I have a 1946 1 ton Ford pick up with 8' bed my question is where to find parts for the bed? The bed is 6" wider and 2' longer than the 1/2 ton pickups and I can't find anything for the 8' box anywhere everyone has everything for the short box 1/2 ton even a complete box? I need a tailgate, front panel and wood floor kit with metal strips for the 1ton please help with any info also running boards?

 

hi,
I have a 1940 one ton, 8 ft bed.... pretty similar,

I reference an LMC catalog, they have 46-58 parts for beds, tailgates, etc, but they are not cheap.

for the actual bed, you can go to a hardware store or lumberyard, get pine 2x8 x8ft boards, or even better, solid oak. cut a smal groove lengthwise for the hold down metal strips on a tablesaw and then polyurethne the heck out of them. I am going to do this and just buy the custom bolts to finish the job.

a fancy chrome, etc bed kit can run well over $500.00, tailgate about $350....

to mount the bed, they also sell a pad kit, but instead I went to O'Reilly and got their 3M squeegee pad about 2"x3" for $1.25. much more durable and tough, a squeegee is designed for alot of chemical abuse..

you will also need about 4 smaller 2x4 pieces for cross members to support the bed, just like building a deck. again polyurethane - alot.

I am also redesigning the gas tank to take it out of the cab, too dangerous for me.. going to install one between the rear framerrails and cut a hole thru the rearmost wooden crossmember under the bed to exit for a filler neck just behind the left rear fender. Instead of cutting a hole in the middle of the bed for a gas tank.....

The Galvanized bolts to hold the fenders (9 ea side, 5/16x1 , need to press fit into round holes on sides to work - grab properly...or grind off flats under bolt head and use thin star lock washers to secure) and the main set of bolts for the bed attachment (42 pcs- 5/16x51/2 ) I ordered from bolt depot.com, very cheap prices. got a set of galvanized carriage bolts, inch, nuts, washers and lock washers incl shipping for less then half of a Lowes or Home depot price. These fit into the metal hold down strips. Not counting the bed to frame connections - 14 pcs 3/8x 5" to 6" flathead and tapered ,square drive bolt(custom order from LMC) paint it before assembly for rust protection.

hope this helps!

-mpr

-mpr

 

Thanks I was thinking about just getting some wood and doing that also but all the metal strips are missing so I do need them! I took measurements of the wood supports under the floor too so I could make my own. The front of my box and the tailgate are my biggest issues the front panel and tailgate are to damaged to repair! Macs antique autoparts and northern classic truck sell everything for the bed from the wood kit to the entire bed but only the 6' bed for the 1/2 ton. Does LMC have the tailgate and front panel for the 1 ton because they are about 6" wider than the half ton? Thanks for the great info I bought the 1 ton to be different than everyone else at the car shows but it has been a little harder finding parts like the bed!

 

Hi
yes, one tons are a little harder to find and work on, call LMC truck first.... I know they have "longbed kits", assume that means 8 ft! the tailgates should be the same I think....

I checked around, for my 1940 one ton, only 2850 were ever made. trucks came in 1/2, 3/4 , or one ton, so this model is very rare indeed. remember trucks were used and beat up, they were for work, not show, so very few survived. they are much rarer than cars.

you might also try a local metal bending shop, simple parts like these strips might not be so bad to make or find.....

let me know what you find!

thx,
mpr

 

Well I called a couple of the places that sell the 1/2 ton bed parts and none of them have or no anyone who has 1 ton bed parts? I have found 8' bed strips but that is it! The 1 ton box is taller, wider and longer than all the 1/2 tons and there are not many 1 tons out there anymore! If you find or hear of any company that makes 1 ton bed parts please let me know thanks!!

 

To my understanding the Express bed itself on your era truck is the same as on my 48-52s. The rear fenders are different, and therefore the fixed fender bolts would be located differently, but other than that I think they are the same. You might do some research to see if there are any subtle differences I'm unaware of. Here's a drawing of the 48-52 version from the Dealer's Handbook to give you some reference point. One suble difference (I'm not sure, just something to investigate) is whether the front edge of the rear fender on your model has a small section that fits the indent under the lower bed side like the later trucks do.

