Bed Bolts

[Machspeed]

Removed the bed bolts today, as I desire to clean up my frame a bit and fix the non working fuel gauge. I was able to remove five of the six without too much trouble. One of the bolts near the cab broke loose initially and then just rotated 360 degrees. Try as I may, could not keep it from rotating so I welded a nut on it and was then finally able to secure it, break it loose, and remove it. Regardless, the dang hole is wallowed out so a replacement bed bolt won't fix it alone. In fact, both front bed bolt holes are wallowed out. I got lucky in removing the other one. Anyway, I want to go back with a stock like bed bolt and do not want to weld it to the bed. What would be ideal is if a replacement bolt had a Torx slot in the head. With that, I wouldn't have to worry about the wallowed out securing point. Curious what you guys have done in this situation, outside of welding the bolt to the bed?  

[Rembrant]

The Flareside bed bolts have Phillips heads, but you still need two people if one has to hold the head...and I never have two people...lol. I used 1/2" Stainless carriage bolts on the second bed, and there was no way to hold them either, because the holes weren't square. It has been my experience that when you're using shiny new bolts, you almost don't even need to hold the heads from rotating...once there is a little pressure on them, they won't turn anyway. I did have a couple tricky ones that would still spin a bit, but I usually used bolts that were at least an inch longer than they needed to be, so I could always hold them by the threaded end once the nut was threaded far enough. Worst case scenario you can put a couple strips of rubber in your Vise Grip jaws and clamp on the threads. I've done that many times. HTH.

[Machspeed]

Cory, thanks for the response.....sending you an email to your hotmail account here soon. Thanks

[salans7]

On my 2002 and 2003 Rangers, the bed is held on using T55 torx bolts. The frame uses j-nuts to hold the bolts, so no need for two people.



These are what the bolts look like:

https://www.tascaparts.com/oem-parts/ford-mount-bolt-n806251s103?origin=pla&gclid=Cj0KCQiA47GNBhDrARIsAKfZ2rBrfh0vlfqDPdIk7jaKk9ZLd0opcU7lNg5CymoYlR4SIK_2Noz2rzcaAkDgEALw_wcB

[Gary Lewis]

If you use stainless, which is what I would do, make sure you use something to keep the nut from seizing on the bolt.  I like Loctite 56747 PST.

I've had brand new stainless nuts seize on brand new stainless bolts w/o some kind of lube.

[85lebaront2]

The 1997 up F150 and 1998 up 250/350 use bed bolts like that.

[Gary Lewis]

Yep, I think Blue has those. Wonder if the sheet metal nuts would work on our trucks?  Otherwise you’d need two people or a long cheater.

[ratdude747]

One of the rear bolts on mine spun and wallowed the keying hole like that. I can't remember how I got it loose (I think I wedged between the bed and bolt head and to add tension and carefully worked the nut loose?)... but to put it in, I wrapped the bolt shoulder with electrical tape to provide an interference fit with the wallowed hole, hammered it in, and sent it home with my 1/2" electric impact. Did the trick, albeit a crude repair.

Worst case, I'd tack weld the head to the bed... or weld up and file/grind the bed hole.

[salans7]

Gary Lewis wrote

Yep, I think Blue has those. Wonder if the sheet metal nuts would work on our trucks?  Otherwise you’d need two people or a long cheater.

I'm sure the versions from a full-size truck would. I'm not sure how the frame thickness on a Ranger compares to a full-size truck.

[Gary Lewis]

The later Torx-headed bolts and sheet metal nuts might be a pretty good solution for you, John.

[RenoHuskerDu]

salans7 wrote

On my 2002 and 2003 Rangers, the bed is held on using T55 torx bolts. The frame uses j-nuts to hold the bolts, so no need for two people.
SNIP

I've had a few J bolts break in my life, and it's misery when they do. I'm referring to the clip part, which is of spring steel. If a chinesium J bolt clip breaks, you have a nut stuck to threads down there that's spinning with no way to stop it spinning.  Break out the torch or chisel.

That said, what if you broke out your welder and simply welded a good nut to the frame rail in the right spot?  Then you'd wind up with a setup akin to Super Duty beds, which are generally much easier to pull.

[Machspeed]

Gary Lewis wrote

The later Torx-headed bolts and sheet metal nuts might be a pretty good solution for you, John.

Yes, I was thinking that Gary. I need to find some dimensions on the later model Ford bolts and J-Nuts, as I don't want to buy the Chinese stuff found on ebay and such.

BTW, found this intriguing: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1595759-diy-demonstration-for-torx-head-bed-bolt-modification.html

Thanks for the input, gentlemen!  

[Machspeed]

Thinking about going with the Ford Style OEM bolts Salans posted up that are on his Ranger. This style is also applicable for other Ford trucks as well and in varying lengths. See picture below. However, I cannot seem to find the length of these. The stock bolts on my truck vary in length, the longest measuring from the bottom of the head to the end of the threads being 4.125". The shortest is 3.00". Would anyone know where to go to review dimensions on this Ford hardware?

[salans7]

I just found this on my Ranger forum:

"2 Closest to the cab: 12mm x 1.75 x 120 mm
Other 4: 12mm x 1.75 x 100mm"

[Machspeed]

 

salans7 wrote

I just found this on my Ranger forum:

"2 Closest to the cab: 12mm x 1.75 x 120 mm
Other 4: 12mm x 1.75 x 100mm"

That Tasca Ford link you posted above.... wondering if those are the 120mm or the 100mm???  

Thanks so much for looking too!

[Machspeed]

Cancel the above request, found exactly what I was looking for:

"Bed bolts for Ford Ranger use Torx T-55 heads.  The 2 bolts nearest cab are metric 12cm x 1.75 (Ford part #N806252-S103).     The other 4 bolts are a bit shorter at size metric 10cm x 1.75 (Ford part #N806251-S103)."

[kramttocs]

One of mine wallered out so we put a couple tack welds around the hole to make up the space. Worked out great.
I like the torx head bolt idea. Would make future removal a lot easier.

[Machspeed]

Yeah, if they work out I think I'll have the top half chrome plated. I'll keep the forum advised.