Quote:
Originally Posted by WIDESIDE72
I just pulled the stpside fenders off a 68 lwb stepside. It only had reflectors, no he in the bucket inside the fenderwell. I wonder if some had the hole and others didnt.
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I've not seen dozens of these things, but I've never yet seen a (stock) LWB fender that had the hole.
The reason is the bracket that the spare tire mounts on: on the SWB, there's a single strut that passes thru the hole (with a grommet in the hole from the factory) & bolts on a vertical angle iron, hidden INSIDE behind the fender. Look at the LWB orange truck photo, and you can see that BOTH of the vertical angle irons bolted to the bed, that the tire mounting bracket itself bolts to, are OUTSIDE the fender.
Both vertical angle irons outside the fender = LWB bracket only.
That's why it's important to get the correct bed-length bracket too..... they are made differently. Struts different length & bolt-on attachment points.
Also on the green truck fender, if you look closely, you can see about a 1" long angle iron
above the fender, below the bed-edge roll, & above the hole on the bed side ---- it's actually a folded angle iron that runs on the bottom of the bed lip, that the top leg of the SWB tire bracket bolts to on top of the bed lip, and a second leg bolts onto the short piece above the fender.
SWB Photo with tire bracket bolted on: (thanks again to whichever member I copied this pic from). You can clearly see the three right-side bracket legs; the leg on top of the bed, the one between the bed & fender & the one passing thru the hole.