47-59 widening front fenders

[dsraven]

hey, just wondering if anybody has tried widening the front fenders on a 55-57 model. I know there are guys who have done it on their AD trucks, that is a feat with all those rounded parts. feel free to post up pics of widening on any of the years for front fenders.
I see tdishon has a shop doing his 59 to fit the corvette underpinnings and wide wheels. front and rear. pretty cool stuff and a great job. the 58-59 has that different bulge in the front fenders that kind of leaves a good spot to start the cut/transition. the 55.2-57 has more of an old fashioned flare look so not as easy to transition. it actually had me wondering if they used parts of a big truck fender until I looked closer and seen the formed metal in the space.
anyway, just curious. I will likely need to rework the flare on my 57 fronts for tire clearance after a frame swap, but that is a long way down the road. I am starting at the rear of the truck and working forward, finishing everything in that work space up to epoxy primer before the paint prep starts. I am done with the box now so time to start on the cab, if I can spare a moment....
tdishon got me wondering what that would look like on the older fenders.
to see tdishon's truck click the link or to see the fenders try checking posts 106 and 118 here
https://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/...=766016&page=5

[mr48chev]

I'd run 2 ton front fenders and then modify the wheel wells similar to what Brad Stark did on the truck in this link. https://bangshift.com/gallery/brad-s...y-2-ton-truck/ \

There are a lot of ideas to take and run with on that truck and use to figure out how to widen a TF and have it look right.

[dsraven]

thanks for the pics mr48, I will run a 28" tall tire so don't need a big wheel opening, just some room in width since my track width has changed from stock. tires now rub turning with things mocked up. like said, the front sheet metal is a waiz down the road but the thread I mention got me thinking how I would do mine. same scenario with a wide stance but different years of truck.

[mr48chev]

It would take some cutting and adjusting on the wheel opening to match the OD of the tire better but I'd say that would be a lot simpler than trying to widen 3000 series fenders.

There are plenty of 3000 series fenders around that are rusted out around the headlight bucket that you could salvage the wheel opening and surrounding metal to do a wheel opening swap that would have a lot of heads shaking a bit.

[mr48chev]

It wouldn't be hard to do a wheel opening swap and even center the wheel in the opening in the process.

Or just cut the big truck fender and slide the back half of the opening up and put in a filler panel.

[dsraven]

thanks, good ideas.
the bummer part of the whole thing is that I had a beat up rusted out and bent set of GMC 3/4 ton fenders that I could have salvaged the wheel openings from, well maybe do some bodywork on them to get them straight again, but I scrapped them thinking there was nothing left worth keeping. h/light buckets were rusted and badly beaten from running into something, rust through behind the wheel all the way to the top, cowl mount area was gone, they were run into on the sides lightly, BUT, the wheel openings couldda been saved. it comes down to having a place to keep all the stuff you might need someday. as it is I have pretty sold original Chevy fenders for my GMC. just need the patch behind the wheels. then I would need to make the divets for the moustache grille wrap around part to fit properly. all that after I decide what to do with those wheel openings.

[dsraven]

check this one out. looks like big truck fenders. it's a bigger wheel though so it seems to fit.
https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/380906080953624652/

[_Ogre]

new rims with the correct offset would be really easy

[mr48chev]

All too often now that "correct offset" means a serous ugly or gaudy wheel that looks like it belongs on a front wheel drive car. The offset give the dually look if that flies with the build plan.

Throw in that unless you are building a donk your eye should never see the wheels before they see the whole truck as one package. Go back and take a look at Youngrodder's old green and black truck. Your eyes just see the complete truck when you first look at it, even the paint combo doesn't overpower the total look in fact it makes for the total look. That was the first big wheel truck that I thought was presentable simply because the wheels are the third or fourth thing your eyes see and you don't see wheels and then see truck.

[dsraven]

yeah, thats why I will likely discretely flare the fender out to fit a stock wheel offset and a 28" tall tire, rather than have the front wheel drive look. it's already bad enough with the stock wheel.
I think I will probably cut the wheel arch off completely. move it out about a 1/2", or whatever it takes, and then pie cut/reshape the stock flare to fit that and fill the gaps with sheet. it will have a steeper angle on the flare or I could enlarge that flare circle a little. we'll see when the time comes. I haven't really looked into it yet or checked with the suspension at full jounce and the wheel turned at full lock t see how much is needed. who knows, maybe a rolled fender edge is all I need. I was just spit balling to see if somebody else has done any front fender widening and how it might look.
I seen an article on google where somebody took an old ford truck about the same vintage and put it on an art morrison chassis but the lengthened the wheel base because they thought the old ford had too much front overhang. they sliced the opening off and moved it where it needed to be. they did a great job too. if you didn't know you wouldn't know the difference.
I found it. it was the boys at motor trend
https://www.motortrend.com/how-to/mo...elbase-chassis

[my56chevytruck]

Originally Posted by _Ogre

new rims with the correct offset would be really easy

my thoughts exactly!!

[dsraven]

yeah, we'll see what happens when the time comes. my fenders aren't even bolted down at the bottom yet so it's a work in progress. actually, it's garage art right now because of other jobs that needed to get done first. anyway, when it's time i will do the work and see how much it rubs by, if at all when strapped down.
new wheels will come when it's done, just wanna get it in epoxy and drive it for a little before painting. to make sure some cobbled part doesn't need a tweak of welding or something. prolly use a stock wheel for that part.
been thinking of slowly selling off the wife's shoe collection to pay for new wheels. that will take years so lets hope they still make wheels and we burn gasoline still, haha.