The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop 54 Chevy Rear Fender with Spare Tire Notch

I've seen other discussions about this. My 54 3100 has the nothch in the driver's side rear fender for the spare. I'm pretty sure it's not original. I'd like to keep it but there is no mount for the spare. Does anyone have a pictue or know where I could find this?

Ray Stanley of I believe it is Wheelright Restorations made them for awhile. They also pop up on Ebay regularly. Make sure you get one for 54 as the top mounts are different for the angled bedside tops on earlier trucks and also I think there may be two different sizes for different size spares.

I could probably mount the spare on the side of the bed as mine is a long box. I won't have room for it in the original location under the bed. I wonder if anyone has used one of those little donut spares

There is a bar that mounts on the inside of the bedwall underneath the bed. Many times when you buy a used mount it is missing. It helps disperse the weight of the spare on the bedside.
Samantha

This is what I usually use. Also a tire plug kit and a small air compressor.

Rockies54, my '48 has a bracket added to the bed. Doubt if it is original looking at the weld, however you can have it for shipping if it is something that you want. I will have to cut off the weld I will try to take a picture in the next day or two when I get out to storage where the bed sides are.

Also, if you want to get rid of the dimple/dish/notch, simply grind the corner of the weld to remove the dish, flip and re-weld. That would be reverse of most aftermarket mods to add the dish.

Scott,

I appreciate the offer. I'm not sure how I'm going to handle this yet, so I'll let you know if I decide to take you up on that.
As for my fender, it appears it is not original to the truck but it is not a modified fender. The notch is stamped in. There is definately no welds to indicate someone mod'd it.

The sidemount spare was an option on the 54's. If you end up not wanting to use the sidemount spare setup, you can probably swap the fender for one without the notch - there are always people looking for the notched fender - that would save you and someone else the work of cutting and flpping that piece.
Samantha

I also have a 54 3100 with the notched fender and I'm looking for the spare tire carrier...did you ever find one or get the drawings for one??