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Many thanks for everyone's input. As suggested I went ahead and ordered a set of Reese "custom fit" brackets w/ rails, PN 50082-58 fr Amazon for $207 . Will report in regarding install time/effort, which I hope will be minimal.
***UPDATE FEB-22-2018 **********************
Got 'er done. About 2 hours, really easy install, with only one man (me). NO frame drilling at all, only needed to drill the sheet metal of the bed.
Instructions fr Reese truly need to be updated, ie 1) Spare tire does not need to come down for any reason. 2) Rear tires must come off to gain reasonable access to frame rail. 3) Reese now includes an "Extra" bolt, not shown in instructions, to help secure frame bracket (see photos below).
Installing this hitch was much easier than doing a "universal bracket install"!
I have a yr model 2000 F-250, regular cab, 8' bed, XL work truck. Will be installing standard 5th wheel rails for my Reese hitch. Would like to minimize my time drilling, cussing, drilling some more with dust falling on my head, during install of said rails. Are all rail kits pretty much the same? Any suggestions regarding which brand/model rails will install easiest on this truck? Many thanks!
I installed the Curt A26 above bed rails in my truck. The below bed brackets are a one-piece design that bolts to the truck frame using existing holes. The only holes I had to drill were in the bed to connect the frame brackets and the above bed rails.
The install was very easy, except that the frame rail bolts had to be torqued to 265 lb/ft IIRC. I had to take the truck to a Ford dealer to get the four bolts torqued. They did it for free, though.
Ok I can post photos now.
You can see that my single bolt for the L brackets is located close to the top of the frame to stop any side movememt. The carriage bolt will give long before that hardened bolt I used, the bolt is built like a lug stud so it's pulled into the frame and it's there permanently and it's a fine thread hardened fastener.
Denny
Sorry ol' buddy but now I gotta bust on you again. Those angle brackets are pretty light. I'd say they're 1/8" x 1-1/2". All the rail kits I've ever bought and / or installed came with (4) 1/2" x 2" brackets. I guess between having 4 of those angle brackets and 4 bed bolts you're "OK", but I wouldn't send that out my door. As far as the strength of the hardware, it all depends on grade/tensile strength. The cartiage bolt through the top is a grade 5, so its a good fastener. The one through the frame, I can't tell. It doesn't really matter because the bolts aren't the limiting factor at that juncture. The bracket would fail first. We're probably just going to have to agree to disagree.
Sorry ol' buddy but now I gotta bust on you again. Those angle brackets are noodles. I'd say they're 1/8" x 1-1/4". All the rail kits I've ever bought and / or installed came with (4) 1/2" x 2" brackets. I guess between having 4 of those angle brackets and 4 bed bolts you're "OK", but I wouldn't send that out my door. We're probably just going to have to agree to disagree.
That's what came with the hitch on day one, like I said this is the 3rd truck it's been installed in. The first truck 4 of them were used with no problems over many miles.
02-17-2018, 08:05 PM
