Piston Slap: Blurring The Lines Between Ford Truck and Econoline Van

Ford

Hagerty Community member TG writes:

I have a 1972 Ford F-350. It came to me with steering issues and a worn-out front end. I went through and redid everything: brakes, hoses, wheel cylinders, drag links, bushings, you name it. The one thing I discovered is that when I order parts for a 1972 F-350, they are always wrong. Through the process of matching what I had with what is available, I eventually learned that if I order parts for a 1972 Ford E-300, I get the right parts.

This truck is a local legend, and I talk to people all the time who remember when it was new. I know it has always been an F-350, and the previous owner (who by all accounts had it since new) is not particularly mechanically inclined and would not have subbed in a van front suspension.

1972 Ford F Series Truck and Econoline Van
An interchangable parts catalog, amirite?Ford

The back brakes have been working well, but I know that is a limited-time statement. My question is, to what extent should I expect my F-350 to have E-300 parts? I’ve been on the forums, but most of the forum posts relevant to my truck are at least 10 years old, and folks then were complaining about the limited information available for the larger (F-250/350) Ford trucks.

Sajeev answers:

Ah, a Ford parts question! This is usually something I answer right off the bat, but I have to ponder what on earth can happen with Ford part numbers after 50 or so years of publishing.

I assume some level of data corruption happened to vintage Ford part numbers as they were transcribed by third-party data providers over time. This is likely exacerbated by the fact that information likely was stored on microfiche. This film is often run through a scanner and digitized as shown below.

Could it be that someone scanned parts for the 1972 Ford truck and mislabeled it as the Econoline van?

Anything is possible, so I reached out to Ford Service Guru and occasional Hagerty contributor Conner DeKnikker for his thoughts. Digging through Ford part numbers is a part of his job, and he suggested this might only pertain to aftermarket catalogs “which get worse the farther downstream [from a Ford parts catalog] they go.”

DeKnikker recommended looking at books with original Ford part numbers, which might help a modern-day shopper spot errors in today’s catalogs. Furthermore, you can find a breakdown of Ford part numbers online, and focus on the part number’s third digit. If the third spot is a “T” (for truck) or “U” (for van) you now know the intended home for the part you are looking at.

“T” for That’s The Ticket! (sorry – SM)eBay | retiredfirechief

Odds are, for at least the parts you’ve discovered, all those part numbers have been incorrectly transcribed over the last 20+ years into modern catalogs for Ford trucks. I doubt this is a cause for concern for you anymore, but you can reach out to Green Sales or your local Ford parts department for expert advice when you are truly stumped.

In my past life as an IT Project Manager of modest success, I noticed how old data gets collected, reformatted, and republished with various levels of accuracy. A perfect system it ain’t, and it sounds like you’ve already learned how to work the system to get “Econoline van” parts for your Ford F-350!

Hats off to you for working around the glitch in the matrix, because you will likely need to use these skills for as long as you own this truck!

Have a question you’d like answered on Piston Slap? Send your queries to pistonslap@hagerty.comgive us as much detail as possible so we can help! Keep in mind this is a weekly column, so if you need an expedited answer, please tell me in your email.

Read next Up next: Mercedes S-Class to Make a Coupe Comeback

Comments

    When working on older Ford trucks be prepared for anything.

    Ford was well known to build limited numbers of trucks for fleets and private sale with a mix of parts due to request.

    GM well know for COPO cars well Ford is well known for special truck builds.

    I had one Back in the day that was a total freak. It had a mix and match of a number of part and was lifted higher than any Ford I had seen factory. It was new and was a special build for a logging company. It went unsold and ended up in Ohio.

    Best to keep an open mind on any Ford truck as there are some builds you won’t find in the books.

    As Sajeev mentioned it is most likely a catalog mistake, and it certainly is possible that it happened in the transition to digital from paper. However I’ve seen mistakes in those paper catalogs when they were new. For example I’ve seen where for some reason the listed the previous year’s part number on a vehicle that had underwent a major change that year. When I looked up the parts for the 2nd year of that generation, the correct number was found, and while the number listed for the year in question matched that on the previous generation. So checking the years on either side of your vehicle and comparing can help you find the correct parts. I’ve also seen where the mistake was made on one brand of the car, say the Mercury, while the listing for the Ford which would have used the same mechanical parts was correct. Doesn’t help in this case but another thing to look at when the part the catalog lists doesn’t jive.

    The thing is that many of the brake and suspension parts between an Econoline/Club Wagon are shared. So again that points to a likely error in the catalog as it would be expected that the wheel end brake components and things like tie rod ends would be shared between the two. Again be careful of generations since the new model change overs didn’t always occur at the same year.

    I work at a company that still has microfiche records and have delved into the microfiche vault more than once for older records

    I would generally believe the transcription error theory, except every supplier I have dealt with from LMC Truck to the local NAPA guy will give me the wrong parts for an F350 and the right ones for an E300. The ‘special build’ theory is more what I am leaning toward at this point

    Imagine pulling into a dealer with a 4 year old F150 looking for a coil pack and the parts guys says “You must have swapped the engine, there is no way that part is on your truck.” One hood pop later and he says “Well, they installed a van engine in your truck.” That was in 2005.

    Ford has been pulling these shenanigans for many years. The products can be great. But it can be frustrating to repair them.

    My freind had a ” camper special ” and he had a problem getting a receiver hitch for it so he went to dealer , factory spec said that ” camper special ” was built on wider van frames because of height and weight of the campers. Check the width of frame to see what the width is.

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