1961 Ford F500 project.

[Timj]

Take a picture of the hydro vac. Curious if it is similar to the newer ones.
I don't have time for the whole story right now, but I've been down with a 78 Chevy trying to get one. The company that rebuilds them can't get cores to rebuild. I got the last one O'Reilly's had in the US, it arrived broken in the box. Carquest, Advanced Auto, Napa, and Weaver couldn't find one.

Hopefully they get the part that was broken shipped out to fix the new one.

[Jancoe]

Does your truck have a 2 speed rear axle on it? These trucks used vaccum to actuate it. The brake system is weird on these old trucks. We replaced the master cyl on the '50 f6 and several other parts as needed. Our master had 5 lines to hook up to it. I'll have to ask where my mothers boyfriend bought his parts from. That parts place he used was extremely helpful finding the parts that he needed for it.

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[DavidBarkey]

@puttputt , Those are some great looking trucks .
Thanks for sharing the pics.

[puttputt]

I took a look at the brakes on the truck and the master cylinder is junk for sure. I’m still debating on how to proceed. This has a hydro-boost system so it has a slave cylinder / booster under the truck. It may be fine but this is looking like a scenario where you change one thing and the dominos start falling. So far I’m not finding a lot of info out there.

@puttputt Do your Dodge trucks have this type of braking? If so do you have a parts source? It seems some of these items are starting to get hard to find.

Yes, the 50 tow truck has a 2 speed axle and hydro-boost brakes. I never really looked up a parts source in regards to the booster as a fellow gave me a 50 Dodge 3 ton truck for parts that I stripped. It had the same booster on it so I have a spare. The brakes currently aren't working on the tow truck but I think cylinder rebuilds will cure that. I will replace the booster if need be. I believe there are outfits that can rebuild these units though. Likely isn't cheap. And that's the problem. I was lucky when the fellow offered me a complete parts truck.

[JSinMO]

@Timj here’s the pictures of my setup.

@Jancoe My truck is just a straight rear end. It not a 2 speed. If you come up with a source for parts That would be awesome. I love the look of your truck. It looks like it’s in pretty good shape.

I did find some information today. I checked O’Reilly and they looked at me like I had 3 heads! I stopped by a couple of repair shops, no luck. My last stop was at Advanced and they said we can have it rebuild no problem!
It’ll takes 10 to 20 days to get it back to you. I asked what if it not repairable? They told me I’m not out anything. So I’m going for it, we’ll see what happens. They gave me a price of $138.00 rebuild and back in my hands.

@puttputt you got really lucky to get a good parts truck!

[propane1]

JSinMO, I saw that truck again today, but he was driving the other way, so I couldn’t get the window.
Sounded like it was a 6 cylinder.


Noel

[puttputt]

$138.00 to have the booster rebuilt sounds very reasonable to me. Would never happen for that price where I am.

[JSinMO]

JSinMO, I saw that truck again today, but he was driving the other way, so I couldn’t get the window.
Sounded like it was a 6 cylinder.


Noel

Tell him he can keep the engine, we just want the glass!

[Timj]

@Timj here’s the pictures of my setup. 93651C54-DC00-4AB0-A0B6-47F992AF3D6E.jpeg761C94BC-1802-41B5-B6BC-FD6FBCAB0573.jpeg

@Jancoe My truck is just a straight rear end. It not a 2 speed. If you come up with a source for parts That would be awesome. I love the look of your truck. It looks like it’s in pretty good shape.

I did find some information today. I checked O’Reilly and they looked at me like I had 3 heads! I stopped by a couple of repair shops, no luck. My last stop was at Advanced and they said we can have it rebuild no problem!
It’ll takes 10 to 20 days to get it back to you. I asked what if it not repairable? They told me I’m not out anything. So I’m going for it, we’ll see what happens. They gave me a price of $138.00 rebuild and back in my hands.

@puttputt you got really lucky to get a good parts truck!

Yep, pretty much the same thing, mine just has the double chambers for heavier gvw. Cardone is the company that rebuilds them. Mine was just over $200 with the core return.

[JSinMO]

Looks like a fun project. Good luck replacing those tires. A family member has a 1950 F6 he just got going down the road. All original, sat outside for years and has nice patina. We ended up cutting the centers of the wheels out and it is now running on 22.5 instead of the original 20" 2 piece wheels that nobody will touch.

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You are spot on. I have search and searched for tires and rims. So far no go. Even if I could find the tires the rims on the truck are the old “widow maker” split rims. Nobody will touch them and I can’t blame them.

I must admit I’m pretty down after hitting nothing but dead ends so far.

I have a good welder that would weld up new rims on my centers if I end up going that route. Can you tell what rims you used on your F6?

I really appreciate your information. Thanks!