Projects 37 ford half ton pickup build

well, i figure its about time that i post my project on here. i am 17 years old, and i got this 37 ford pickup from my grandpa who lives down in arizona when i was 12. it basically sat untouched in garage until i was 16, but i remember when we brought it home, we pulled the engine, cleaned up the distrbutor, and fired up the 1942 flathead that came with it. it sat and i lost intrest in it. than in the late spring when i was sixteen, we started talking about it, and i decided to get busy. i cleaned and painted the engine the original ford green. than i reversed the spring eyes and removed some leaves and that lowered it down about six inches. i pulled off the bed and resealed the old banjo rear end because it was leaking pretty bad. i also welded up some dual exhaust with glaspacks. than i threw it back together and did some really basic wiring, and by the end of summer i was driving it around the property. i decided that i was gonna need new brakes because on todays roads you need hydrolics, so after having a little bit of fun driving it on our land, i got back to work. i had a vision after seeing all of the ford pickups at back to the fifties and i knew that i wanted a low, full fendered, flathead powered truck. after driving it and getting into third gear on the driveway, i realized that i wanted some form of overdrive. i was thinking along the lines of a colombia rear end, but those are expensive and im just a kid who is trying to pay for his hotrod so that was looking like it wasnt gonna happen. so my dad said,"why dont yo go measure the rear end in that old beater belvedere that we got sitting along the side of the pole barn, and so i did and it was very close to my old banjo, and he said, you could swap on a t5 and that rear end and than you wouldnt have to worry about busting the drivetrain if you put the pedal to the floor", and i said, "ok" and thats what we decided to do. i got some 52 ford brakes from an old truck and am currently adapting those to my truck. i got some new brake parts for my truck for christmas. new cylinders for all four brakes, new 52 ford shoes, hoses for the front brakes,and a master cylinder. recently i machined an adapter to fit inbetween a hogshead that i got and a nos t5 that i picked up at the jefferson swap meet in wisconsin. i used the bridgeport and lathe to machine it and it fists perfectly.glad i didnt spend all that money at speedway. i also got a new clutch disk. still need to machine a few sleeves. i cut the spring mounts off the mopar rear end, and made some brackets to weld onto it so it will mount on the wishbone. that is where i am currently at. i want to hop up the flatty with the carbs and hi compression heads, but first im gonna focuse on getting it on the road. i will try to post some pictures very soon, and please comment if you have any helpful tips or advice for me or to post pictures of your truck or to critizize me because i did something that you dont like. thanks

 

here is a video from this last summer. i had everything just rigged up. one of the valves was sticking but it freed up, and is running really well. i drove it around the driveway and fields, and came to the conclusion that i wanted hydraulic brakes and a drivetrain that will do well on the highway and put up with as much power as i hope the flathead will be putting out after some modifications. i pulled out the old drive train, and im currently putting in the new one. a i machined an adapter plate for the t5 transmission, and im adapting the mopar rear end to the wishbone. here are a few kinda random pics. more pics shortly.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o>

 

Hi flathead!! let me be the first to say great project!!

 

Waiting for pics........drum roll please.

 

cant get the video to upload.

 

here is the flatty when i got it

 

i lowered it by reversing the spring eye and removing leafs. the pictures are before and after i lowered the rear.

 

here is a pick of the tranny hooked up with the homemade adapter, and kinda a mocked up rear end

 

here is a picture of the truck when i was driving it around the property, and the other is what it is going to look like.

 

Nice project..coming along nicely.

 

Looks great. I was wondering what size tires are you running and how thick is you're t5 adapter plate?


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Nice build going there. I have the same engine and would like the T5 behind it. Do you have any specs you could share about the details of mating those together?

 

as far as the tires go, im not sure what they are. those are pretty wore out and they are wide five so im switching because of my hydraulic brakes, plus im going with a smaller tire size (probably white walls).the adapter is an inch thick aluminum plate i got from discount steel. the ring that fits into the hogshead sticks out 3/8 leaving the plate at 5/8. the rest of the specs you should just measure and make sure to be accurate, because it is a lot of machining and it would be pretty disappointing to get aways into machining it and then making a mistake and having to start over. i accidently cut a little too much off the hogshead end and ended up making a sleeve to go around it. Fortunately, after the correction, it fits perfectly. i started out by mounting the plate in the Bridgeport and boring out the transmission opening, then i used that opening to mount on the lathe and spun the hogshead ring. it worked out very nicely. only about seven hours start to finish.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o>

 

Looking good, your on the right path!

