Build Papaw Truck - 1953 IH R Series Restomod Truck

Wanting to document and get input on this build.

I purchased the 1953 International R-Series truck from my late grandfather (Papaw) a number of years ago. He did a mild rebuild of the truck that included paint and some other items about 15-20 years ago. I've maintained it as a running driving truck since owning it. I've used it to haul hay and chores with the flatbed. Max speed is 55 MPH and you need a couple miles to slow it down with drum brakes. The truck has now sat for too long with a temperamental carb and leaking radiator. I like to drive it but want to keep up with traffic, panic stop if needed, and be useful with a big flatbed.

Soo, lets do a cab swap restomod truck with a solid chassis and modern drivetrain!

Here is what I started with:





Donor Vehicles:
2005 F550 4x4 with 6.0 Powerstroke
2005 GMC 2500 HD with 6.0L and 4L80E

The basic plan:
Use the Ford chassis, GM drivetrain, and IH cab to build a cool and useful flatbed truck.

2005 Ford F550



I had no interest in using the 6.0 Powerstroke and was able to sell the cab and powertrain. This left me with the chassis and axles.

A shot of the 550 chassis and 2500HD getting its heart removed. What a mess!



The IH was next on the chopping block. Separating the cab and front clip from the chassis. Anyone need a rust free chassis and running gear from a 1953 R-Series truck? Some of these parts are increasingly hard to find. It has a SD220 I6 engine and 4 speed transmission. I'm hanging on to the flatbed for now.



Roughly placed the 6.0 and 4L80 in the SD chassis to get a visual on fitment. As expected, there was ample room to fit this powertrain compared to what was removed. The engine/trans moved forward several inches from here after the body was fit up.



Drivers side exhaust and front driveshaft interference will need to be addressed.



I plan to adapt the 2wd 4l80 to a transfer case. I went back and forth on what to run, but landed on a Ford NP205. I think a drivers drop 32 spline NP241 would have been easier, but the NP205 is undoubtably stronger, front dig capable, and has a cool factor to it. The PTO feature on the 205 for some future use (dump/tilt bed?) had an appeal to me as well.

Here are photos that really confirmed my decision to modify my grandfathers' truck. He was more of a "keep it original" kid of guy. I'm sure he would be pleased to know I still have it and want to use it as intended for truck stuff.



The body fit really well. I trimmed the inner fenders slightly to clear the frame rails, but they actually fit inside the coil buckets. The front of the Super Duty frame had to be shortened to get the wheel well to line up, but the front sway bar and steering box are all in tact. Custom cab and front clip mounts will need to be fabricated, as expected. I've order a bushing kit that should work nicely. Not sure how many photos I can include on a single post, but will continue on with the progress in the next post.

Please feel free to offer input, suggestions, or ask questions. I definitely don't have it all figured out, but I'm hopeful to have a running, driving truck in the spring. This will be my Winter 2025 project.

I hate frame swaps... but that C&C frame looks like a great fit.

For something of that nature id run eletric over hydraulic for a dump bed, or have the hydraulic pump ran off the engine. I wouldnt let it sway your tcase decision because PTO. 241 with SYE would be fine.

Getting the engine in its new home. I did offset ~1.5" to the passenger side to clear exhaust manifolds and provide clearance for a front drivers side driveshaft.



Made my own motor mount plates with a bushing, some tabs, and a plate that utilized the factory SD frame holes.



Picked up a 2007 5.3L LS for the 799 heads and TBSS intake. I plan on using them on the 6.0 to increase the CR, have bigger injectors and better flowing intake. It came with some of the exhaust. Mocked up the factory exhaust and cross over to see how it clears. I like the idea of using the cats to hopefully reduce fumes and keep things quiet. Guess I'm getting old... Still won't clear a front driveshaft without modifying.



Used an adapter from AA with 32 spline input for the NP205 so it can mate to the 4L80. You have to cut about 1.5" off of the 2wd 4L80 output shaft for this to work. Added a Lokar push button case mounted shifter into the mix. It lines up with the factory shifter hole in the cab fairly decent.



