[David in San Antonio]

Indeed, the fender wells may not even be original, but welded in later.And then who knows what their dimensions are? My Firestones are such a tight fit it’s a struggle even with no air pressure in them. The wells are so tight I couldn’t tilt the tires enough to clear the bracket when removing them. And the canvas covers make it even worse. I ended up removing the triangular plate and hammering out the lugs, which are carriage bolts. Now I can remove the lugs with the tire in place and remove the spares. When I replaced the tires I didn’t want to buy six, so the spares (and their tubes!) are probably 35 years old or more. I don’t expect to ever drive on them.