Bed Bolt Blues

[87chevy.com]

Short story shorter, slightly rusted bolts caused me to round the square hole in the bed. Thus preventing me from using stock bolts. So I have maybe 4/8 bolt holes round and the others are square... stupid design.. ahh. Anyway I was thinking about doing something like the ford explorer sport track and probally the f-150's. They have Torx bolts that get bolted from the inside of the bed to the frame.. pretty neat design. no need to worry about the round holes anymore, plus no more crawling under the truck if you want to take the bed off or something.

What have you guys done to solve your bed bolt blues.

clint

[knightowl73]

sounds lke a good idea and shouldnt be much to slip in the right size clip nuts if you get some big ones that are deep enough. the truck i recently bought had regular bolts n it. wasnt too bad looking

[willett]

2 of mine were rounded too...

i just put vice grips on the heads when i tightened the front 2 bed bolts

[westofb]

cut a slot in the head of the carriage bolt with a 3" cut off saw, then get a buddy to hold them with a huge straight blade screw driver! I like the Ford idea of the torgue heads in the bed, lots nicer to take them loose from up top!

[USSkoval]

There are problems with the ford torx bolts too. They also can seize in place and they like to eat the special size bits they require (T-47EX, I think). Also, the threaded clips that they screw into can break, then the bolt just spins.

IMHO, the best design is the '99-newer GM pickups. Yeah, the bolts are on the underside, but you can get to them easily and they have bullet-noses to get them started back in easily. Only ones I've ever had trouble with were ones that a previous hack mechanic had f'd up.

[87chevy.com]

ah, resurecting the dead here... finaly went to the bone yard and scored 8 bolts out of the new Ford trucks. Perfect length too. These happend to be a T50. To get them to fit my truck, I opened up the square hole in the bed with a 5/8 bit and then cleaned up the hole with a de-burring carbide bit. I also snagged 8 of the factory spring clip nut retainers too. I was only able to use 6 of the factory retainer nuts becuase the 2nd row from the front of the bed bolt hole in the frame has crossmember in the way. I am going to get the thread size/pitch and buy a set of nuts from Ace Hardware and weld a piece of steel to it so when you tighten it or loosen it the steel extension will hit the frame and stop so you can tighten or loosen it. All in all, it was worth it... looks better than before, its going to be easier to remove the bed bolts when I have to remove them next time I need to remove the bed or bed line it.
clint

[USSkoval]

I was going to ask if you had trouble getting them out, but then I realized you're in Texas, lol. Good to know they are the right length

[RandyP]

They are not just plain torx heads. They sell a special driver bit for them actually. A normal old torx will result in damage to the driver bit. Maybe not just doing it 6 or 8 times, but after removing and putting back a few ford beds, it would ruin your driver.
Learned that a few years ago after buying a few driver bits for this reason, tool truck guy (cornwell) finally filled us in what we needed, sold us the right bit and have never ruined it yet. We've broken plenty of the clips, which usually results in a messed up bolt, but have yet to ruin the head of one or the driver.

Everyone who likes this ford idea, let me tell you something. They use the same design for the cab, bolt head is under the carpet. It is so fun to have to remove an interior just to loosen a cab or remove a cab. Great design guys.

[KQQL IT]

I used allen bolts in 6 of the 8 holes. I think they were 4X1/2 and use a 3/8 allen like the caliper bolts

[78 Chevyrado]

I tacked mine in place to get em out, and then tacked them in place to reinstall them. Mine are still tacked...

[72lb4x4]

I think if you tighten the nuts til the bolts snap, the squared holes won't be damaged...

I wonder if the Ford bolts will be so easy to remove in 2030...

[MONTEZ]

I'm really liking this T-head bolt idea, but here is a dumb question. Why not just use the t-head with a nut like the carriage bolt has (with the correct threads of course) and not use the clips or attached the nut to the frame? I like the idea of loosening them from the bottom, or holding them for that matter and being able to get a grip on both sides, not worrying if one side will get damaged and be a pain in the future. The only down fall I see to the current design is if the floor gets damaged they spin. If you can get a wrench on it (this is where the t-head comes in), then you don't have to worry about it.

To the OP, can you give us and idea of what were are looking for bolt wise (what truck they're on)? I would rather just order a new set from the dealer.
How did the lengths work out? I know some of the ones on aour truck are longer than others.

[MONTEZ]

Originally Posted by 72lb4x4

I think if you tighten the nuts til the bolts snap, the squared holes won't be damaged...

I wonder if the Ford bolts will be so easy to remove in 2030...

