I'm planning on installing a mount rail on the front of my bed for an axle mount bike rack (from Rocky Mounts to be specific) and I can see the back of it where I'd need to attached the nuts so that's good, but the gap is so narrow between the top edge of the bed and cab I don't know how I'd put the nuts in place. Maybe using forceps to get the nut started, but that wouldn't allow me to tighten them fully.

Many of you must have mounted all manner of mounts on the front wall of your bed, how did you access the fasteners?

Randy

 

remove bed bolts, have a friend help pick it up and slide forward a few inches, install mount, move bed back and reinstall bed bolts.

 

Roughly how many bolts is that, and are they all accessible from underneath? I'd only need a couple of inches I think, and I think you'd slide the bed back, no?

Thank you!

 

the big ones on the floor of the bed, 6 I think. If you just need a couple inches you may not need to disconnect the fuel filler but that's only a couple small screws. All of the wiring should have enough slack to move the bed back a bit.

 

Someone here who previously had to undo the bed bolts found out that they are not to be re-used, per Ford. So if you end up doing that, better get new bolts from Ford, there must be a good reason they say not to re-use them.

 

Ford instructions never re-use any fasteners. If it was my truck, I would just re-use the original fasteners. It is not like they are torque-to-yield.

 

I just took a look at the bolts, they are large torx head in the bed, there appear to be 8 total. I have the factory spray-in bedliner so the heads are coated with the bedliner, how does one remove it so that the torx bit can fit into it?

 

use a long box end wrench that fits the nut you're using. Cover one side of the box end with duct tape and press the nut against the tape so it doesn't fall out. This will allow you to reach the protruding bolt end between the bed and cab. Turn the bolt from inside the bed while holding the box end and nut against the bolt end. You can use the same technique with a ratcheting box end wrench.
I've used this technique many time for hard to reach nuts and bolts.

 

Did you end up successfully mounting it? I'm thinking about doing the same thing.

 

Wonder how much weight the front of the aluminum bed can hold... can I mount a 2000 lbs winch there?

I made a contraption with a winch to raise my bike in the truck but been a short bed i need all the space and my contraption which is hold in place using the tie-down points uses to much floor space....

wondering if secure the winch there... or maybe just an anchor point in the center and put the winch in the cart....