Wheel Openings Are Different!

[jocko]

Oh I agree with you on that point Lakeroadster - but not many folks are putting 33s on their truck - I felt lucky to find 3o" tall tires in the 75R15's I put on. But yes, with drag slicks or big mickey T's, they would certainly look just about right. Problem is - many of the shortened long beds have much smaller than 33" tires. But they all still look good I believe. I think it's one of those things you'd never notice if someone didn't tell you because either way looks right.

[Driveway Dreams]

Hope I have the right wheel opening sections coming.

[Frizzle Fry]

FYI, I measured a LWB arch vs. a SWB arch and found right about 1" difference. Anyone else?

[lakeroadster]

These little differences are neat!

As a visual reference the picture below shows a shortbed and a longbed. The measuring scale is of course not to scale but it does clearly show their is a difference in wheel well opening lengths.

(Vertical white lines are to show the pictures have been scaled so the cabs are the same length.)

[padresag]

Originally Posted by lakeroadster

Because they knew that 50 years later Hot Rodders would be modifying these trucks and putting huge diameter tires on them?

In reality, IMO, those big wheel well openings look great with 33" and larger dia. tires sizes. No different than making the rear wheel wells bigger on a car being set-up for drag slicks. Novas, Camaros, Vegas... pretty common place then and now.

Maybe the answer is they did it for the NAPCO trucks???

Something for everybody here I guess. It's all good.

John

but the Napco trucks in this vintage was only 133 " w/b and up
ron

[LostMy65]

I think it was for proportional reasons.
Nothing to back up my theory.
Posted via Mobile Device

[mMad Dawg]

I'm working on a 66 Chev panel. I'm using pickup wheel opening repair panels. When I held them up to my truck they were about 2'' too long . I ended up taking out 2'' out of the center, they seem to fit good now . Hope this helps.

[dugvera@gmail.com]

am i confused or is this going against panel=long burb=short theory?

Originally Posted by mMad Dawg

I'm working on a 66 Chev panel. I'm using pickup wheel opening repair panels. When I held them up to my truck they were about 2'' too long . I ended up taking out 2'' out of the center, they seem to fit good now . Hope this helps.

[piratexpress1369a]

Originally Posted by dugvera@gmail.com

am i confused or is this going against panel=long burb=short theory?

just to be clear on this ,on my 63 panel do i need a long box quarters or a short box??

[jonzcustomshop]

I am pretty sure panel and sub = short, and 1 ton long panel = long.

[mMad Dawg]

I guess I should have made myself clearer. The repair panel I used was for a longbox pickup, I couldn't find one for a shortbox. Actually I didn't know until I held it up to my panel that there was a difference. Thats why I took some out of the middle. The panels and subs are different from the wheelwell back, I used parts of a repair panel for 73-87 pickup. In front of that I was able to use part of a rocker panel repair piece. Hope that helps you.. Gord

[piratexpress1369a]

does any body know if they still make a full fleet side panel or is it just sold in a 3 piece sections

[factorystock]

Originally Posted by jocko

What's bugging me, and the one question I haven't seen answered is "why" did GM make 2 different size wheel openings? I can't imagine why a longbed and panel would need a longer opening that a shortie and suburban...

There is a simple explanation for this. 3/4 ton pickups and 1 ton panels could be ordered with optional 17" and 19.5" wheels. These are large diameter wheels and tires that weren't availabe on 1/2 tons. Extra clearance for tire changes and or installing tire chains.

[padresag]

so subsequently did this make a difference in the inner wheel tubs and floorboards?
ron

[factorystock]

Everything else is the same, if you ordered a 8' fleetside, 1/2 or 3/4 ton, you will get the same bed. Would not have been worth the extra expense for GM to tool a different bed panel on 8' 1/2 tons fleetsides.

[aspiringthomas]

Originally Posted by CHIZZLER

Long bed cut down.i like the bigger wheel opening.

Never knew.

[frankslagoon]

Originally Posted by PGSigns

That 3" differance must be why the short beds look like the wheel is sitting a little forward in the wheel well and the long beds don't look that way.
Jimmy

Somebody mentioned in another post today that usen drop springs pivots the axle forward on the trailing arms. So that's a lot of what we see I bet.

[LostMy65]

I wonder if now that they have shortbed besides available, if they might also make available patch panels with the shorter wheel opening.

[randoosrods]

Thanks that will help!