Support Your Own!
This is one of the toughest columns I've ever had to write, not that there are that many easy ones. It is the week of the terrorist attack on New York City as I write this, the newspapers are full of stories, television is a non-stop montage of images of destruction, and radio has switched to a litany of personal accounts of tragedy. My heart goes out to all of you who lost someone in the tragedy. Who knows where the numbers of perished may end up by the time you read this column. As a Canadian, I cannot feel the depth of emotions and patriotism that every American must feel but we, as our closest neighbors, too feel your pain. All of Canada weeps with you.
Many times, as a member of a truck club, I too have seen both personal tragedy and large-scale tragedy. I've listened to fellow members in their time or personal need and I've also been involved in larger tragedy. Such a time was when our club worked together to send large packages of clothes and toys to our fellow truck club in Iowa when they had large scale flooding in the early 1990s.
For any of you who are not a part of a truck club, this may be an aspect of clubs that you never considered or realized. I could go on for days about the other things, but I'll leave you with a list of the Websites of truck clubs dedicated to vintage Ford pickups. This information, along with the club listings in the main body of this edition of CLASSIC TRUCKS should go a long way to hook you up with some great people. The rest is up to you.
Ford Truck Club web sitesBadgerland F-100shttp://badgerland.ford-trucks.com
Central Arkansas Pickups
http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Factory /7071/home.html
Classic Ford Truck Club
www.ford-merc.com
Early Bronco Registry 1966-1977
http://www.earlybronco.com
Eastern Oregon Ford Truck Club
http://www.oregontrail.net/~rond/myford.htm
Fat Fendered Ford Club Arizona
http://clubs.hemmings.com/fatfenderfords
Ford Truck Enthusiasts
http://www.ford-trucks.com
Georgia LoRiders
http://www.ford-trucks.com/georgialoriders
Great Plains F-100 Club
http://www.ford-trucks.com/gpf100
Henry's Haulers of Edmonton
http://communities.msn.ca/HenrysHaulersF100ClubofEdmonton
Klassic Haulers of Michigan
http://www.fordclub.com
Music City F-100s
http://members.nbci.com/mcf100s
Old Ford Truck Clubhttp://ww4.choice.net/~oftc
Pickups Limited of Southern Californiahttp://www.pickupslimited.com
Puget Sound F-100shttp://www.wolfenet.com/~enochson
Slick 60s Ford F Series Clubhttp://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/fordpickups/ 61to66fseries
Sooner F-100shttp://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Shop/2376
Southern Central Illinois Ford Clubhttp://www.fordclub.com
Southern Ontario Classic Pickupswww.socp.net
Twin City F-100shttp://clubs.hemmings.com/twincityf100/index.htm
Tech TipsThough the trucks that we are interested in vary throughout the years, some things remain common, one of these being the rearend dimensions. From 1948 right up to 1972, all Ford truck rearends were 61 inches from axle flange to axle flange and had the spring mounting pads in the same location. Often I get asked about what is the easiest Ford 9-inch rearend to install for better ratios, strength and interchangeability.
For '48-56 trucks, Ford didn't yet have a 9-inch unit, the choice of hot rodders everywhere. But with some minor modification to the shock mounts, a '57-72 truck unit will bolt right into the stock spring pads. For trucks from 1957 and up, the stock rear is the 9-inch, so it has all the desired features. The only issues with this stock truck rear are the limitation of aftermarket wheel choices with the Ford 5 on 5-inch bolt circle and the strength of the actual assembly. These truck rears are considered medium duty and are available with both 28-spline and the stronger 31-spline axles. They are adequate for daily drivers but not considered best for high torque applications.