I need all of them for a short bed.

 

Good writeup. I started to pull my bed to do the in-tank mods & fell victim to the galling bed bolts too, so I could do some frame painting. Broke my good torx socket & decided to drop the tank instead.

 

I've gone through this twice on my bed. This last time, I broke several bits of varying professional qualities, including the "proper" bolt. Some of my problems included breaking the bit off flush with the bolt head. I couldn't get it out since I used the properly fitting bit. I was able to recover several of the bolts by a combination of working them back and forth with an impact and hitting them on the head with a hammer.

When i put the new ones in, which came as part of a kit, I used antiseize on the threads. I worked the new bolts back and forth several times putting them in to form the threads and insure that they would come out again, as my luck has it they will need to come out again.

They get stuck because of their design and that the nuts have no threads. The bolts become locked into the nuts. It's not from rust or corrosion that they won't free up in most cases. If I paused when initially putting them in they would be more difficult to remove. As long as I ran them back and forth I was able to work them in.

regular headed bolts or bolts with a larger torx bit would be easier to remove while still having them lock in and not back out.

 

What is the tank mod you are referring to?
I am new to the forum, and the F250 I have.

 

Depending on the year truck you have, here's a description:


Welcome to guzzle's In-tank Harpoon Mod Web Page

 

Thanks!
Mine is a 2001 with the 7.3, and judging from all the repairs it needs I am guessing it needs this mod too!
Working on finding a short box for it and will probably do this mod too.
Currently installing all 4 new loaded calipers & rotors, hanger bearing & new u-joints, axle joints & seals, steering stabilizer, shocks, and hopefully fixing a dipstick tube oil leak into the pan.

 

great pictorial. thanks for taking the time to post. would love to pull mine just to give it a good rust analisys and treatment

 

This doesn't sound good. I bought a truck with a wrecked bed and need to swap in a salvage unit this. Didn't want to F with grinding bolts off or spending hundreds of dollars for new bolts/nuts. Did anyone find an aftermarket bolt that would work?

 

Dorman makes a bolt kit which is pretty good. It was included in the bed rail kit I used: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...-supports.html

 

Get underneath and spray them down with penetrating oil a few days ahead of time. Gett a good Torx Plus bit the correct size (or a few, and impact rated). Hit them with an impact wrench both directions to work them loose. Applying anti-seize beforehand to the full length of threads helps too. I removed all bolts from my short bed and only had one that we stripped the torx head out on, on that one we ended up welding a nut to the top and then we got it out. I had a few extra bolts from the salvage yard so I didn't have to buy any new. I think I broke two bits, but they weren't impact rated.

 

This truck was in a collision and the passenger bedside is mashed with some buckle on the bed that don't extend past the wheel hump. After hearing what a PITA these bolts are, I'm considering buying a used bed that has a good passenger side and having a body shop weld it onto the good driver's side and bed that I got. Found one at a random auction that oughta go cheap and the body shop quoted $800 to splice and paint it all to look right. Have you ever seen one done that way?

 

Shops will replace bed sides, but if you have to mess with the inner side at all its usually cheaper to replace the bed, especially for a long bed (short boxes are hard to find).

 

Yeah, it can't be much cheaper to get a body shop to weld two damaged beds together vs just getting a good bed and painting/putting it on. And then you know everything is right and resale value is also higher...IMHO

 

Thanks for this thread my friend! If the bolts are one use only, wouldn't it be easier to just cut the nut on the clip from underneath and just pull it all up? Or is there not enough space to get a tool under all of them?

 

Yes, torching them off is the way to go