As another Lame Cherry exclusive in matter anti matter.
Some things with Two Chiefs can not be replicated, but I include them here as this is a real life restoration to running order, not the bullshit you see on television "how to" shows. We are doing this work because I can not afford to hire people. I would rather have the big donations to cover things, but that was not the case with Two Chiefs in whatever God has in store in these End Times.
Ford's are odd to me, as I loved the look of the 1968 Ford F 250 , 2 x 4. Two Chiefs has that same look. The 1972 above looks too low to the ground for me. I love 4 x 4's from this era, as long as some miscreant has not jacked them up as that is hard to get in, they are unbalanced and they lose the identity of what Ford meant to produce and was appealing to the eye in this era
The Two Chief's era, witnessed 3 models of F 250 or three quarter ton Fords. The light version, midweight, and the heavy. Two Chiefs must be the light version, due to his weight, but also one key factor in his wheel hubs. Ford 3/4 tons had split rims. They made them for heavy duty hauling. That is what my old man's 1968 pick up head, but this 1970 Ranger (It is not an XLT nor a half size pick up) does not have the split rims......well it does now, as the old man picked on up on a sale somewhere and it has been outside in the elements for decades, but those old tires were meant to last and when we got Two Chiefs, as I have said, that Squaw Man must have run over some buffalo or a fat Indian, as the passenger front hub was a "remake". The Tractor Whisperer makes these when a hub gets damaged or rusts out.
What you do is cut the hub off with a torch. Then you find another 16 inch hub, cut the center out, and then you weld in the center hub so the bolt holes match and will mount on the pick up.
That fucking Indian had one made which was fluted or whatever. It was not original, did not match the other hubs and I was pissed off as one thing that pisses me off like an Irish wench is seeing these beautiful old vehicles ripped to shit, and these fuckheads make them modern and not original. Allot of assholes have Broncos who do this and I loathe it. I hate it. Is like taking the Mona Lisa and putting her in Obama tramp whore clothes.
I have a picture of the hub that I put on Two Chiefs, an original Ford split rim. Whatever that Indian ran over, he knocked the fucking wheel off, and he busted the lugs off, so now I have these cheap ass Chinaman lugs and nuts which are already nicked. You can see the split in the rim in the 10 o'clock position of this picture.
You could see this was a Firestone tire, but the Goddamn tire repair people put the white wall on the inside.........like the Indian did with this one tire. I was not taking it back to bitch, as it cost me 167 dollars to get this split rim refitted in changing the Indian created hub, to the tire which was on this split rim, and of all things an Amish Firestone I got for free, put on this split rim.
I know they had holy hell trouble in this exchange as it took 90 minutes, and when I got the Indian tire back it was full of rust and the bead was broken. I have no idea the trauma this pick up was put through, but I kind of think they had it parked out in a dry slough, it got flooded and this pick up sat in some water.
At any rate, I got the G 78 R 16 tires on this thing as they should be. I will get some white paint and touch up the Firestone so it matches the one on the driver side.
Also these split rims if not assembled correctly will burst apart, take your head off as 60 Minutes lamented about dangers when fucking idiots did it. JYG said you got to get the rust out, but you also need some grip to get them to hold together.
Even with rust, this is my beautiful tire and hub........and I'm very smiling happy over an original part as I hate after market shit.
I had them put tubes in these old tires to make them last till Jesus comes back as they are weather cracked and the original on this split rim was a real stiff tire as they were back in the 1970's so it had some big cracks on the sidewall.
Now we come to the part that you can not repeat, but is God loving me, for God's reasons. So when we got Two Chiefs, I had the three hubs on the pick up, the Indian rim, and for 16 inch tires.........two original grips on the back, and these labeled G 78 R 16's, meaning they came off the line, around 1987 I figure as things started going P 235 and such about that time in all that metric shit which louses up knowing what to put on old vehicles. Radial tires did not exist and no on really used them in the early 70's when they came along. They all looked flat to people and people hated them. I still do not know how a flat fucking tire rolls easier than a hard tire that is round.
So I remembered the old man had this split rim. When I got to the changing moccasin point, I was able to roll over the split rim and see if it would work, it did. It was allot of lifting as the big tires are HEAVY and it hurt my back, but we got them loaded in the GMC, and off to town we went for the tire changing work. This is why I NEVER try and pull a tire off an old rusty rim. You are going to hurt yourself, work you ass off and swear you will never be that stupid in trying to save money that way again. As I said, the machine ripped the bead off as it was rusted on. That is more than unfun. It is better to work on things that are not a disaster already and let someone else cuss about that tire and hub.
So we pulled into JYG's and being always nosy and watchful, I knew last week that someone dropped off two hubs and tiress. JYG told me that they probably would not fit Two Chiefs and I took his word for it. Then I measured the hubs I had.........used my had as a measure, and I knew exactly how big that center hole was. Got to JYG's and thankfully he had not destroyed those rims or someone else stole them (again not much of a chance as not that many old Ford hubs needed now).
I asked JYG how much he wanted for them. He studied for awhile and said 40 bucks, twenty each for the two rims as the tires were weather checked. I think if I never remove those tires, they will be fine for 50 years as those old tires last and last.
They are pictured below. Now JYG said he would not run them on the front of a pick up.........I would not either in normal driving, but in ranch stuff or taking the Indian pick up around, these tires are fine.
I tried them when we got home.......perfect fit.
In addition, when the Amish were blowing the Brier, I spotted that Firestone tire and knew I wanted it. When we went back.......yes who should you see there being given away, but a grippy G 78 R 16 tire with a new hub, yes shiny paint brand new. It was not a split rim, but it was a new hug and a good tire for free.
So where this started out was a gimp Indian with a broken hub, having run over some fat Indian and or buffalo, my cup runneth over in I now have the Indian hub as a spare, the Amish grippy and of course these two JYG gems above. To the point in this, I will continue to look as I detest that Indian manufactured rim, but for now it reminds me of the beasty mistreatment Two Chiefs survived.
Oh and that is me above in the shadow.
One last thing. In the Afroidian picture above of Blacks driving Ford pick ups..........that never happened in Ford marketing, you can see the hub caps. They are small. I have two of these and was dreaming about putting them on Two Chiefs......one is rusted out. I measured today and they are too small. Now I wonder what the heck was going on here, as I love the distinct old Ford hub caps. Now I'm back to God's Love again, as the 5 hole Ford hub must be allot smaller on the hub than the 8 hole like the F 250's had.
Two Chiefs behaves himself and God blesses him, yes I want him at least spiffed up with the hub caps. That is after a paint job we will give him, but I do not plan on making him museum quality. He is going to keep the dings he has earned by Indian Nation as no one will ever be able to steal him, as I know what is bent and where on him. He is our pick up, not some collector's Ford.
So now Two Chiefs has shoes he does not have to limp around in.
I will just keep looking for some grippy old 78 16 tires. I do not want radials on this pick up if I can help it. This is a Ford when people had sense, like voting for Richard Nixon and going to Church on Sunday.
Nuff Said
agtG
