hesitate to ask.


Quote:
Originally Posted by old_dan

You can also go to the "Garage" tab and start an album right here on FTE. After you post pictures to an album, we can look in your album, but you'll also be able to "insert a picture" by pasting in a link to the picture in your album.

It seems awkward, but whenever you "insert a picture" to one of these threads, the forum is looking for the picture somewhere on the web (which is always available) rather than from somewhere on your hard drive (which isn't always available).

Quote:
Originally Posted By Jolly Roger Joe

Welcome to FTE!

Go to Image hosting, free photo sharing & video sharing at Photobucket and sign up for a free account. Then create an album for your truck. Upload any pics you want to post on FTE to that album. Have this album open on your computer when you want to post pics on FTE.

While you're making a post on FTE, select the pic you want to post from your Photobucket album. When the large version of the pic is open, right mouse click on it and select "View Image Info". The image info will be highlighted and will look something like this:
The best photos and videos | Photobucket

Copy that highlighted info (right click / copy).

When you have the spot in your post where you want the pic to be placed, select the "Insert Image" icon at the top of the post (looks like a mountain) and paste (right click / paste) the image info you copied in the highlighted box (just shows "http://" when it opens).

Your pic will be placed in the post.

Hope that helps.

Here's a tutorial Bob put together: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/67...-pictures.html

 

Welcome from Salem, good luck with your project.

 

Thanks for all the warm welcomes!

My Dad has been a Ford truck guy all his life, outside of being a truck driver, logger, mechanic, welder, and fabricator too. My Dad has a super nice welder, plasma cutter, etc for building custom parts, so we should that part of the build taken care of. Then my good friend has a milling machine and lathe at his work to take care of any specialty parts that might need to fab'd up.

My Dad has had a custom Ford/Peterbilt truck project for 20+ years now, which is built on a 79 Ford 1 ton chassis. He started out by making his own radiator mounts to use the Peterbilt radiator, and his own custom cab mounts for the Peterbilt cab and sleeper. Originally he had a 460, 4 spd trans, and a 3 speed brownie in the pickup, but now he is switching it over to a 7.3 N/A diesel with a fuller truck trans.

After taking input from all you knowledgeable Ford folks about the frame swap, which I took into consideration, I still think it will be faster, easier on the backbone, and more simple to transplant the 48 Ford body over to the 79 frame. Four cab mounts, two radiator core support mounts, and then the box bolted down to the frame (unless I decide to keep the custom 10" flat bed on the 79 frame?), just seems less strain on an already sore lower back....haha

I figure the steering column might pose a challenge, but the two pickups having the same width frame of 34" should make for a easy enough swap of the 48 body mounts to the 79 frame. I'm sure I'll be on a few things, but my Dad and brother are really good at fabrication and mods to make stuff work well together.

I'd definitely get some pictures of both 48 Fords and the 79 Ford as a "this is what I started with" and work on a build thread from there.

I'm sure I'll have lots of questions from here on out, but this will be a great project that will put a 48 Ford pickup back on the road after sitting in the field on the family mountain ranch for the last 50 years.

Doug

 

Keep us posted on your progress - always nice to see others making headway.

Take a quick look at the frame profile on the 79. Most newer trucks have a significant step-up in the frame behind the cab which can be a problem when fitting on the box of the F1.

For the steering column, you can always try to use the column out of the 79, as it would connect to the box correctly, just have to watch the angle where it enters the cab and how far it extends past the dash.

 

Not to be harsh, however you indicate that your dad has had a conversion project for 20 years. Has he been driving it many of those years? If not, there is a message in your post.
That said, some builders are in it for the build rather than to drive/use the truck. Only you know your goals.
Whatever you decide, welcome to the madness and keep us posted!