 

looks like a real solid truck, thanx for posting! your`e doing a great job.

 

More 37 pickups, the world is getting better! Haha. I also have a 37 pickup and I'm in the process of lowering it. I pie cut the rear cross member and dropped it about 5in and have reversed the eyes in the front. How many leaves have you taken out of the front and rear? I was going to cut the rear again but think if I reverse the eyes and take out a few leaves that would be a lot less work.
Nice truck and keep us posted

 

Very nice project and you are doing a teriffic job, especially making your own parts! Congratulations.

On thing you may want to consider......the wishbones in the stock Ford setup did not control axle housing rotation, the torque tube did. The 'bones were just braces to keep the axle housing and torque tube 'square' with one another.

When eliminating the torque tube, the 'bones have to do it's job and weren't designed for that purpose. With your stock flattie it may not be a major problem, but if you warm it up, or drive more aggressively, their strength is marginal.

Keep up the great work!

Ray

 

I was just thinking about making a adaptor like that for a t5 this weekend. glad to see it can work. If you have any other pics of it we would enjoy seeing them. Your doing a great job.

 

haven’t posted on this for a while now, but i got some stuff done. i needed a way to mount the wishbones since i was switching to an open driveshaft so i welded up a piece that sits behind the x-member and put a bolt through it to mount them. i have it so that it is adjustable by moving a couple washers to either side. i also put a sleeve around the tranny input shaft so that it would fit the old throw-out bearing. than i drilled through the blousing and mounted a bolt to attach to the spring. i ended up having to grind the bolts that hold the flywheel to clear my new clutch disk. i welded the brackets onto the rear axle and mounted them on the wishbones. it all fits together real nicely. i have also done some work with the rear shocks. my old ones had the arms broken off so i got a crate full of some at a swap meet. i just i kinda mix and matched them to come up with something that would work. i ended up having to bend the arms. i also threw the front brake hubs up on the turn-table on the mill and redrilled so that the front bolt pattern is the same as the rear. at the swap meet that i picked the shocks up at, i also got a new two carb fenton intake! i really wanted one and was really excited when i saw this one for $100. i also got a score on some flathead headers for $30 and a pair of stainless radiator tubes. unfortunately the headers have alot of clearance issues and for now im gonna just throw on the old exhaust manifolds. i am currently working on the driveshaft. i cut the yoke off of the t-5 driveshaft and cut and cleaned up the mopar driveshaft. now i just have to weld them together. i have the truck sitting on some wheels but i still have alot of brake work to do. here are some pics <?xml:namespace prefix = "o" ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o>
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p.s. i will be putting on some whitewalls soon. <o></o>

 

here is the piece that i welded up for the rear wishbones to mount.

 

you are doing a excellent job. keep us posted with your build.

 

here are the brackets and the rear end now in.

 

i beleive that i removed five leaves in the back. i also ended up cutting the ends of the second largest leaf off to clear the spring eyes.

 

I love looking to see what others are doing to their 37's. Mine is going back original, including the cable brakes. Except for the 24 stud flatty already rebuilt.

 

You need a pivot at the wishbone mount. Are you putting rod ends, heim joints or something else in there?

 

I have a 1937 Ford pickup that I got from my grandpa when I was 12......in 1962!

 

now i have the two pieces cut for the driveshaft and i am going to weld them together. if has anyone ever on here ever welded two shafts together to make an adapter shaft, please post any tips that you may have because i havent ever done this before, and want to make sure its ballanced and doesnt wabbel.

 

i also got my first flathead performance part! fenton 2 carb intake. got it at a swapmeet in kansas for $100

 

looks like a cool project

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Nice job so far, enjoy the time spent on it.

Send your drive shaft out. For a a few bucks a good shop will weld it up solid and balance it. Otherwise you might wind up with a vibration that will do no good. Also the front mount on your rear bones needs a ball or a sloppy bushing in there to let the bones move when only one wheel moves up or down, it will make the bones twist (articulation).