Decided to put my B&W hitch on tonight on my '04 Lariat CC short bed with FX4 package. Drilled the hole (measured carefully), removed heat shield, and put the cross members in between the bed and frame (had to notch the seam that hangs down). So far, so good.

OK, step 6 of the instructions (this is the 1108 kit, btw) says to locate the rear cross member about 4 inches behind the hole. I can't even get it within 8 inches of the hole because there's a hump in my frame that rises up and doesn't leave enough room under the bed for the cross member. The closest I can get the two cross members to each other is about 12 inches!? The center section is less than 8 inches wide. B&W is closed so no help there. Do I need to loosen the bed bolts so it will raise up or what??

 

Make sure you have the rails positioned with the frame slots against the frame rails and wack the heck out of it with a mallet. New trucks are a lot easier as the beds have no deflection from loads yet. Or the easy method is to loosten the bed bolts. I just brace my sholders against the fender well and lift it with my legs while moving the rails, the bed is not that heavy and you only need to back off of the bed bolts about 1/2 inch.

enjoy

Also, when you have the center section bolted loosely to the crossrails. Make sure you center it in the bed hole before you tighten the head to rail bolts or the cross rail to side plate bolts. Usually a stiff handle can wiggle it enough so that it pops up through the bed, working from in the bed. Then tighten everything. That way even if your bed hole is a little off you can still center the center section in the bed hole.

 

I know they had to bust out the BFH on mine when they put it in. I was sitting inside the showroom of the shop and could hear the guy cussing it

 

Thanks guys, I finally got them in there. They were tight as a...well, they were real tight! Got everything installed but the safety hooks. Took a good 5 hrs. You guys that do it in 2 hrs must turn a mean wrench. Took me about an hour to torque everything.

Appreciate the support.

 

The folks that installed mine cut the time by not torquing anything! First time I hitched up I looked underneith to make sure the ball was locked and the bolts weren't even finger tight!

 

They probably couldnt find their swivel-joint extension. Most of the bolts are impossible to wrench tight without one. Gonna give mine a test haul today and then retorque the hitch. Wheee!

 

Hijacking an old thread here...I received my B&W GN hitch tonight. I have an 09 F350 SRW SuperCrew LongBed w/the 6.4L PSD, a few comments, and a few questions.

First, the instructions suck. Nothing bothers me more than poorly written instructions with pathetic spelling and grammer errors. Spell check, anyone?

Second, the painting or powder coating process they use sucks. I had paint peeling off the edges of most of the painted metal parts.

Hardware: My boxes were in rough shape but luckily no holes anywhere or I would have lost the hardware that was rolling around inside the box. Nice to see some grade 8 bolts but why didn't they include grade 8 nuts and washers to go with them?

Install: This installation would go much quicker if the instructions were better. Drilling the 4" hole in the bed was no problem with the holesaw. I went ahead and removed the rearmost exhaust bracket. Was I suposed to remove more?... because the instructions don't say. Also, removed the spare tire and spare tire heat shield. As for the glued-in heat shield between the tailpipe and the bed, the instructions don't say if that is supposed to go back in or not. Are we to assume that it's not really needed and Ford is paranoid? I chose to pull it back instead of removing it completely so I could get my angle brackets in there with the intention of trimming off as little as is necessary to get the brackets in. I might regret this later. I figured I'd try installing the angle brackets without notching the bed seam but couldn't get the first bracket past the passenger side shock bracket. Did anyone else have an issue here? After trimming out the notch described in the instructions (this part was actually written and drawn well), I still couldn't get the first bracket past the passenger side shock bracket. By this time it was getting late so instead of doing more cutting, grinding, or banging, I chose to call it a night and pick up tomorrow when the neighbors aren't trying to sleep.
So, I don't really want to have to remove the bed bolts for clearance as my bed bolt heads have Line-X on them. I don't mind trimming that notch a little more. I was also considering grinding the top corners of that shock bracket to round them off a little hopefully allowing that angle bracket to slide past.
Any ideas here?
Thanks

 

I was able to get both L brackets in without notching or loosening anything. All it takes is a hammer and a little wiggling.

I also left the heat shield you're talking about glued in... no trimming either. It got a little bunched up but no big deal... it's now actually pressed between the hitch and the bed, too.

Put both brackets in from the front, then push them rearward with the hammer.

 

Mystic, my hitch wasn't painted very well either, but after 2+ years it's not really rusted any more than the rest of my undercarriage. As much as I had to smack the angles with a sledge it probably didn't matter. I can tell the safety hook springs won't be there in a few years, though. I'll probably sandblast and paint everything under there at some point anyway.

I can't even remember removing the heat shield, but I either left the shield off or it fell off later because it's not there now. As far as I can tell the only thing it does is keep the bed metal from getting hot, which could discolor the bed paint over time. May not be an issue if you have lining.

I have not looked at a long bed install, but your shocks must be further back than mine because I had no problem with the shock brackets. Mine are nowhere near where the hitch angle brackets are. I did cut the notch in the bed seam, but I realized afterwards I probably could have just bent it a little.

The only other thing I remember having to remove was the parking brake cable. I believe my kit had a new bracket as the OEM one could not be used because the hitch side plate blocks the frame.

Just remember, the sledgehammer is your friend. Good luck!

 

Thanks for the tips, guys. I'll pull out the BFH tonight.

 

So, the BFH was the key to getting those damn angle brackets in place. Once I rounded out (enlarging it slightly) the notch on the left side with my grinder, I was able to get the first angle bracket in by pounding on the driver's side with the hammer and having the wife hold the passenger side in place over the shock mounting bracket with a 2 ft pry bar. The second bracket slid right in and the rest of the brackets went in pretty easily. My engine hoist is in storage so I came up way to hold the main bracket in place through the bed hole, I attached a pair of cargo ratchet straps to the pin in the hitch hole and then attached them to the cargo tie downs in opposite corners of the bed. I snugged them down pulling the hitch right into the hole. This worked well and I was excited to see the hitch fit my 4" hole perfectly.
I shot the parts with a flat black paint before putting them in and then hit the top part of the hitch (the part that will be visible in the bed) with a gloss black paint to better match my black Line-X bed liner.
The directions tell you to torque the bolts in a sequence that does make sense. The only variation I used and recommend is snug all the bolts with the ratchet and wrench, then go back and hit them all again with the torque wrench.
As for the heat shield above the tailpipe, the center part of the hitch sits right above the pipe, so it will act as a heat shield for the exhaust. I went ahead and removed it when I started sliding the first angle bracket rearward.
The tail pipe is going to be CLOSE to the hitch. That bracket for lowering the last exhaust hanger is definitely going to be needed.
Nightfall got me again, so I'll finish up the handle tomorrow night and then reattach the exhaust, spare tire, etc.

 

night #3
I finished up the install tonight. No issues putting the safety chain brackets in. The exhaust relocation brackets worked well. They drop the tailpipe 1-1.5" at the last two mounting brackets.
Before putting the spare back in, I installed the extension harness to extend the 7-pin harness from the bumper into the bed. No issues with the harness.
Now I'm ready to pick up my trailer!

 

yours came with an in-bed 7-pin harness?

interesting...

 

Glad you got 'er in, Mystic. Don't forget to retorque bolts after a pull or three.

 

No, I should have specified. The 7-pin extension harness did not come with the hitch, I ordered it separately.
And thanks for the reminder on retorquing those bolts.