1955 F350 pickup

[Ray]

I bought a 1955 ford F350 pickup with a 9ft bed from a local estate.It belonged to a shell gas
distributor and is painted yellow with the shell emblem on the door.Were there a lot of 350's built back then? Was a 9ft bed standard? Thanks.

 

[Stan - Florida]

Can't help with how many were built, but, yes, the F-350 pickup did have a 9' bed.

Stan

 

[truckdog62563]

As said, the 9' bed, called an "Express Bed", was standard on the single rear wheel (SRW) F-350s. No record exists to my knowledge of the number produced. Ford had plants all over the country, and world, and to my understanding maintained no centralized accounting of each body style produced.

Of greater concern to you on your truck should be its wheels. In 1955 Ford was equipping SRW F-350s with 17" x 5.5" Budd wheels (Budd #68600). These wheels had 1/2" of positive offset and a 6 lug x 7.25" bolt pattern. These wheels have today come to be termed "widow makers". The technical term is Firestone RH-5°. You might want to do a Google search on that name. They are quite dangerous, and few reputable service facilities will touch them much less mount new tires on them.

In 1956 Ford, as well as the other major manufacturers, introduced one piece tubeless truck wheels on these one ton models in sizes 17.5" x 5.25" and 19.5" x 5.25". The SRW 17.5s were Budd #71980 (later replaced by #73230), and the 19.5" was Budd #70740. You would do well to start your search for one or the other of these wheel sets. They are quite rare, and sought after.

An alternative solution would be to have your widow maker wheel centers pulled and remounted into new tubeless outer rims. Companies like American Wheel Specialist of Pasco, WA, provide this service. Stu

 

[Ray]

Mine has the 17" one piece wheels.Ford told me there were 5450 express trucks built.

 

[truckdog62563]

No, you only think they are one piece. There's a joint down the middle of the rim. See the pic. There were no 17" one piece truck wheels made back then. Stu
Widow Maker

 

[gtx1967jewison]

Looks like it would be easy to just weld them together making it one piece.