Used as much of the factory SD transmission cross member as i could to support the trans/t-case. Added some .250 2" square tubing to re-support what I cut out. The AA adapter utilizes the 2wd 4L80 transmission mount. Made a 2nd support with bushing to support the drivers side of the NP205. Never done one of these but can see how it would be needed to prevent cracking the transmission under heavy loads. I wanted to leave as much room as possible between the t-case and frame for exhaust. Not sure how it will be routed yet, but wanted to keep my options open. Hopefully what I came up with will suffice for support.



The underside of the trans and transfer case cross member. Added a couple drain holes for mud/water.

TRINDU said:

I hate frame swaps... but that C&C frame looks like a great fit.

For something of that nature id run eletric over hydraulic for a dump bed, or have the hydraulic pump ran off the engine. I wouldnt let it sway your tcase decision because PTO. 241 with SYE would be fine.

Click to expand...

I hear you on the frame swaps. Some of them look really goofy with fitment that seems forced. This has gone together surprisingly well and looks proportional, IMO. I debated with myself on swapping axles and a drivetrain into the factory frame of the IH. It sure seemed like less work to throw the cab on a new chassis that was almost ready to go. This 550 chassis has some beef to it that would have been impossible to incorporate into the original frame. I think the end product will be better going this route, but I'm biased.

Thanks for the input on the t-case. I've committed to the NP205. I've never had anything PTO driven, and may never. The electric/hydraulic unit for a tilt bed would likely be the way to go. Just like to keep my options open. A PTO driven auxiliary electric generator or compressor has also crossed my mind. Not sure how viable they are or even how much they cost, but could come in handy. Probably cheaper/easier to throw a portable generator or compressor on the flatbed when needed.

Looks awesome. Love seeing these old trucks with new life. Really need to get back to work on my 54

Very cool truck! Keep the pics coming!



You'll probably never need the pto, all the electric stuff has gotten better. Unless you need some bigtime hydraulic power for a crane, keep everything separate

i dig it man, wanting to do the same. have an f450 but with a v10, no point in swapping that. Just havent decided on body, because its hard to find one nuce as yours

question, I see your f550 has an L shaped frame overlay in the middle part. It looks like top flange side is riveted together, but I cant tell how its mounted in the web? Rivets that Im not seeing?

Thanks

****in sick build. No notes.

fordguy said:

question, I see your f550 has an L shaped frame overlay in the middle part. It looks like top flange side is riveted together, but I cant tell how its mounted in the web? Rivets that Im not seeing?

Thanks

Click to expand...

Yep, looks like the overlay is riveted on the top and sides. Definitely fewer rivets on the sides. Over a 1/2" combined thickness where it's reinforced.

appteciate it!

That thing looks great, awesome build man!

Cool build!

I've got a '57? R160 that i'm not sure what to do with.. this is probably not MY path, but good to see these old trucks still have a place in the world.

keep up with the updates.

This is a cool build!

I am hording parts to do similar. Mine will be a 55 F600 on a 4x4 08 F550 chassis. I want to use a DT466 or 8.3 but might have to settle for a 12valve 5.9.

This is the way. At first, I was nervous that you were about to say that you are using the PowerStroke

That looks like it fits nicely. Sweet build.

Looks good on there. Could you get away with a smaller spacer up front to just bring the wheels in a bit? I think the stock ones are 4-4.5" so maybe 1.5-2" thick would bring them in enough?


Just wanted to add the other way which would be odd but doable would be to use a regular 05+ F250-F350 axle with adapters to go to the 10x225 since the axle itself is about 2" narrower I believe? Might be wrong on measurement there. You could run F550 UB on the F250-350 axle but then you would need to redrill the rotors. This is only place where the 99-04 F550 axle is nice, just a regular 8 lug UB with adapter.

Capped the front frame rails and knocked out the cab and body mounts. Four cab mounts and two for the front clip. I may add two more up front if there is too much wiggle. Used a bushing kit for a Chevy car from Energy Suspension 3.4138G.

350TacoZilla said:

Looks good on there. Could you get away with a smaller spacer up front to just bring the wheels in a bit? I think the stock ones are 4-4.5" so maybe 1.5-2" thick would bring them in enough?


