47-55.1 Anyone extend 1950 Suburban or panel rear fenders

[Thrill4130]

Just starting to start on my 1951 Chevy Carryall and I'm thinking of stretching out my rear fenders. Ive been looking for pictures of anyone that has stretched these out length wise not width. My idea is to add 4 inches in the middle then also raise it 2 to 3 inches. This is a rust bucket so it would help me not have to rebuild that body line that's all rusted out. Also I always kind of felt the little rear fenders looked a little small. I plan to use some 30.5" diameter 215/85r16 dirt knobby tire front and rear so I am hoping this makes fenders look proportional. Im also hoping this makes the rear of Suburban not look like its so tall in the rear since the back gets taller in the rear if you look at the drip rail.
Thanks for any help. Plus Id love to see any other dirt tire or 4x4 suburban builds.

[unclebrad]

I photoshopped this picture I found online. I extended rear fender from just behind the back of the wheel arch, so it reaches just about to the bumper. Second image is the original.

[fauXGT]

Originally Posted by unclebrad

I photoshopped this picture I found online. I extended rear fender from just behind the back of the wheel arch, so it reaches just about to the bumper. Second image is the original.

Way to go there, Mr Kindig.

Looks like it's factory.

[fauXGT]

But just stretching the fender looks like it creates a flater top edge, which throws off compared to the front fenders sweeping arch. It would also stretch the wheel opening. The z cut could be utilized, but would be very difficultly scary.
I would rather try to fix existing panels than to drastically modify and make look factory some things that are curvy in all directions...unless you've got it figured out already.

[leegreen]

I'd worry that adding 2 inches vertically into the fender would make the fender look disproportionate.

I think this COE/suburban mashup has the rear fenders made taller : https://www.reddit.com/r/car/comment...does/#lightbox

I came across a suburban project online somewhere that was badly rusted up the sides of the back and around the fenders, the builder cut it all off and was grafting on the rear quarters , taillights and door skins from a early 50s Chevrolet 4dr sedan. I thought it was looking pretty good and filed away the possibility of saving a suburban no-one else wanted that way. A lot of metal working though.

[Thrill4130]

Yeah I agree I hope it doesn’t make it look like a big flat spot in the arch also.

Thanks for the photo shop pictures.

Yeah I agree it’s going to be a bunch of metal work either way I go. I’m going to try to take a picture of front fender next to rear fender to see proportional differences. I feel the rear is a good amount smaller then front.

This suburban the only descent metal is on the roof and the plywood seems to be strongest thing left so I don’t feel bad tastefully modifying this project.

[Second Series]

215/85R16 tires will fit good but are typically load range E meaning a hard ride unless you modify the suspension. I ran 265/75R16 @ 31.65”x10.43” on my 1-ton, those were not as big as the original bias ply tires, but the biggest I could get at the time. That rode like a buck board. I’ve swapped out to ¾ ton suspension and have 225/75R16 @ 29.29”x8.86”. Those are Load range E, but a soft ride with the lighter suspension. The tire salesman suggested 235/85R16 @ 31.73”x9.25” but I felt that would be too wide up front with my wider frontend. Here are some pictures.

[Thrill4130]

Thanks for the advice a question though. Are you saying your straight axle is wider than the 1/2 or 1 ton? Like the look of yours not lifted but kinda want to keep my tires inside fenders a little more with the skinny tires.

Finally got my body onto a cleaner 3100 chassis that was horribly hard without a hoist. I feel I’ll have to just run the 215/85r16 and then adjust from there if they ride real rough.

Sorry I can’t post any pictures it keeps saying I’m missing some kind of security token. Don’t know what that means.

[Second Series]

These old trucks were set up like farm tractors, the front wheels were closer together than the rear. Some measurements that I took of the outside of the tire to tire rear 74”, front 63”. This is not the wheel mounting surface to wheel mounting surface, but how wide the tires sit with the rims that I have. My donor suspension has the tires at 71”. You may be fine with the ½ ton suspension. I swapped a frame from an ’88 K2500, so I was able to maintain the original ride height while adding 4x4 with the torsion bar front suspension. When you figure out the picture issue, start a build thread, I’d like to see how you worked the body onto frame. I farmed out that part of my build as I too did not have a hoist, or a shop, or a concrete slab, etc.

[1project2many]

Sorry I can’t post any pictures it keeps saying I’m missing some kind of security token. Don’t know what that means.

I got that today. I reloaded the page then I could upload pictures. Maybe it will work for you?

[Thrill4130]

We’ll here’s some pictures of what’s going on. The blue tape around fender is 2” so that’s about what I’m thinking.

[leegreen]

Not a bad looking truck, I like it. Around here that would be described as 'very little rust considering it's age', 'Rust bucket' would be far worse.

It is your project not mine, but for what it is worth I would fix what is there rather than do the modification you are thinking about. I'm not convinced it would be an improvement and I think it will be more work overall with heavy mods to fender, cutting and finishing a new opening in the quarter, reworking inner fender....

I think some of the 'taller in back' look is the rust on gutter and window ledges are emphasizing those features against the rest of the truck.

[leegreen]

the blue fenders and lack of running boards don't help with visualizing the look either

[fauXGT]

To keep the wheel opening balanced, you'd want to slit it and push 1" forward and 1" back. MHO.

Chip

[youngrodder]

To be honest if your goal is to avoid redoing the metal in the rusty body line where the fender meats the body. You will have more time/metal work with your approach. You would be better off finding a junked panel truck to cut the fender arches out of to repair yours. Suburban's and rear fenders are both very hard to find. If you approach goes south you will ruin at least one fender and one side of the body. There was a guy that sold the fender arches that you could weld in.

I strongly encourage a different approach. This is from a guy that widened and raised the inner tubs and modified the fenders and body arch to fit 22" wheels.

Marc

[Thrill4130]

Thanks for your guys opinions.

Yeah it took me a long time to find one of these in my budget. The ones I wanted when I was in California were out of my price range.

I think metal work is going to be close to the same either way. Once I strip the primer off ill get some more pictures for you guys.

Finishing off my 36 GMC this week then Ill start a build thread on here.

[Thrill4130]

Pics. The inside has collapsed and slid on top of the bottom. Plus whatever supports between inside and outside of body seems to be cutout for race weight saving. My biggest concern really would be the 30.5” tires might not look big enough in a stretched fender

[mick53]

I'm widening the fenders on my 53 3100 About 2" so I can fit a 11.99999" tire in there. I'm using donor fenders.