I'm going to do the pro liner with UV protection on my bumpers and side steps.

 

Yes, the bed bolts are one time torque units. They are not supposed to be reused and can cause alignment issues with the bed down the road if the are reused.

I think I'm going to spray my own bed with raptor liner. I can do the thickness I want and I don't trust most of these guys to not screw up the bed alignment.

 

Got mine done. I like it, got it with the UV protection. Cost me right at $400

Sorry for the footprints. I jumped in the back after it was done and put my 5th wheel caps back on before I took the pictures

 

unless you need to take the bed out any reasons not to spray over the bolts? Guy said they were $20 a piece to replace.

 

Why would you not cover the bolts? Makes no sense

 

Covering the bolts with bedliner will make it a PITA if you ever need to get the bed off the truck. The socket wont fit the bolts with bedliner sprayed on them.

I do not see why you just cant reuse the ones that came off. If it can be re torqued it should not be a issue. Sure they recommend not re using them but I highly doubt it will cause a issue. The place I had mine done does 5-10+ new F250 bedliners a day for a dealership down they road and I highly doubt the buy new bolts for every bedliner but maybe they do.

 

Its not that hard to cut around the bolt and peel the liner off in one piece. I only had to do it to one, but it took maybe 5 mins?

 

If you ever need to take the bed off ? Unless your truck is rusting out I don't see a reason why you would ever need to take the bed off. And at that point you have much bigger problems than getting Line-x off your bolts. Not doing it creates a possible weak spot for corrosion.... also it just looks bad IMO. But to each his own

 

bringing up an old thread.

I have an appointment on Monday to have my truck sprayed. I am debating between Premium and Platinum

Do you all think think the Premium is tough enough for the typical home owner truck? Occasional lumber, pavers, gravel, mulch, etc...?
Do you think it will hold up to snowmobile ski carbides?

Or should I just go with the tougher one?
thanks

 

Had mine done yesterday, we removed the bed bolts as I wasn't quite sure what all I will be installing in there with my Overlanding build. Very happy with the end product.

 

imho the basic Line-x is fine for typical harry home owner usage. It is all I ever do and I use my bed in a manner similar to what you describe. I even haul Jeep axles, transmissions, etc.. without issue.

If you have a Tonneau cover I think you can skip the UV protection. I don't worry about fading anyways, I just want the skid protection.

Good luck with whatever you choose; they will all serve you well.

 

I haul a couple of loads of gravel per year, about five loads of mulch or compost, my previous Premium liners have held up for 6 years +. I have the UV coating since I don't use a cover.

 

This may be a stupid question but can you line a trailer with this stuff? I have a 12 foot dump trailer and I would like to protect it and increase its life as much as I can.

 

First of all, the bolts don't rust -- mine from 2012 were removed when doing the Linex job and have absolutely no rust on them. If you spray over them, the parts of the box sheet metal that are under the Linex are exposed both to abrasion from the bolts and then to rust. It's better to coat the sheet metal completely and then reinstall the bolts. And as for removing the box, if you ever have any body damage, or if you need access to the fuel tank from above, or need to do repairs on various parts of the vehicle that are more easily accessed from above, you do pull the box.

As for type of Linex to use, the clear coat has two advantages: First, it includes a UV protectant so the black material underneath doesn't turn grey. Second, it fills in some of the fine texture on the black material so it doesn't fill with dust or mildew or whatever and look ugly. It basically is much easier to keep clean because the surface is smoother. It doesn't affect how things slide on it -- if you want to stop sliding, you need to use a rubber bed mat on top of the Linex. The clear coat isn't as tough as the black Linex material itself, but it doesn't peel off or anything and it can always be resprayed to refresh the black stuff. I'd do the clear coat even for something like a horse trailer because it gives less grain to the finish that bacteria or dirt can get caught in.

In some parts of the country at least there's a thin basic Linex spray, then there's a thick one, then a thick one with clear coat, and finally custom colors. Some of the custom colors aren't as color fast or as physically durable as the black. And the thin spray can be subject to showing the underlying metal if it gets gouged; I've seen some mediocre jobs and would spend at least to get the thicker version.

People use Linex on horse trailers, private cargo trailers, boat trailers, flat beds, all kinds of things. The Wrangler crowd will disassemble a whole Wrangler and Linex everything so it power washes off afterwards and resists scraping damage from tree limbs, rocks, etc. It's quite durable and if you ever need to, it's easily patched or resprayed. We have a number of trucks with Linex in the bed and they get palletized loads slid into them all day long and pushed or slid around. With all the exposed nail heads and strap hardware and such that come in contact with the Linex, I don't think we've had a single case of metal being exposed. So for most practical uses, it should be fine.

 

question. Is the Line-X significantly tougher than the factory sprayed bed? I plan on a Bakflip cover and a 5th wheel/gooseneck prep so it sounded less complicated than doing it later and worry about the bed bolts etc. But if Line-X was significantly tougher, I might reconsider.