Ford F 600

Discussion in 'Big Rigs' started by camsk5, Feb 27, 2008.

  1. camsk5

    camsk5 Member

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    Alright Forders

    Its been about two weeks and I am making some substantial progress on disassembly and research of PROJECT FIRE EATER( I know you want pictures and I will post some of the process at some point)

    I think I have wrenched about 2000 bolts off this thing so far... mostly 3/8" button head stainless.. enough to wear out two socket allen head wrenches and 4 cut off saw blades and a handful of sawzall blades for the difficult ones. Literally a mile of wire and hoses are gone now.. two trashcans full.. this thing had redundant systems to the fire pump.. all engine hoses and wiring, battery cables and gauges ran to the pump as well.. the frame got pretty busy.. now its clean.. well it will be after a sandblast and repaint

    Friday when my EBAY forklift arrives (yep.. I just had to buy a forklift to do this project) Ill pull the tank, which takes up the entire center chassis area, the hose reels, and all the sheetmetal rear panels... this alone will remove about 2500 pounds permanently from the truck.. Ill then pull the rear boxes and put them aside for refurbishment and shortening , the rear of the back box will be cut off to shorten the body,, when its all said and done the boxes will be about 11 feet overall...and I think the truck will be about 4k pounds lighter even after reupfitting. I had said I was going to build an all aluminum flatbed on the rear... I may still do it.. but the boxes are so nice and heavy duty that I have decided to keep them for now.. just shorten the ass end one.. it will become clearer when I have it sitting as cab and chassis

    In a couple of weeks Ill remove the HALE midship pump...and shorten the chassis/driveshaft.. about 4 feet... the overall truck will become a SWB and will no longer be a beast but will be Bigfoots nimble smaller brother.I intend to keep some of the fire fighting ability of the truck and will install an 20 hp engine driven fire pump and (2) 1 1/2 inch manual lines.. coupled to a lightweight 250 gallon polytank... enough for immediate attack.. especially on my very hot and dry ranch during the summer

    I scored a Cummins 6bt diesel with an Allison 545 out of a later model F650 off of ebay for cheap... it will be my proposed repower at some point,, but Im getting ahead of myself... I still need to get the truck to smog.. spent a day rebuilding the HollyMORECRAFT carb.. which was dank and dark with carbon buildup from being loaded all the time... I believe I'll sail right through emissions now.. then OFF with all that crap to make the truck run right.. once the Historical plates are on it.. it falls off the smog check system.. so its a one time shot to make it get through.. Im am so ready to sanitize the engine bay

    I have been running into issues..the same some of you older ford owners experience... hard parts are available but soft parts are long gone to aftermarket companies.. and nobody that I can find has f 600 stuff.. or really knows if the f100-f350 stuff will fit or not.. the 1 piece rubber floor mat isnt out there that I can tell.. and Ive gone to the suppliers like blachsford... no luck yet.. my trucks has the "low" 5 inch center tranny hump. I ordered one up for a f light duty and it didnt come close.. who knows maybe they sent me the wrong one..

    Ill continue to take suggestions here

    I need new cab insulation on the inside front firewall.. it kinda of disintegrated when I pulled on it...30 years of exposure didnt help... I have plenty of dynamat to do the interior but it would be nice to have a factory style cab insulation under the dash to keep it stock looking.. anyone have any idea as to whether the lt duty stuff does fit?

    I found a company that makes disc brakes for military rockwell axles.. basically using F550 stuff...Im researching this (Ive done 4wdb conversions before but never on anything this big).. it would remove several hundred pounds of unsprung weight off the axles.. and this would be a good thing.. also perhaps replacing the transfer case drum parking brake with a DB setup

    I have designed, in my head anyway, an aluminum exo- skeleton for the truck. Some of the late model fast attack brush pumpers have them for getting around trees and brush to protect the cab.. anyway,, Im working that design out for the future

    Future plans also include LED and HID lighting... basically modernizing all the emergency light systems (something I have experience with)

    I havent found any real surprises.. nothing broken..or unexpected on 30 year old trucks even with only 21k miles on them... I did find raffle tickets stuffed under the seat cushion from 1980.. commemorating the truck when new at a fund raiser for the fire company

    While this isnt a historical restoration,, it is a modernizing of what is a nce piece of FORD medium duty americana... I wont touch the real cool part of the truck.. the ford cab itself.. other than weld up the holes they drilled in the dash for radios etc... ok.. I did find some red racing lapbelts I just had to have over the stock ugly dried out ford lap belts.. but thats the last mod.. promise.. ok.. I have my fingers crossed...

    Ill get some pics when I begin to get the big stuff off

    Thats it from F 600 central.. any help on parts would be welcome.
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    Last edited by a moderator: Mar 5, 2008
  2. FireCat

    FireCat Active Member

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    Sorry cant help with the part thing , but im intrested to know the history behind your build. Were did the rig come from ? Were are ya located ? Is the rig just going to be used for personel use or for a fire dept? I am a firefighter myself so i am intrested in all things fire related. Good luck with the rebuild/modifacation.
     

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