Well......just finished my bed, everything painted, assembled, including the spare tire mount....and guess what? Tire rubs the indent in the fender. Tire needs to move forward about an 1-1/8". In/out clearance is good, up/down clearance is good, it's only the forward/backward clearance that is the issue.
Long story short, when I bought my truck back in 2016, guy threw in a couple of extra rear fenders, and the driver side one he threw in had the indent in it. Me, not knowing any better at the time, (figuring all these old trucks had side mount spares on them), figured I would use the indented fender cause I wanted the side mount carrier. And it was in way better shape than the standard fender that was already on the truck. So, over the last couple of years, I have hunted and searched for a side mount spare mount. E-bay has them occasionally (at astronomical prices), but that's about the only place you'll ever see them, so yes they ARE rare. Finding the one I found from that 54, I thought I was good to go to build me one (other than the 53 angle bedside and the 54 90-degree bedside). So I did build me one, sanded and painted it when I painted the bed a couple of weeks ago, and bolted it on the truck bed this last weekend.
Let me say here I purchased a set of 16" radial tires, 215/85R16, a while back, going on a set of original steel wheels (that came off a 52.....yea, try to find ORIGINAL wheels for one of these trucks, but I did). The mount is installed on the bed, everything looks correct.........and then the tire rubs.
But the only years that would have come with a indented fender would have been either 53 or 54 (and 55 1st), so I know the indented fender I got would have to be from one of these two years. I'm thinking, and this is just me speculating, that whatever truck this fender came from, had 15" tires on it originally. I do not know if 53 or 54 trucks ever came with 15" tires, or if Chevy would have even had a different indented fender for 15" and 16" tires. Logic tells me that they would not have. But my tire carrier matches an original one exact, and the mounting to the bed dimensions are dead on (and again thanks to sstock for those). Had I went with 15" tires/wheels, I would not have ever had this issue. So I spent most of last Saturday re-fabricating the arms on the mount I have, so my tire/wheel WILL fit. And it does now.
3100Cummins, I'll be glad to email you pictures with the measurements and all, but know ahead of time of what I just described above. If you are running 15" tires, then it would work for you.
