The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Tons 'o Fun 9ft bed identification help needed

Hello,
I finally found & purchased a 9 foot bed for my '46 Chevy 1.5 ton truck and was hoping someone could identify the year or year range.
Some unique features:
"Chevrolet" on tailgate
indentation where the chain hooks latch on tailgate
and no interior evidence of the wheel well on the inside of bed (I've seen some with 'arcs' on the inside of the bed where the fenders attach.
Also, there is paint fade evidence to show the shape of the missing fenders, which also may help to identify.

Thanks in advance for any information.
-Scott

Looks like 48-53 to me. Fender shape is also correct for 48-53, not earlier.
54 has flat top rails. Does 54 also have pressed shape of fender into bed side?

Thanks, that's kinda what I thought. I was hoping the notched tailgate and the block lettering on it would help identify a specific year.
Also, I thought this is the most appropriate forum for this post, apologies if it isn't.
Thanks again.

-Scott

I thought I read somewhere had the box sides from 41-53 are the same (not counting the fender mounting holes).

Is this correct, Bolters? If so, remounting 41-46 fenders would be appropriate by welding the old ones closed and drilling new holes.

I found this article about the 9ft beds, mostly as they relate to the featured 1946 1.5.
The attachment is a screenshot of some fender info*

*So an argument could be made to install 37-38 fenders (standard width) on my truck, even though I'm planning on running single tires in the rear

Here's the entire article...
http://oldchevytrucks.com/blog/index.php/2015/03/1947-chevrolet-1-12-ton-pickup-open-express/

Not that anybody is arguing.
But I will probably look for the '48-'53 fenders.

If you are correct, why not 47-55st?

Sounds like anything from 37-55st would pass, I'm open to fenders in that age range that I can find locally. I'm just going to gently use the truck for lumber and garden related chores, trying not to ding it up too much more so the next guy can really restore it.

Got it on, it's a bit tall, but the AD beds are wider (4 inches?) than the 37-46 beds, so it's up on 4x6 beams to clear the tires. I'll post some more photos in the Big Bolt forum.
Looking locally for 48-53 fenders.
Thanks for the help.

-Scott

Looks to me like you have an AD bed for a 1 ton. The fender shadows and the split brace just behind fender center give it away. Also, the older trucks had a bed approx 4" narrower for the 1/2 and 3/4 ton than the 1 ton, 48-1/2" for the former as opposed to 52-7/16" for the 1 ton. The rear fenders for '46 and older 1 ton are different than for the AD. The older 1 ton bed had cutouts at the wheel with wood insert "liners" that jutted into the bed. Yours has no cutouts. The inside lengths were 1/2 ton - 78" inside, 3/4 ton 87" inside, 1 ton - 108-3/32" inside. I don't know how to attach a file to this or I'd add a pic of my 1 ton project.

That's an awesome looking truck. I love the open express trucks.