Does anyone know any vendors that sell 2" or 3" wider steel rear fenders for the '53 and later ? Thanks, Randy

 

I'm not sure that anyone produces wider steel fenders. I looked for some awhile back and didn't come up with any option except to fabricate my own, which I haven't done. All I found were the fiberglass fenders by BeeBops, Fairlane, etc. Randy JacK came up with an alternative by installing new bed sides over the stake posts which moved his fenders out 1 1/2" +. Check out his gallery.

 

Randy -

56Fun is correct. I looked for a long time for wider STEEL fenders too. Only fiberglass could be found. They come in 2" and 3" wider. I have also seen folks add a 2" or 3" wide strip to the stock steel fender by sectioning it and adding that spacer between the attach flange and the formed area. Tricky piece of fabrication.

I did get 2" more depth to the fender wells by adding another bed side wall between the faces of the post sockets. This was done primarily to smooth the look of the bed, but the added fender depth was a bonus. The gallery album that shows it is "Bed Mods". I get a 12" wide (P295/50R15) tire neatly under each side with fender without tubbing. The rear of the truck is 4" wider than stock. There is one picture in the album that shows my bed side-by-side with Ed Oe's (EdsF100) stocker. Pretty dramatic difference.

 

I have had a few of these pickups and still have a 56 F-100 but on one I customized I always thought of swapping the spring mounts from side to side, and boxing the frame thus moving the spring perches to the inside of the frame rail. Then you use 3/4 or 1 ton box sides with the wheel well built in and I think you could easily run a 12 inch tire and keep the outside deminsions the same. It's a lot of work but having a nice appearence when done and would look to most as a stock truck with steamroller tires.
Mike

 

I'm not sure about 2-3". I have 1.5" wider fenders on my truck and they are steel. They came with the truck when I purchased them. I doesn't appear they are fabricated like Randy Jack mentioned. Most of the ones I've seen in those dimensions are fiberglass. Try contacting Classic performance parts, those guys are pretty sharp on fabrication. They could tell you where to go.

 

How is your welding? Its fairly easy to fab if you really want to do this. I done it the way Randy said, I cut the fender in half and added 1 inch wide sheetmetal in the center of the fender ( of course you need to do a little metal shaping) on my friends 48 f1 came out nice. It wasn't that hard. If I can do it anyone can. All it takes is a little planing and to be too broke to have a shop do it.lol

 

To me, the widened rear fenders look odd... with a little more work, you can narrow the rear and stuff the tires underneath. Widened rear fenders are a quick, cheap way out...
Sam.

 

I agree with MadFabber, however to shorten the rear housing it cost money. In addition, you have to shorten the axles, and depending on how much you shorten, you may have to change the rear suspension. It's not a cheap process, but it's the way I would go also. I love the shortened rearend look.

 

If you have a good set of stock steel fenders a good custom shop should be able to widen them for about the same price as a new set if you could find them. It's not a major job to do even in all metal finish (no bondo). Even a custom chopper shop that widens motorcycle fenders regularly shouldn't have a problem doing it. Just be sure to see a similar job they've done to check their craftsmanship.
Remember tho that if you widen the rear fenders you'll need to widen the runningboards too. Tubbing the inside is definitely the easier operation if you have stock fenders. Actually narrowing a rear end is not that expensive if you have or put in the typical 9" Ford. Ity's such a popular rear with the racers that a lot of shops offer the service. I think my brother told me the shop he works at charges ~ 500.00.

 

Actually, I didn't have to widen the running boards when I moved the fenders out. The running boards were already outside the fender lips in the stock setup. Now, the running board edge and the front and rear fender lips line up perfectly. Looks like it was always supposed to be that way.

FWIW

 

There are cheap ways to narrow rear end housings and axles...

You're probably updating your rear end to a 9" anyway... so get one out of a late 50's or 60's F-100.

Ford scrimped on everything... and to cut costs on their rear ends... and make the R&R parts process easier... they made the axles the same length. This was fine and dandy, but because of the off-set of the ring gear/pinion, the entire pumpkin is off to one side a BUNCH.

Soooo... narrow one side! You can center up the pinion, or even cheat it to the left side a bit... so instead of spending $300 to have your rear end narrowed... now you will only have to spend $150.

As far as leaf springs go... in the stock position, they allow for a bigger tire, it's just the inner bed that is the limiting factor. So cut the bed for tire clearence, and buy or make a bolt in wheel tub.

I did it with this CHEVROLET truck about 12 years ago... I bought the inner tubs for a '88-97 CHEVROLET pickup down at the local Chevy dealership... trimmed some off (I didn't need it as wide as they came), welded a flange on it... painted them myself and then bolted them it... done deal.

Sam.

 

Thanks for all the great ideas, guys. Ed's truck, (Imlowr2) , has the look I was thinking about. Of course, things have a way of changing. Randy

 

Just a thought, but if you can find another set of donor fenders, you can cut them up, instead of graphing in a 2 inch or so section. Basicly just cut the donor fenders 2 inches from the mounting point of the bedside, then cut the original fender right at the mounting lip. then just weld the two parts togethor and you only have one weld to clean up instead of two. I did this on an old VW bug of mine once. Worked great and took less prep to finish them. need to be good at welding though.
Steve

 

Just a quick thought about fiberglass fenders.....at a car show last year there was a guy staying at the same hotel as me, he had a 56 F100. This truck was a near "show car". It had 3" wider FG fenders, he didn't know the manufacture cause he bought it that way. These fenders looked great up close in the parking lot, if you get back aways they were shaped different. When I followed him to the fairgrounds they looked terrible, they ruined the whole truck. I'm sure some are better than others, but this scared the FG idea right out of me. Just something to think about...
_________________
XFM
'53 F100