1966 F250 Flareside 2wd Project
 

Hey y'all, along with most of the rest of you somewhere along the way I caught the bug for classic vehicles (I'm 23 so just starting to get into them). A couple weeks ago I picked up a 1966 flareside that runs and drives but has some issues. It needs the kingpins and shocks replaced before it'll be safe to drive and then there's also a fair amount of rust that I'll have to deal with. Most of it is in the floorpans, cab supports, and some other random spots. I picked up welding last year so I'm not afraid of all that, but it'll definitely be a challenge. I've never worked on a vehicle this old so most of what I'm getting into mechanically is new to me. I first learned mechanical work by necessity on a 2007 powerstroke that had its fair share of issues.

Looking forward to going through the build with y'all and thanks in advance for all the advice and discussion

Lewis


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Looks good. Did you do the wheels? With the new wheels and lug nuts did it get new brakes?

Good luck with your build.

Eric

Looks like a nice project, you don't see to many F250 flaresides after they went to the new style bed in '64. If you are planning a front disc brake upgrade now is the time to do it since you need king pins anyway. BTW, everyone knows what you mean but stepside was a Chevy term, Ford is flareside.

Looks like a stepside to me. }>

Eric

Thanks for the correction! I'd forgotten flareside was the correct term. I suppose I spent so much time looking at late '60s Chevys that the term stuck.

What would be the best way to go about converting to disc brakes? I know some people prefer to keep their vehicles period correct, but this truck is banged up enough I'm going to have to change a bunch of other stuff anyways. I assume either find a donor or get a kit? Is it as simple as replacing the whole hub/brake area (not sure what the correct term is) and the master cylinder?

Eric, I bought the truck with the wheels already like that. I'm only just beginning to pull things apart, so I'm honestly not sure what state the brakes are in. They don't appear to have been rebuilt. The guy I bought it from trailered it to my house and I only had the chance to drive it around a gravel lot for a few minutes. Upon closer inspection it appears the wheels were painted over somewhat recently (I can see bubbling that looks like rust).

Most people find a 1973/79 F250 2WD donor, but they have to be careful, because... > <

1966/72 F250 Camper Specials (all 2WD) & F250 2WD's with a 7,500 lbs. GVWR have 12" x 2 1/2" front/rear drum brakes.

1966/72 F250 2WD's except Camper Specials & except 7,500 lbs. GVWR have 12 1/8" x 2" front/rear drum brakes.
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> Some 1973/79 F250 2WD's have single piston caliper front disc brakes, some have dual piston caliper front disc brakes. <

1973/75 F250 2WD's with single piston calipers have 12 1/8" x 2" rear drum brakes.

1973/79 F250 2WD's with dual piston calipers and all other 1976/79 F250's have 12" x 2 1/2" rear drum brakes.

Is there a reason I should try and find a single piston over a dual piston or vice versa?

I would assume you'd want dual piston calipers and associated parts, so now you know that single piston calipers were also available.

There couldn't be anything worse than lying on the greasy ground of a junkyard, being bitten by red ants and besieged by flying wombats, only to get home and discover you removed single piston parts. :(

Well I guess the downside to living out west where the trucks never rust would have to be the flying wombats! I've been besieged by fire ants in a junk yard in Texas before, but never had to face flying wombats.

Much appreciated NumberDummy, I'll see what I can find in the yards around me. I'm slowly realizing that getting to the point of driving this truck is further away than I thought it was. I think that has more to do with what I need to learn than it does the actual labor, but I'm still backing my timetable up considerably

Last night I was out working on the truck and one of the things I did was take down the headliner. I'm curious what anyone else has done to replace that and insulate the cab a little bit? I think I saw some people talking about using a cheap foam or yoga mat or something along those lines for insulation.

Also, last week I went to try and remove one of the I-beams so I could get to the kingpin but wasn't able to get the wheel bearing off to remove the drum back plate. One of my buddies suggested that I heat up where the bearing contacts the spindle and try and wiggle it off, but I'm not sure if there's a simple step that I'm missing. Any ideas?

What have y'all done for seats? It originally had a bench in there but somewhere along the way before it got to me the bench was lost and a couple s-10 seats were thrown in the cab. I've been trying to figure out how to mount those or if it would be better to look for a bench seat I can replace them with.

First thing I would do is seal the inside of the roof (every where) with POR15 then Dynomat it.

Thanks for the suggestion, Christmas. I imagine it'd be good to do that on the floor as well once I have the holes patched? The PO rolled on a coat of bedliner that just looks terrible so I'll probably get all that off and do that as well.

Sorry its been a little while since I posted. I've spent most of the last few weeks gathering my thoughts and ordering parts. The biggest question right now is figuring out exactly what I want to do with the truck. I've got a set of tail lights, the tail light wiring, and floor pans en route currently. The goal is to get the necessary items out of the way first so I can get the truck driving as soon as possible. I don't plan on doing much other major surgery in the near future.


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Still haven't decided what to do with the bed yet, but last week I took the time to rip out the old boards that made up the bed and unbolted the rails running front to back.
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The PO bedlined the floor because he was just going to use the truck as a shop truck. I alternated a wire wheel and palm sander to get it looking like this. The driver and passenger floor pans need to be replaced so I have those on order and they should be arriving late next week.
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Both the driver and passenger side look like this, so I'll cut out the rot here soon and box that in. It runs into the step rail as well which will need to be patched.