1953 Mercury Truck Axle Swap

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Feb 1, 2022 | 07:00 PM

Midnight1

Thread Starter

Cross-Country

Joined: Feb 2022

Posts: 82

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From: Brandon MB

1953 Mercury Truck Axle Swap

Hey all, I have acquired a 1953 Mercury M-350 truck as the result of a way too good deal and I plan to use it as my daily driver after restoration, I have been thinking over the idea of swapping 1/2 ton axles onto it from a 1953 M-100/F-100 to rid of the big 6 bolt pattern and rh5 splits. I don't care about modern stuff like disc brakes or power steering or the load capacity being lowered since I wont be hauling much with it but would be nice to have a bit better gear ratio which hopefully the 1/2 ton rear end would provide, just mainly want to put normal wheels on it. I haven't been able to find anything that would say this shouldn't be a fairly straight forward operation and was interested to hear your input as to whether it would pretty much be just bolt-on. Thanks

Last edited by Midnight1; Feb 1, 2022 at 07:17 PM.

Feb 1, 2022 | 07:35 PM

abe

Fleet Owner

Joined: Dec 2000

Posts: 25,431

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From: Central PA

Midnight, welcome to FTE the best Ford truck Forum on the World Wide Web!

We have guys here that have down similar things. Matter of fact a guy here, John of Canada, has an M350 that he is working on now. He'll check in I'm sure.

In the mean time show us pictures of this truck.

Feb 1, 2022 | 07:44 PM

Midnight1

Thread Starter

Cross-Country

Joined: Feb 2022

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From: Brandon MB

Thanks for the welcome, ill see if I can manage to successfully post some pics lol

Feb 1, 2022 | 07:49 PM

abe

Fleet Owner

Joined: Dec 2000

Posts: 25,431

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From: Central PA

Very nice truck. You may want to change the front axle too or at least put different wheels on. If those are 17" wheels they are known as Widow Makers and are dangerous.

Feb 1, 2022 | 08:06 PM

Midnight1

Thread Starter

Cross-Country

Joined: Feb 2022

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From: Brandon MB

Yeah I'm aware they are the RH-5s that's the main reason I was wanting to do the axle swap and yeah am planning to do both front and back, I think I got it pretty cheap due to people generally being scared of those rims since I only paid 1800 canadian dollars for it. got 32k miles on the clock, the thing runs and drives, I drove it home, has no rust holes at all and the wood bed is even good enough I'm gonna reuse it

Feb 1, 2022 | 09:06 PM

5851a

Logistics Pro

Joined: Oct 2006

Posts: 4,036

Likes: 894

From: East Central Ia

Might want to think about changing the spring packs also, F2 and 3's pretty rough riding without loads. Get a factory owner's manual or better yet a service manual. Lots of lube points on earlier vehicles. You don't have to swap axels to get away from wheels. Other members will chime in for correct choices.

Feb 2, 2022 | 01:11 AM

ingo

Laughing Gas

Joined: Jun 2005

Posts: 812

Likes: 323

Nice Truck, i like the patina.
In the rear you can use for example a Ford Bronco 9 inch rear end, in the front maybe you use an original F100 frontend from anybody like me who swapped to IFS or you get an IFS for yourself, i ´m sure this will give you a smooth ride.

Feb 3, 2022 | 09:29 PM

Muppy1840

More Turbo

Joined: Aug 2013

Posts: 650

Likes: 103

From: Calgary Alberta

Looks like you are in Manitoba. To bad because I have a front axle from a 53-56 1/2 ton I bought a few years ago. I bought a bunch of parts from a guy in Red Deer Alberta and he had this axle so I bought it. It has disc brake conversion already. I don’t have any trucks from those years so it’s just sitting here. Not sure if you ever make it out to Calgary at all.

, Doug.

Feb 4, 2022 | 03:13 AM

#10

fish pond

Tuned

Joined: Sep 2017

Posts: 385

Likes: 29

From: Pinckney Mi.

I have a 51 M3, front axles (on the 51 anyway) are the same as a F1, its the brakes and wheels that are different.
I bought backing plates for a F1 and have changed my front end to 1/2 ton,axle ,spindles are same up to 1 ton.
putting a Ford 9 inch in the back, 2:75 in rear end. I managed to get a T98 4 sp from a F5 that will bolt up, cross member needs mods..
So what I plan on ending up with is a 8ft bed 1/2 ton.
I bought M3 rear springs and plan on removing a bunch of leafs,how many I plan on asking here at this site.
This is my plan for my M3,sounds like what your wanting???
Backing plates should be easy to get, a lot of folks here scrap the F1 axle assm. for new fangled stuff.
Good luck
Greg

Last edited by fish pond; Feb 4, 2022 at 03:16 AM. Reason: more stuff