I managed to aquire a set of early 50 rear fenders... I'm buying a bed kit that is intended and pre drilled for the 51-52 fenders ..
I will need to work the 50 fenders ... But will they bolt up or can they be made to work on the 52 bolt patern off the bed.... I haven't found any information on the differences

 

As far as I know, the bolt pattern is basically the same. Your real problem will be the indention for the rectangular raised panel on the 48-50 beds. You'll have to flatten it out so that it fits the 51-52 bed, and that isn't easy to do. I would recommend you keep looking for the correct fenders to match your new bed.

 

Doc nailed it. The fender accommodation for the bed embossing will cause you headaches.

 

Swell I'm getting a great deal in the fenders.. I haven't bought the bed kit yet I may pick up the fenders and assess the situation... If their nice enough may look into getting the bed kit for the earlier truck to match them

 

Let me give you my take on that. When most of us join this forum, we really don't care about patchwork things like a 51-52 bed on a 48-50 truck, big truck fenders on an F-1, etc. Quite frankly, we don't even notice them. BUT, if you become a regular daily visitor to this forum, and you end up looking at thousands of truck pictures each year, you will become an expert in spotting the inconsistencies. There's nothing wrong with the changes, nothing at all. But as you become a student of these trucks and learn to spot things, it will probably bug you to death that you have the wrong bed in the future. My point is you might regret the change later. But, like we always say, it's your truck. Do what you want to with it.

 

Or cut off the inner section of the fenders and make new pieces..pefect time to make wider fenders for bigger tires!

 

That would honestly probably be easier than trying to even out the indention on the original fender and reforming that tab where the bolts go through.

 

or sell me the 50 fenders if they are in really good shape

 

Anything is possible with enough time and money. You just have to figure out how much of each you want to spend.

I completely agree. I was so lost trying to find rear 51 F1 fenders for a while and started looking at 48-50 as well... Im glad I didn't because I know it would be eating me on the inside... Many people might not notice it or care but like mentioned, you might. Kind of like a pimple on your face. Its as big of a deal as you want to make it. If someone else doesn't like it, they can go pound sand.


This might be your best option but shipping is about 100-200 bucks depending on where they are going.

I have done business with 51Panelman on here for front fenders and running boards, he seems to have all of the parts you can ever want.

Im not sure where you are located but there is a guy in Ohio who has a few set of fenders for an "ok" price but he wont ship them.

 

Mike.... I'm in Colorado but am actually making a trip to Ohio I leave Saturday... I'm picking up the fenders from south of Columbus from skalywag if it was someone else your referring to let me know and I'll look into it...

 

In my opinion, something that is cheap will always end up costing a lot more in the end. You may save a few hundred $$ now by buying 48-50 rear fenders, but the labor and cost to turn them into 51-52 rear fenders will far outweigh the cost if you would have bought the correct fenders from the start.

I have two pairs of 51-52 F1 rear fenders.

Rotted at running boards.





Pretty much solid.




Shipping is only about $100 to Colorado.

 

Where are you in CO?

As I understand it, you need a new bed regardless. So buying a 48-50 bed would be a totally adequate solution too. But I don't know if they repro the early tailgates?

 

I'm in Colorado Springs ... I get down your way ocassionally....

As far as the bed and fenders I'll look into the tailgate issue... I'm still not 100% on the direction I'll go... But I'm leaning toward a year correct bed I guess time will tell ... Allthough I'm not really concerned with having a totally correct ride as I'm starting with a 52 f3 flatbed and I'm building it as a nice driver Hotrod for my girl

 

Time out, everyone. We've been assuming F1 stuff here talking about the differences in early and late fenders. If we're working on an F3, the rear fenders are the same on F2/3's from 48-52, which are totally different from either of the F1 fenders. And the larger beds on the heavier trucks are not reproduced.

 

I was assuming he's shortening it to an F-1?