I just bought a new F350 Platinum 6.7 last week. Love the truck so far, it had just come into the dealer a week earlier. I was going to order an’18 in a month or two but this was close enough to what I was going to order so decided to go for it sooner.

Tomorrow morning I’m having the bed sprayed by my local Line X dealer. When I spoke with the Ford dealer at time of delivery about getting it sprayed, he told me as a heads up that Ford does not recommend the bed bolts get pulled out beforehand. That on the aluminum bodies the bed bolts are a one shot deal and they need to be replaced with new ones. The Line X dealer said the same thing when I stopped in to make my appointment. They said they have the new torx tool to pull them and they will, but told me to back to Ford after it is sprayed and have them replace the bolts with new ones. He also made reference to needing acces to the bottom of the truck with the replacements.

With doing a lot of searches, I’m not finding much out with this. Is this all BS or not? Also, the Line X dealer here does not pull the bedrails of prior to spraying but does pull the other hardware.

I had had a great experience with my F150 getting done at my then local Line X shape in Lansing MI. My truck was one of the first ones sprayed with the then newer material, Pro or Platinum, in 2013. I don’t remember if I had the UV topcoat applied. It has held up just great over the years. No rips, cuts, stains, nothing. Still looks brand new. I’m doing the Pro or Platinum tomorrow, just not sure on the top coat. It will be under a cover most of the time but the Platinum should be easier to keep clean.

Any thoughts most appreciated. Great forum, by the way, this is my first post. I’ve learned so much from all the wisdom here. Thanks!

 

I had them spray over my bolts because the heads are male, my other trucks had female heads on them. They recommended not removing them when they sprayed my new truck. They also did not remove the bedrails, but they did remove the bolts in the tailgate.

 

I just LineX ed mine today and they removed the bolts. They made no comments about needing new ones.

 

I left the bed bolts in and had them spray over on mine, I planned to have them do that and the LineX dealer recommended it too...

 

Many many thousands of trucks have had linex sprayed with the bolts removed. If there were any problems with bolts failing it would be blasted all over the internet. My dealer had the linex sprayed in mine before delivery. The bolts were removed before spraying. They said there are no known issues with that.

 

Mine bolts were pulled, no mention of an issue

They did screw up on mine with the rubber bushing that align the tailgate. We had to shave the bushings down so my tailgate would open.

 

I had my Line-X installed last week and they removed the bolts before spraying and no mention that they needed to be replaced. I also had a conversation with the salesman before buying the truck. They would get it sprayed for $499 by a 3rd party and he mentioned that they would remove all bed hardware, spray and replace. No mention of needing to replace the bolts.

 

Mine were taken out. My Line-X dealer has done hundreds of the new alum trucks for several local dealers with no issue or mention of an issue. It looks really nice and clean with the bed fully de-trimmed before spraying.

 

What are these, torque to yield bolts? That's laughable.

The bed bolts are grade 10.9 high strength, have them throw some loctite blue on them and reinstall. I would never cover a fastener with a coating that isn't particularly easy to remove.

Sounds like a silly excuse to avoid extra work or for Ford to make more money.

 

The only reason I could think they want you to replace is because they have been torqued to yield. You can grab a stock (un-installed bolt) and compare it against one pulled from your bed and see if there is any appreciable stretch (difference in bolt length). If so, then maybe there is a case to follow the recommendations because a second torque might overstretch and it would fail. The bolt specs call for about a 9% minimum. So on about a 5 inch bolt that's just shy of 1/2" which is a really long stretch.

My son had Line-X installed on his 17 Platinum and they pulled the bolts and pretty sure they did not replace them with new ones. The inter web says bed bolt tq is anywhere from 49 to 130 ft/lbs (no official Ford Doc - just people's feedback).

 

My dealer did the Line-X as part of the sale. Very reputable line-x shop they work with. Bed bolts ,boxlink, rails, and other related hardware was removed and reinstalled. Ford and Line-X both recommended this and have done all 2017's this way so far without any issues.

 

I wonder if requires dealers to replace the bed bolts when installing the 5th wheel prep package at the dealer level? It's my understanding that the bed must be loosened and tilted to gain enough clearance for the cross member. Either the bolts should be replaced in both situations or the bolts are ok to re-use. What's good for the goose is good for the gander...

Edit: There should be some type of directive from Ford about the 5th wheel prep package install that would provide a definitive answer one way or the other.

 

Just an FYI...I have a factory sprayed in bedliner with the 5th wheel/gooseneck option. The bed bolts are covered with the liner. Seems to me if Ford wanted the bed bolts removed they would have done it at the factory.

 

Just because they didn`t mention it doesn`t mean that it`s not true.

A Ford dealer and a Line X dealer said that it`s true so there must be some validity to it.

 

Bolts, just like some head studs stretch once they are torqued down to spec and all torqued to yield bolts and studs are a one time use item because they are not meant to be removed because they have been stretched.