Just wanted to add the other way which would be odd but doable would be to use a regular 05+ F250-F350 axle with adapters to go to the 10x225 since the axle itself is about 2" narrower I believe? Might be wrong on measurement there. You could run F550 UB on the F250-350 axle but then you would need to redrill the rotors. This is only place where the 99-04 F550 axle is nice, just a regular 8 lug UB with adapter.

Click to expand...

Sticking with this front axle for the increased turning angle, bigger brakes, thicker axle tubes, larger ring gear, etc. It doesn’t seem overly wide in person.

Sitting on my computer now, is the front clip of that all one piece? Thinking wow, he has really good fit up of the grill to fenders and bumper. Wait a minute...

Ah ok yeah for some reason when I saw the first round of pictures it looked like almost the entire tire was outside the fender. That is definitely the better axle out of the available ones I was just thinking in terms of reducing width.

Gots_a_sol said:

Sitting on my computer now, is the front clip of that all one piece? Thinking wow, he has really good fit up of the grill to fenders and bumper. Wait a minute...

Click to expand...

It is!

Very nice. Beautiful truck to start with.

looks great man

JNHEscher said:

This is the way. At first, I was nervous that you were about to say that you are using the PowerStroke

Click to expand...

I took one look and said nope! That 6.0 PS ran GOOD but needed some work on the HPOP. The guy I bought it from had a bunch of fancy parts on it, but got tired of dumping money it. I didn’t want to go down the same path. Not my first trip down LS lane. This will be the third gen 3 LS in my collection. Cheap, simple HP with tons of support. Hard to beat.

Removed the dash (very nice!) to get access. I thought I was going to be able to save some of the wiring, but it was in the way for the brakes. Hydroboost and brake pedal mounted. Fit surprisingly well. I may have to make a final tweak of the pedal, but it won’t be much.





Not sure yet on a DBC pedal that will work on the LS in this truck. Ordered up a couple eBay specials from a Jeep and Chevy Express van to see what I can make work. Open to suggestions if you’ve used an easy to work with throttle pedal that accepts a pull cable for an LS throttle body. I don’t think I want to engineer a push/pull system to use this stock pedal.

A few more pictures of some of the small items getting done.

Got the steering shaft modified and fit into place. Fabbed up a plate for the end of a universal column to attach to the firewall via rivnuts. Utilized the factory under dash mount to support the upper end. I ordered a three spoke tractor steering wheel that is smaller than the 18" original but still looks period correct. I wasn't going to pay $300 bucks for a non-IH reproduction unit. Hopefully I'm satisfied with the $60 tractor steering wheel.





I'm a little concerned with the angle of the rubber rag joint steering gear box connection. If it wears quickly, I'll have to replace it with a U-joint.



Mounted an auxiliary trans cooler with fan behind the cab. Welded some flange nuts on the angle iron to make installation/removal easier once the bed is installed. I'm not a fan of taxing the engine radiator with keeping the trans cool. I have similar cooler (actually smaller) under another vehicle and it seems to do fine.





Lastly, made a plate to mount the Terminator X-Max computer under the dash on the drivers side. Someone scabbed in a piece of angle iron that attaches to the column brace. Welds aren't pretty, but it was solid enough and will hold the ECU and wiring fine. This will all be behind the dash anyway. Fuse panel will likely go on the drivers side kick panel also.

This is sick. Keep posting

Column with tractor steering wheel and throttle pedal are done. I’ll have to move the brake pedal over a little for it to be perfect. Throttle pedal used was from and early Jeep Cherokee for reference. Heated and bent it to fit. Modified a stock throttle Chevy throttle cable to work with it. Same style clip is used.





Cut and flared the Superduty 5/16” fuel lines and adapted to -6AN. Using Fragola PTFE everywhere I can. This rigid 37 degree flare tool works good, even on the stainless lines.





Running a corvette style filter/regulator between the factory V10 fuel sending unit and LS fuel rail.





Shortened a factory 1350 CV driveshaft. Wanted to get it in place so I can route the exhaust out of harms way.





Lastly, started cleaning and disassembling some 799 heads I plan to run on the 6.0L. They will get new valve guide seals and springs for the Low Buck Truck camshaft. Picture of my homemade spring compressor tool I made when I had more time than money. Still works!