None of the aftermarket providers sell any parts, other than wood and bed strips, for the Express bed to my understanding. This subject has been kicked around at length on the 48-52 page. You might drop in over there and watch threads. There's one going now where a guy found a bed that had been used as a trailer. Hope this helps. Stu

 

thanks for the great info and pics that is very helpful but still no luck finding aftermarket tailgates for the 1 Ton

 

That's because you won't find aftermarket tailgates for Express beds. Nobody makes them. One of the guys on the 48-60 page said that one of the catalogs lists them, but it's a printing error. You'll be like the rest of us on this score. Watch eBay, go to swap meets, etc. You'll even maybe need to think in terms of buying a parts truck(s) to get what you need. You can't have just one.

I'll edit this to add that a dealer named Mike Dennis might have one. Here's his web site. Stu http://www.fordoldpart.com/

 

I have been looking at all of the above but no luck yet I have yet to see another 1 ton ford like mine here in Minnesota! I guess I will keep searching but if anyone one here comes across one please let me know!

 

I share your pain. I've been to the MN/SD border to buy a parts truck just to get its perfect running boards, rear bumper, and deluxe trim. I've been to the state of Virginia to haul home a rolling M-H chassis to get those extra parts, and have searched yards for years looking for the special wheels that my trucks use. And I found what looks like a NOS tailgate at the Iola swap meet. It takes commitment to do these big trucks. Some of the half ton "cookie cutters" can be built from scratch out of catalogs which is why they all look alike. Not so with ours. Stu

 

guys,
we may be on to something here.....

I am doing part time work in a mustang restoration shop, in between jobs, unfortunately... and the owner told me a good reference point. For a 40 year old car - the attrition rate is 90%. So a late 1960s era mustang, if they manufactured 50,000, then only 5, 000 (10% survival rate) are left alive.

somewhere he said there is a formula to figure this out. My guess is that a 70 year old vehicle is even much rarer, then add to it that it was a truck, and the attrition rate may be over 99%. If so, this makes the efforts worthwhile.

I am trying to research the internet to find this formula for survival, got any clues? I will keep you all posted,

mpr

 

Guys,
found this research study:
http://www.rff.org/Documents/RFF-DP-98-20.pdf

wow, according to this, the survival rate for a 1957 car over 15 yrs old is only 7%.

their data goes back to 1945, from RL POLK, and they say light duty trucks actually survive better than cars, but a one ton is not light duty! we know that.
If you look on pg 8, the graph indicates a survival rate of less than 1% for a 1940 model.

According to this book - ****** http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8">****** name="ProgId" content="Word.Document">****** name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11">****** name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5Cmryan%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsoh tml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <wontGrowAutofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]-->The Commercial Fords by Loren Sorensen says 2,850 one-ton 1940 Ford pickups produced.
I know the 40 and 41 one tons were the only years that were similar, you need to get this book to be sure of the production volumes for 1941.

Assuming the production was the same, that means less than 28 of these trucks exist at all for each model year! cool!

this means it is worth it to get a metal shop to make a part if you need it, just to get these trucks back on the road would be a rare achievement.

good luck!
-mpr
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]-->
<!--[endif]-->

 

In my case I think you're right on target. My Marmon Herrington F-3s were custom built like all the 4x4 conversions done by M-H. The considered wisdom has it that about 400 to 500 of the combined F-2/F-3 models per year were done. I've tracked done about two dozen from my 1948 to 1952 era. That includes complete trucks as well as surviving drive train components (like you say, these trucks were worked to death). So if you figure 2500 would have been produced during the period 1948 to 1952, and a couple dozen have survived, that's one percent. Stu

 

Yes there is no doubt they are rare I was thinking about selling the parts I am not using like the original rear end and the rims and tires but I might just hang on to them so it can go back to original someday! The tires are like brand new they still have the little **** on them they are 7.00 -17 firestone which are very hard to find and I still have the spare along with all five dog dish hub caps they are dinged up but they are from 1946! My only regret is the engine and trans are long gone I have little to no money to rebuild the truck so I sold the 2 to pay for a different drivetrain and disc brakes!

 

I to am in the same boat. Need lots of parts for my 47 1 ton 8' bed. I was at the car show in Hershey Pa this past year and Northern Classic Trucks was there. I looked over the beds they have. Unfortunatly none will work, unless you want to modify parts. But the main problem is the width. The 3/4 ton and up has a wider bed, so if you need a tail gate or the head piece, we are all but out of luck, especially tailgates as thats what took the worst of the abuse. As for the metal strips between the wood, someone has a universial kit (I forget who, but if I remember I will post). Might need one extra piece due to the wider bed.

My other problem is finding running boards for mine. My boards are full length fender to fender.