I dunno, I think it's gonna round the other way too. Pus you'd have to get a cheater bar in there to get enough torque. You can't get an impact on it do to the bottom frame rail.

[eightyfive]

I had exactly the same problem two days ago! My buddy and i took off one bolt when we figured out that they were siezed right on there and we were just making a round hole out of a square one, just like u did. So we couldnt figure out how to get them off then he had this "Bright idea" of just grinding the heads off. so we got them all ground off and we thought we had it made... untill... we whent to lift the box off but the dam thing would only go about three or four inches. Then we got to thinkin again and it kicked it, WE STILL HAD THE SQUARE HEAD ON THE BOLT! it was holding the box to the frame and there was absolutly no way we could get them off with out wrecking anything. So we had a couple four letter words to say and called it quit for the day. So the next day i bought a pair of bolt cutters, got all them off except for one. We couldnt get the last one because it was in between a brace and the frame and the bolt cutters WOULD NOT fit in the space we had. So right now, im still screwed, and i dont know what to do. So yeah, i know what you mean by bed bolt blues.

[MONTEZ]

Originally Posted by eightyfive

I had exactly the same problem two days ago! My buddy and i took off one bolt when we figured out that they were siezed right on there and we were just making a round hole out of a square one, just like u did. So we couldnt figure out how to get them off then he had this "Bright idea" of just grinding the heads off. so we got them all ground off and we thought we had it made... untill... we whent to lift the box off but the dam thing would only go about three or four inches. Then we got to thinkin again and it kicked it, WE STILL HAD THE SQUARE HEAD ON THE BOLT! it was holding the box to the frame and there was absolutly no way we could get them off with out wrecking anything. So we had a couple four letter words to say and called it quit for the day. So the next day i bought a pair of bolt cutters, got all them off except for one. We couldnt get the last one because it was in between a brace and the frame and the bolt cutters WOULD NOT fit in the space we had. So right now, im still screwed, and i dont know what to do. So yeah, i know what you mean by bed bolt blues.

I've taken off so many beds lately that I don't even try to turn them. I just crawl under the bed with a cutting torch, burn the nuts off and pull em out from the top side. If you don't have a torch and heavy duty grinder with a cut off wheel will do it. Just takes longer.

[87chevy.com]

Yeah a t-50 was a little loose in the bolt but it did fine. I did come to the conclusion that f-250's bed bolts are torqed to a different spec! Anywaythe bolts came off of the nbs fords. All of The bed bolts were the same length (about 1 - 1 1/2" from the frame rail) and maybe tomarrow or sometime during the week i will get a template forthebed bolt nut tabs
clint

[68 TT]

What about using a button head cap screw instead?

Under $2 each and you don't need a special T-47 bit to use them.

http://www.gotbolts.com/index.jsp?pa...APSCREW,COARSE

Not sure on the length needed but I think this is close.

[MONTEZ]

Originally Posted by 68 TT

What about using a button head cap screw instead?

Under $2 each and you don't need a special T-47 bit to use them.

http://www.gotbolts.com/index.jsp?pa...APSCREW,COARSE

Not sure on the length needed but I think this is close.

They would work fine as long as they aren't threaded all the way to the head. You would want it to have a non thread shank all the way thru the bed and cross sills.

[87chevy.com]

under shot showing the length


and the nut and tab that I will be replacing the stamped bracket thing that holds the nut which probally would break over time.


clint

[MONTEZ]

What did you do for the long ones?

[87chevy.com]

I'm going to use the same bolts, just with that tab welded to the nut in the 3rd picture. Im going to replace all of those factory clip/nut with the 3rd picture concept. should work out great.
clint

[SS Delux]

I ground off the heads in my truck and found out the same thing as eightyfive. Once I got the bed lifted as high as it could go with the square heads still in I cut them with a sawzall. It worked great and had it off soon after.

[eightyfive]

Originally Posted by SS Delux

I ground off the heads in my truck and found out the same thing as eightyfive. Once I got the bed lifted as high as it could go with the square heads still in I cut them with a sawzall. It worked great and had it off soon after.

Thats all it takes? well that shouldnt be too hard. thanks!

[eightyfive]

Can i get some pictures of what kind of non-factory bolts you guys have holding the box on? Like a kind of bolt that i can get to from inside the box?

[pig rig]

I learnd a long time ago if you soke the tbolts with a good pentrating lube and clamp the shank of the bolt with visegrips so they turn aginst the frame rail you can get the bolts loose then you can replace with carrage bolts from the hardwear store but put lots of neverseze on them before putting the nut on so you can get them off the next time

just my 2cents that helps me