Shorten a Stepside Box???

[SkinnyG]

I want to assume it's the same as shortening a fleet side, 12" in front and 8" out back. The wheel bases are the same either way.

But I have a long box stepper, and I don't see 8" behind the back of the fender.

In my exhaustive searching, I found one reference to take 15" out of the front, and 5" out of the back, but I can't corroborate that with any other source.

Can anyone shed light on this?

[andyh1956]

Is there not a short step around you anywhere to compare to?
If not I have two short steps up on top of one of the tractor sheds & I could measure for you. Both lack fenders so I could measure to the fender mounting holes.

[SkinnyG]

That could work; I would appreciate that.

There is nothing around that I know of. Relatively scarce up here.

[Palf70Step]

Do one slice in the middle of where the fenders mount. Cut out what you need. Redrill a few fender holes, and you should be good. Less chance of issues with just one cut and unless you are looking at it from inside the bed, the cut is pretty much hidden by the stepside fenders.

Althought not your year, you can get the idea from my friends 67 GMC

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Do one slice in the middle of where the fenders mount. Cut out what you need. Redrill a few fender holes, and you should be good. Less chance of issues with just one cut and unless you are looking at it from inside the bed, the cut is pretty much hidden by the stepside fenders.

Althought not your year, you can get the idea from my friends 67 GMC

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[hewittca]

Originally Posted by Keith Seymore

...

agreed! That is trick right there. I would assume that's a straight 20" removed from that point. The only part I can see that needs close attention is making sure you redrill the fender holes in the correct spot. If you move the holes in front of the cut forward 12", and the holes behind the cut rearward 8" that should do it.

[Palf70Step]

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Do one slice in the middle of where the fenders mount. Cut out what you need. Redrill a few fender holes, and you should be good. Less chance of issues with just one cut and unless you are looking at it from inside the bed, the cut is pretty much hidden by the stepside fenders.

Although not your year, you can get the idea from my friends 67 GMC

BTW, measure about halfway in the step fender. Take the section you are going to cut from there towards the front. BTW, you will need new steps from the shortbed truck. Double check you step fitment to the fenders before you weld up it up fully.

Once you have the bed side welded up, bolt the fenders back onto the stock holes for the back half, mark thru the fenders to make new holes on the front half.

[SkinnyG]

There is not 8" between the back of the fender and the rear box section. There's a tick over 6". I can't just move the rear holes 8" back.

I hear what you're saying about just sectioning the box, but that isn't how I want to go about it. Truly, I want to bob the ends.

[hewittca]

I remember seeing somewhere that on the 60-66 fleetsides, the shortbed wheel opening is 2 inches shorter than on the longbed. I wonder if the shortbed step fenders are also 2 inches shorter than the longbed ones, although I can't image why they'd go through the trouble of making two different step fenders. If that is the case, you may have to section out 2" from your fender as well.

[The Rocknrod]

Originally Posted by hewittca

I remember seeing somewhere that on the 60-66 fleetsides, the shortbed wheel opening is 2 inches shorter than on the longbed. I wonder if the shortbed step fenders are also 2 inches shorter than the longbed ones, although I can't image why they'd go through the trouble of making two different step fenders. If that is the case, you may have to section out 2" from your fender as well.

I think that is only the steps, not the fenders.

[mongocanfly]

Bill. ..that's a pretty slick shortening job he did...just wondering are there not fender reccesses stamped in the bed sides ?...my 53 bed is smooth side but my 55 has a stamped fender reccess as does my IH....I just wondered how many yrs later they kept the reccess...

skinny..you can look thru my IH build and see what I had to do to shorten my bed...close to the same concept...i removed 12 front and 4 rear...I'm not sure why Bills suggestion wouldn't work for you...

[Palf70Step]

There is no recess for the 67 thru 87 years, I am not sure about the early years, but I believe they are flat also. There is a bit of trimming around the axle area that will need to be done also, but it is way easier than they way you have to do it on a fleetside.

Whoever asked, no there is no difference in the wheel openings between the SWB and LWB step fenders. The only thing that is differenent is the cutout for the spare (if you have a fender with one).

[SkinnyG]

Pouring through pictures all over the web, and it -looks- like a long step fender is a bit rearward of the wheel centerline, whereas the short step fender is a bit forward of the wheel centerline.

[hewittca]

Originally Posted by SkinnyG

Pouring through pictures all over the web, and it -looks- like a long step fender is a bit rearward of the wheel centerline, whereas the short step fender is a bit forward of the wheel centerline.

Yeah, I was looking at photos too and noticed that too. If you could get the dimensions of the side steps for a shortbed and longbed then you'd be able to for sure figure out where the fender goes. I don't think there's any doubt that the frame is 12" shorter in front and 8" shorter in the rear.

[SkinnyG]

Does anyone on here have a tape measure and a short/step and can just measure the location of the fender from the front?

[andyh1956]

I have both long step w/ fenders & short step wo/ fenders. I can measure today when it stops raining.
If you was closer I'd let you have one of mine cheap, they're a dime a dozen around here.

[andyh1956]

Ok here is what I got for you.
Measurements taken from the front panel to front / lower most fender bolt in front & from end of rear bedside / floor to rear / lower most fender bolt in rear.
Long bed-
Front- 28.5"
Rear- 12"

Short Bed-
Front- 14"
Rear- 6.5"

[hewittca]

Hmmm, that's interesting. Based on those measurements it really does look like the longbed has the fender positioned 2" further back than on the shortbed.

[SkinnyG]

Very cool, thank you!

So it -looks- like the front is cut down 14.5" and the rear is cut down 5.5"

I'll compare your long bed measurements to mine when I'm back at work tomorrow.

Thank you so much!

[andyh1956]

By the way these measurements were taken from inside the bed.

[SkinnyG]

If anyone ends up coming here via a Google search, the job is done and it looks awesome!

I did take 14.5" out of the front and 5.5" out of the back, cutting the bedsides in the middle of the stake pocket box flange that spot welds to the bed side. Also took 14.5" out of the step.



Thank y'all so much for the help!

Part 15: How to Shorten a Step Side Bed (and...

[mongocanfly]

That turned out great..!

[SCOTI]

And, AND... A fitting answer/follow-up info to this 2+ year old thread. Job was well done IMHO.

[cgrocen]

Thank you for the tutorial. Very well done!

[kitsbeach]

Originally Posted by SkinnyG

If anyone ends up coming here via a Google search, the job is done and it looks awesome!

I did take 14.5" out of the front and 5.5" out of the back, cutting the bedsides in the middle of the stake pocket box flange that spot welds to the bed side. Also took 14.5" out of the step.



Thank y'all so much for the help!

Nicely done…and I love the Canadian Tire references (a reality for us folks up here).
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