73-87 Stepside Fender swap help

[2bits]

Hey guys, I have a 71 Stepside that the PO cut the bed short on, REEEAAAALLL short. He didn't just cut the bed, he went as far as cutting the stepside fenders too, but got it repo'ed before he finished the custom work as you can see at the back where it is still just screwed together.



I saw a 67-72 Chevy the other day totally restored but with a 73-87 stepside bed on it, and it looked really good and the body lines looked great. I am wondering if I could just replace the fenders (not the whole bed) with the 73-> version.

Can someone please measure a fender from front to back (fender only) and let me know how long they are? Probably the average height too just in case...

My current fenders are 55" and my space that I can fit a fender in is 57". I've got a line on some fenders and that would be cheaper than doing the body work, not to mention I like the 73's bedsides better

Thanks for any help anyone can give!

[Ivan D.]

Hey bro, if you are to draw a rectangle box on the bed where the stepper fenders attach to that box would need to be 63" long and 20" tall, so I guess you'll have to notch the front and rear edges of the '73-'87 fenders and weld them up over the front and rear vertical bed posts, and you'll also have to relocate the tail-lights as where they currently mount now there will be fender sheetmetal.

[Rc 415]

is your truck on a blazer frame too or did he cut the frame shorter? Why would anyone want to cut it down like that?

[liljon285]

That thing must do awesome burnouts!

[2bits]

Ivan,

Thank you for the quick reply! So that throws out the existing bed too, but what if I swapped the whole bed instead of just the fenders? All I would need really need to do would be to cut the step out right up to the beginning of the fender and put the end cap back on... the wheel well would line up good and i wouldn't need to touch anything behind that point. hmm...

RC:

It was a Longbed stepside from the factory which are alot less cool than the shortbed, I guess the guy wanted to go drastic. I think it looks cool, but a factory 73-87 shortbed would look better

More about the conversion... What is ironic, is that I had always wondered if a longbed could be cut down by just moving forward the leaf spring mounts on the frame, and snipping off the back end, and everyone said it couldn't be done, you always gotta trim it in the middle. That is true for the purist but this is proof that it can be done and work just fine with factory springs (-1) and no c-notch! (He was tho he heated the front springs to lower them but I already have the new ones to drop in, just needing the time!)

[Ivan D.]

Originally Posted by 2bits

Ivan,

Thank you for the quick reply! So that throws out the existing bed too, but what if I swapped the whole bed instead of just the fenders? All I would need really need to do would be to cut the step out right up to the beginning of the fender and put the end cap back on... the wheel well would line up good and i wouldn't need to touch anything behind that point. hmm...

Well I guess that may work, but I think the bed will stick out back a little more than you may want. I still believe that installing the new fenders on the old bed is the way to go, guess I'll just have to photoshop it one of these days

RC:

It was a Longbed stepside from the factory which are alot less cool than the shortbed, I guess the guy wanted to go drastic. I think it looks cool, but a factory 73-87 shortbed would look better

Actually I think longbed steppers are way cooler, they are so much rare to find now, everyone and their mom has a short stepper.

[2bits]

I always thought that even the 67-72 shortbed stepsides were a little too long in the step area, but I grew up with the 73 style too, I never had a 67-72 stepper before until now. My friend likes the longbed steppers alot too.

Actually, I have wanted to lengthen the bed just a little for usability and looks anyway. I could have my muffler shop weld a few inches of frame to the back to give me what I needed, I might even be able to put a gas tank under the bed then... It would still be shorter than normal which I like but won't look like it's squished

I think the 73 fenders might look funky proportionately to the bed if I put them on as is... especially with the bed that short. Might need to do a photosop job on that to see.. I guess what year bed I find first will help me decide which way to go to too.

liljon285, yeah even with the inline 6 I can just sit n spin both rear wheels as long as I want! The higher gears in the 400 tranny probably helps that too...

[Ivan D.]

Originally Posted by 2bits

I think the 73 fenders might look funky proportionately to the bed if I put them on as is... especially with the bed that short. Might need to do a photosop job on that to see.. I guess what year bed I find first will help me decide which way to go to too.

Yeah, I'll try to do it for you tonight, I got a team meet till 10pm so I should have enough time till my body crashes from caffeine and sugar deprivation (I drink tons of real sweet coffee while at work).

liljon285, yeah even with the inline 6 I can just sit n spin both rear wheels as long as I want! The higher gears in the 400 tranny probably helps that too...

That may be, but you still have the larger tires on the front - swap them around, move the taller ones to the rear and the smaller ones to teh front, will look much better, unless the smaller tires are also wider, in which case just go on craigslist or ebay and find a pair of cheap wide tires

[2bits]

The tires just came with the truck, couldn't swap em, you guessed right, they are 235/75 on the front, and 295/50 on the back... Once I get my new front springs in, I am going with 275/60 all the way around, I'm not a big burnout'er kinda guy anyway...

I'll see if I can do a Photoshop job tonight too... I am picking up a Blazer tank and an A/C evaporator at UPS after work and I will probably be there for an hour at least, so I might get home around 10pm haha... There are some good side view pics at 73-87.com

[Pyrotechnic]

I don't think the bed is the only thing he cut. The frame has to be cut and welded. Looks like he took some out before the rear axle, and maybe even some after ?