I had installed a Highway Products bed slide on my previous F250 and became addicted to the utility of it. When I bought my '17, I knew I was getting a Leer cap, Transferflow fuel tank, and the bed slide. I ordered all this stuff before Christmas and due some extraordinary poor planning on my part, the items became available in the reverse order in which I would have like to have them installed: tank first, cap second, and then my slide. I was able to get the Rhino lining done before the cap, saving me the hassle with that but the fuel tank blocked visibility on the forward mounting bolts for the bed slide. On my previous install, it took some major contortions to get the front mounting bolts situated and I was never really satisfied that the slide was installed well. Plus, I wanted to be able to take the Truckslide out if I sold the truck.

So...I had some time to think about what I could do different as I waited for the slide to be shipped and came up with the following:

- Highway Products XT-2000 aluminum truck slide. This is a well built USA made product with a solid aluminum bed and a lifetime warranty.

- 3/8" stainless steel "Plusnuts" similar to a mollybolt for drywall etc. I used stainless steel to prevent the nuts from rusting . These are expensive but I wasn't able to find a better blind nut part. I got mine from Cardinal Components and wound up using 14 in total for this project.

- I bought a legit used Plusnut installation tool off eBay. There are several ways to install the Plusnuts without using this tool but after watching several videos and corresponding with one builder, I decided to use the recommended tool due to the torque needed to mate with the aluminum truck bed (more about this later).

- Lastly, I know zip about mechanics and specifically fastener strengths. I wrongly assumed that stainless Plusnuts would go well with stainless bolts from Lowes but...not to be. Using the awesome power of the internet, I was able to find some info on fastener types and went with fully threaded serrated flange bolts. According to two tech papers, the flange offers greater distribution of clamping force than a lock washer and the frame of the Trickslide is galvanized steel.

Off to the races...the Truckslide comes fully assembled in a wood shipping frame/crate. After removing the actual bed, I put the frame in the bed, centered it, and marked the locations for the holes with a punch. Mistake number one! Better to drill pilot holes with a step bit with the frame in place. What happened to me was that on a few holes I was off about an 1/8" of inch and had to choose different mounting holes in the frame. After sorting this out, I installed the Plusnuts. This is a tedious process and took a while to get 14 of these installed. After getting them installed I stupidly thought all was good (mistake #2!).... with the frame in place I hand-started the stainless steal bolts from Lowes. Then I used a drill to snug them up and the fun began! On the mid section the bolts began to seize about 3/4" into the Plusnut. I was only able to get one out and three more refused to back out. I still don't know why. Anyways, as I tried to removed the bolts with a large wrench, two heads snapped off. A bit more research revealed that stainless bolts have significantly less strength than the Grade 3 the Truckslide shipped with and whatever the bolts from Lowes are, they are not close to strength I needed. Go figure. After some research, I ordered Grade three flange bolts and while I waited for those to show up, I wound up cutting three Plusnuts out of the bed by drilling through the top of the Plusnut (and of course installing new ones). Eventually all my new parts showed up and I chased all the 3/8" holes with a tap to make sure the bolts would run. A little bit of blue locktite on the bolts for good measure and the install is rock solid but removable if needed. Other than lifting the Truckslide bed into the truck, this was a one person job.

Couple of notes: The aluminum bed is soft. I used more plusnuts to spread the force in the bed than I used regular bolts and fender washers the first time but I'm pretty sure this will hold. Only four holes closest to the cab were completely blind due to the Transferflow tank. I used a tape marker on the bit to make sure I didn't drill into the tank. The edges on the crossbars of the frame are sharp. I didn't wear gloves and know my Rhino liner has some DNA in it.

I really like the Truckslide but better planning would have made this easier.