Let me pick your brains about a 52 cab on a 73 chassis.
 

So I found a 52 f600 dumptruck thats been sitting for a loong time. The cab is fairly solid tho. Flathead v8 that I am going to steal for my model A if its not toast. The frame is poor and the hydraulics look toast. So needless to say I dont feel bad parting it out...

Now here is what I want to do. I found a 73 f500 rollback that is pretty much good to go. Other than some cab rot and looking in my opinion ugly.. So I want to swap the 52cab onto the 73. I think itll be a mean looking car hauler.

My main question is are the cab mounts about the same? The chassis size looks the same, the wheels should fill the big f6 wheel wells pretty nice. I am also assuming the 390 will fit in the 52 engine bay pretty good. I found some threads about people wanting to swap f6 cabs onto smaller chassis trucks and having problems with the cabs being to low because of the frame thickness differences. I'm not afraid of doing some fabrication, just trying to plan the project before I lay down some coin on a couple of trucks.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.for...68d6ea562e.jpg
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.for...1911e81672.jpg

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.for...d7be213ca5.jpg


https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.for...47f5ff3c37.jpg

sorry for the crappy photos its all I got right now.

Do some measuring. The frame widths are about the same, but I think you will find the front track width of the '73 is much wider....

Thats what I am wondering how itll all iron out. I dont have either truck in my possession yet to compare. Im also looking at a 79 f350 rollback, but was worried the f6 cab would look to big on it.

Sounds like a cool plan. It's doable but will require a lot of fab work.

You'll need to widen the front fenders. Like tinman52 mentioned the roll back will have a wider track width. Same issue with the 73 and the 79. And the 52 F6 cab won't look too big on either chassis. The 52 cab is much smaller then any of the newer cabs.

I know the f6 is pretty small in the cab area, but the fat front fenders look so wide... and stock 52 wheels seem to sit so far inward of the fenders I was hoping the later chassis would still squeeze inbeween them.

Now I was worried about the wheel opening, the main reason I didnt buy either roll back yet, is that I want the wheels to fill the big f6 wheel openings. The 73 f5 has 19.5" wheels where as the 79 f350 appears to have a 15 or 16" wheel. Thats what I meant about the f6 cab looking to big for the smaller f350 chassis.

Here is a picture of the 79 f350 rollback. Considerably smaller.


https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.for...fb00b0d7d0.jpg

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.for...2370868fc9.jpg

I'm afraid the 52 front fenders are still going to be too narrow. I'm working on a 54 F100 that I'm swapping onto a newer chassis. I'm using F500 fenders on mine and it's just about the perfect width for the newer chassis' track width. And the 54 is wider then the 52.

Here's a picture of my 54 when I was mocking it up on an 84 F250 4x4 chassis ( 84 would be the same track width as the 79 F350, or very close ) .

http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l1...ps60035dd1.jpg

And the 73 F500 will be quite a bit wider then the 79 F350. That's why they have flared fenders on the F500.

I believe the 79 F350 would have came stock with 16.5" tires. But could up been updated to 16".

If that's what you are concerned about, filling the wheel well openings, then go with the bigger chassis. Just be prepared widen the front fenders even more with the F500 chassis. :-X22

good info. Are the 54 and 52 fenders interchangeable? I know I could always try to find f1 fenders if the f6 fenders look terrible...

Do you have anymore photos of your project or a build thread?

No the 52 and 54 are completely different body styles. For the 52 you are stuck using either 51 or 52 Fenders. Personally I don't mind the larger wheel well openings with the 16" tires.


I've got a build thread here: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/7...4x4-build.html

It looks like a lot of the early pictures aren't working. Be prepared it's a long thread. And my project has changed directions more then a road race car. I started out building a tow vehicle but now I'm building a extended cab 4x4 F150 for a year round daily driver/ parts runner.

'52 F7 and F8 have wider front fenders and will require the wider grille, too. But finding an F7 or F8 whole front clip would be easiest... relatively.

The DRW chassis cab trucks should still have a 34" wide chassis from the back of the cab on back, same as the F6. That's the easy part. '48-52 trucks had a 32" wide frame from under the cab to the front, whereas the '73-79's is wider. It may just be a matter of cutting the inner rocker panel out, and boxing the outer rocker panel, and readjusting the "dogbones" that hold the F6 cab to its stock chassis. I haven't tried that, but either way, cutting some tin out without sacrificing strength may be what's need to sit over the frame. The front cab mounts sit over the 32" wide part of the F6 frame, and so modifying that end is required. At least the rear portion of the cab between the cab corners will fit the '73-79 DRW frame.

Depending on your planned use, I would opt for the F350, for the more common wheels if nothing else. But the F500 would be a better rollback. You're talking a 1.5 ton vs. a 1 ton.

Havi would the 51/52 F7/F8 front clip be wide enough? I have no clue how wide the big trucks are. It shouldn't be a problem on the F350 but I don't know if they would be wide enough on the F500.

I measured the front width of my '52 F-6.....from the outside of the tread to outside of the tread, about 68". Same measurement on my '68 F600....about 80".
Can't help with the F7-8 width.

Killer info! Thanks for that. This is my biggest problem is I cant decide between the two. The f5 is a little more money but not enough to make or break the deal. The 73 f5 aslo has a wheel lift where the f350 does not. And yes the F5 is a heavier duty truck with a 390 vs the 351. I also think the F5 will be close to loading dock height which will benefit me alot as I will probably use the truck more for auction and machinery moving than car hauling. I am going to look at the 73 f500 tomorrow so Ill bring back a full report and maybe a truck.. lol. The 78 f350 has been someones project for a while that is 90% done doing a same year cab swap to save it from rust. Running and driving but needs odds and ends. Not worried since I am going to tear into it anyway. In he process the 78 f350 has had alot of new parts and maintenance thrown at it, while I am not sure what has been maintained on the 73 F5. I am looking at all three trucks this week the 52, the 73, and the 78. The owner of the 52 makes the truck seem pretty solid he swear is good for restoration... but who knows I might go to see it and bag the whole idea for now. Either way I am buying one of the roll backs tho.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.for...e658cdda19.jpg
Look how wide those f7 fenders are jebus.

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.for...79dbcb3342.jpg

I feel like it would be extremely hard for me to find a set of these fenders.