Quote:
Originally Posted by Boog
Reading this topic got my curiosity up so I went out and looked at my unrestored original '69 short stepside bed. It has a full fender and never had an under bed spare carrier. Mine does have an in bed spare tire mount that I've always thought was a factory option. Keith said this was not offered for stepside beds and I value his knowledge of all things regarding GM trucks so I did some more looking at mine today and took some pics and opened the box of new bed angles I bought last year to compare with my originals and jcwren's.
I first thought my in bed mount was factory but upon further examination it appears to have been welded at some time about half way up. They did a nice job and painted it a matching green to the truck so I don't know if it was welded because it cracked over time or if it was cut down to fit the stepside bed. The bottom bolted to the wear strip with matching carriage head bolts.
The extra bolts in the left side angle strips on mine bolt to angle braces under the floor you can see in the pics. The right side does not have these braces or extra bolts. Also my new angles do not have these extra holes punched in them. I've laid the new ones next to the original ones for comparison. Now I have to wonder if new stepsides came with a spare at all if it did not have the P13 fender mount. Also of all the many pics I have of 67-72 stepside trucks I have only a couple with outside mounts and none with inside bed mounts and none with under bed mounts. I've never give it any thought until now.
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I mounted mine inside the box on my '80, using portions of the underbed carrier.
K