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Your question is a bit too vague to answer...what style bolts do you have? The OEM setup had three small spot welds per bolt to hold them to the bedside. Aftermarket bolts on some beds have a square shank under the head of the bolt that fits into a square hole in the bedside (ala Mar-K). Some other aftermarket bolts have a beveled washer and a flat headed hex stainless steel bolt (Midfifty #81544) that looks very custom.
Mine have the square hole like a carriage bolt. I plan on having them painted over when I get the truck painted and was looking at ways to make sure they stay in place with out welding them there.
I guess that the simplest answer to " What is the best way to keep the rear fender bolts in place?" is to say that the bolts are held in place by the nut on the other end. I sense that this may not be the answer you seek but it is the way that most trucks have it. If you feel like you should have the bolts fixed to the bedside without a nut, then I would use a dab of structural adhesive under the head of each bolt. I am painting a bed right now and I went to a lot of work to break away the OEM spot-welded bolts so that I could more easily prep the bedsides and cut/buff after painting. Do your painter a favor and leave the bolts off until after the bed has been painted...those bolt heads are a PITA to sand around and even harder to buff.
My original bolts were welded to the bedsides. It sounds like yours were not? Dennis Carpenter has a full set of unpolished SS bolts, nuts, etc. for $30. They look like they have square heads: Rear Fender Bolt - Set | Dennis Carpenter Ford Restoration Parts
Pete...some aftermarket bed makers put square holes in their bed sides, Mar-K is just one. If he already has the square holes then he is good to go with the square shank bolts as you have posted.
Pete...some aftermarket bed makers put square holes in their bed sides, Mar-K is just one. If he already has the square holes then he is good to go with the square shank bolts as you have posted.
I picked up my bed from Midwest Early Ford out of Springfield OH. Now sure where they get their parts, but it came with the square holes, and I got the Stainless Steel bolts that they sell for it.
All the holes in my stock bed are round, I cut the original bolts off and popped them out with a center punch. it's beginning to puzzle me now after reading about all the square holes? I've discovered that the regular after market rear fender bolts with the square shank will fit really nicely with a little pressure. I wont install them until later at final painting.
All the holes in my stock bed are round, I cut the original bolts off and popped them out with a center punch. it's beginning to puzzle me now after reading about all the square holes? I've discovered that the regular after market rear fender bolts with the square shank will fit really nicely with a little pressure. I wont install them until later at final painting.
I have found that if you clamp onto the OEM welded bolt with a pair of vise grips and give it a good up and down motion, the spot welds will snap without any distortion to the bedside. All ten bolts can be removed using this technique in about 2 mins. As for the round holes and bolts, I like the ones supplied by Midfifty (#81544), a little pricey but they are very nice looking.
The cost is in the labor involved with turning those beveled billet washers. It takes a screw mill and a jig to make it work. There was a guy here in SoCal that made these but unfortunately he passed some years ago...I believe that he was charging $2.25 each for the beveled washers and that was 15 years ago.
Ahhh makes sense. Didn't realize those were a labor-intensive item to make. I see little odds and ends like that and just figure there's a robot chugging away in some factory cranking 'em out.
09-11-2016, 11:24 AM
