CAN 06 BED EXTENDER BE TRANSPLANTED INTO 2011 BOX?
 

Just wondering if the tubular silver bed extender from a 2006 will fit a 2011 F150.
I tried eyeballing it in the new box and it would seem to fit but the 2011 has no inner fender bolts to clip the extender on to. There seems to be little round indentations roughly where the bolts should go. Can I just unscrew the 06 bolts, drill holes in the 2011, thread in the same extender holder bolts and clip on the extender? Anyone ever done this?

I took the bed extender off of my 2004 and put it into my 2009 no problem. So I woudl say it will fit. I went to Ford and picked up new bolts. Screwed them right in and the extender snapped right on...no problems.

are the bolts self tapping, did you have to drill holes first & how big?
I was afraid the '06 had a threaded hole from the factory or a welded nut inside but apparently this is not the case?

i believe from 2004-2011 the bed is the same with the exception of the tailgate thickness. a coworker has a 2007 and the bed is identical to my 2010.

I did not have to drill holes...they were already there. I'm pretty sure they were just self tapping.

OK so after hearing your story, I unscrewed the bed extender bolts from my 2006 inner fenders. They came out easily, but are not self-tapping; there is a welded nut inside.
On the 2011 where I want to install them, there is no hole. Just an indentation on the bedliner plastic in exactly the right position 8" up from the bed floor, but in the fender steel no hole, rather a round indentation. Kind of looks like a knock-out. So should I try to bang it out with a punch & maybe find a threaded hole underneath (wishful thinking?) or drill a hole slightly smaller than the bolt and try to force it in?
Anyone done this procedure where there is no threaded hole?

You mentioned a plastic bed liner is installed on your truck. I don't want to assume anything, but did you peel back the edge of the liner and see if there is a hole with welded nut already installed?

Both my 01 and 04 had dealer installed bed liners with holes cut out where the extender pivot studs would mount. My 01 came with the bed extender but my 04 did not (I added it later as the nuts were pre-welded in place and the pivot studs are not self-tapping).

My 09 also didn't come with the bed extender but it still has the pre-installed nut there to retrofit one (it has Line-X instead of a drop-in plastic liner), which is en route from Tasca parts right now.

As I indicated, no hole but in the fender steel a round indentation exactly under the bedliner indentation. Kind of looks like a knock-out. So punch it out or drill it out is my question and then use the 2006 bolts & bed extender?

There is a reason that the factory actually welds in a nut behind the wall: to provide the necessary strength to withstand the typical loads/stresses that the tailgate extender may endure.

Simply tapping a 7/16 thread into basic sheetmetal (if there is even enough thickness/layers there to do so) won't have anywhere near the strength necessary to last an appreciable length of usage. And you won't be able to do a surface mount of a nut via spot weld as that extender fits real tight with the pivot studs flush with the bed edge panel.

But I'm surprised that there is no pre-welded nut in place to begin with. Is this a 5.5' bed or 6.5'?

I took out the tail lamp lens to get a good look at the back of the "hole" area where the bedextender should mount. There is indeed a very thick washer welded in back with a hole in it that is NOT threaded. The hole is slightly too small to insert the 2006 bed extender mounting bold.

So now the question is should I try to tap threads into it, or drill it out wider than the bolt and just use a nut inside the tail lamp area? Any advice?

I can also see in there that the same style of welded washer is used inside the tail lamp cavity to mount the tailgate wire, and it IS threaded, but the almost identical welded unit for the bed extender mount is not threaded...(dealer parts guy told me the 2011 plastic bed extender uses a pin and bushing rather than a steel bolt.)

Pictures of what you are referring to would help tremendously. My truck is in the shop but others may be able to provide guidance from your pix.

No pics available but SUCCESS!
We tapped about a 10mil thread into the unthreaded hole for the 2006 bed extender to clip onto the 2011 bed. There was lots of metal inside the tail light cavity and it works fine, so for all, this CAN be done! So FORD wanted to sell me a plastic bed extended for $400.00+ when I already had a better 2006 stainless steel one...we sure fixed their little red wagon!!!!!!!!

Glad it all worked out for you!

I'm still curious as to why it didn't come with a nut pre-installed as I didn't have a bed extender come with the truck but the nut is there.

Your's must have been one of those "Friday" afternoon trucks... }>