Calling all slammed wide tire stepsides...

[BossHogg69]

I'm to the point of fitting the cab and stepside bed onto my finally finished '69 C10 swb chassis and it looks like I'll have to roll the rear fender lip up to clear my rear tires. I'm running 335/30/18's (26" tall) on an 18x12 rear wheel with 7.5" backspacing. I have a static drop on the truck, right now it's at 4.5/6, but depending on what it looks like when I get the body on, I may go to 5.5/7. I'm also running a .500" spacer on each side to even up the track width front to rear, since the disc brake swap pushed the front wheels out some. I've already done some measuring and I know I'm gonna have to tub the bed out to fit the wheels no matter what. My question is really about the fender braces that attach to the inside of the fender lip. I'm thinking about removing the portion that I've drawn the line on in the (primitive) pic below. The red arrow is the portion I'd cut away along the black line all the way around the fender, and was thinking of relocating the brace (yellow arrow) higher up in the fender above the tire. I was just going to cut the tabs off and weld them up in the fender a little higher and go from there. There are a total four braces in each fender, but I think the only ones I really have to worry about moving are the two that are above the tire, not the ones at the bottom of the fender on each side.

Sorry for the lengthy post, hopefully someone may have some advice on this.

[lolife99]

I removed the 2 middle braces on my stepside.
I don't think it wil be a problem.
These oem fenders are really stout.

I'm not mini-tubbing mine.
It's been very difficult to find a wheel combo that fits inside the narrow rear stepside fenders.
I have the narrower 67-69 rearend housing and a 15x8 ralley wheel just barely fits.
(I do not want to trim the lip).

[bigsnookmaster]

I'd narrow the rear a bit. I'm not a fan of cutting a lip to make a wheel/tire combo fit. .02

[BossHogg69]

Thanks for the replies guys!

Rear is already finished, not an option. I'm also running the original '69 rear. Chassis already complete and I knew I would have to make some 'adjustments' to the bed, I just wanted to check with the board to see what you guys had already done. I don't mind trimming and rolling the fenders, I had to to the same thing on my '92 ecsb with a 5/7 drop and 18x10 rear wheels. I just wasn't sure about the braces.

I'm also going to try and put a drop-down battery box on the outer right rear framerail. Jeff from CPP said it would fit, anyone around here done it on a stepside??? I already have the battery box, so I'm kinda committed at this point I'm running a Boyd Welding fuel tank between the rear rails (not shown in the pic) so the only spot out back for the battery is the outer framerail.

Here is the bottom half of what I'm working with.

[chevytruckluver]

Did you do a build thread? The chassis looks great would love to see more pics.

[BossHogg69]

Thank you for the kind words - I'm just a one man show doing what I can (just like most everyone else here!) It's been a slow build up to this point but now I'm to the point where I'm just ready for it to be over. I was going to start a build thread once I was totally ready for paint, that way it wouldn't be so slow and boring for you guys.

Off topic here, but a couple more pics...

[n2billet]

I had to trim my fenders to get mine to clear.

[BossHogg69]

Any long shot you have some pics of what you did? I would REALLY appreciate it! btw, your truck is SWWWEEEEEEEEET!

[n2billet]

Originally Posted by BossHogg69

Any long shot you have some pics of what you did? I would REALLY appreciate it! btw, your truck is SWWWEEEEEEEEET!

Hard to see but I just trimmed between the fender braces....

[BossHogg69]

Awesome, thank you for the pic -that's pretty much what I was going to do. I don't guess you have any problems with the fenders flopping around? I see you're running 22's but what are the specs on the wheel?

[n2billet]

Originally Posted by BossHogg69

Awesome, thank you for the pic -that's pretty much what I was going to do. I don't guess you have any problems with the fenders flopping around? I see you're running 22's but what are the specs on the wheel?

The rear wheels have never touched and the fenders don't flop (or at least I don't think they do )

22x9 with 5.5 backspacing and a 265x40x22 tire

20x8.5 with 5.25 backspacing and a 255x40x20 on the front

[68Stepbed]

I don't have a comment about the fender spacing, but I can say that I can't wait to see how that looks when it's all together. (drool)

[BossHogg69]

Matt - funny you say that, since your truck is one that I drool over!
Posted via Mobile Device

[68Stepbed]

You're gonna make me blush.

[Dano69c10]

Honestly didn't know there were supposed to be four braces per fender. I've been running with no braces for years. I'd mess with the fender before I'd mess with the bedside, but if you have no other option, you'll have to tub the bedside.

[68Stepbed]

You, know, come to think about it, I don't think there's any bracing in my fenders either. I'll have to look at mine later, but I'm pretty sure there's not any.