The last time the Power Hoe moved under its own power was 1987. Even though time had been good to the truck many things needed to be addressed to assure that it would continue to provide dependable and safe service. The first item to look at was the brake system. The master & wheel cylinders were replaced along with all the flexible and hard lines. This is one area where no one should scrimp. All FC’s have single cell master cylinders and one leak can lead to a total brake failure.
Other areas tended to were the cooling, fuel and ignition systems. All new hoses & belts were installed. Also the radiator was removed and re-cored to ensure no problems down the road with this early cooling tunnel model. One valve was stuck from sitting so long but after a 24 hour soaking of penetrating oil all things freed up and the end result was a engine that purred like a fine tuned sewing machine!
One area that took its toll on the truck was fuel left in the tank. The answer ended up being reproducing an exact replica of the original and installing it in the place of the original tank. What you can’t see is that its double the thickness of the old tank, the welds are done first rate, a fuel sender is added and sync'ed with the original dash gauge so we'll know how much is in the tank, a baffle has been added inside the tank, and the pickup tube has been changed to 3/8 inch vs 1/4 which was feeding a 5/16 fuel line.
Another cosmetic area that was addressed was the clouded and wore Lexan windshield that was custom made for the truck. Here you can see the new windshield held in place with bolts & washers to retain its shape. It will hold its memory and cold set in 48 hours. A new custom windshield rubber molding was also fabricated and fits perfectly.
One more thing to point out is the awesome silver trim rings for the wheels and the reattached bucket painted black to match the rest of the truck.
Though the real goal for this truck was to paint it back to its construction yellow theme, the silver looked so good that it was too much to resist color sanding & buffing the finish to see what could be made of it. Quite nice I think! Now it’s time for its first public viewing, Let’s Roll!!!!
