Yea, what good what it have been if the side rails pulled out from crappy rivet nuts just when you needed them the most. I didn't wait long months hunting down for the perfect, complete NOS kit that shipped for $100 total, just to limit its capabilities to mere eye-candy only; I intended to use it to the full rated load capacity that Ford designed it for.

Riv-nuts would be good for non-load-bearing fastening where installing nuts needs to be quick, easy, and cheap. But this ease and cost lulls many to apply it to applications ill-advised from its intended use...

 

My truck is a 2012 model. The holes have a collar that extends into the bed wall about 3/4" so it's not just a hole on the inside wall. Hard to get a good picture but maybe you can see below. I believe Augster is right. There is probably a plate with an unthreaded collar welded to the back of the inside wall. The collar likely serves to hold the threads of the tapping screw. I figure I can use the holes to mount some tie down anchors.

 

That's what a lot of 09-'12 model year 6.5' bed owners had done, added tie downs or a custom made rail system (a pair of c-channels) spanning the length of the holes, or just plugged them with bolts for those who have tonneau covers and offroad because the holes allow dust to get into the bed.

 

Center to center hole spacing is a bit oddball at 4-1/2" (4.5"). Anyone know where I can find something like this with 4.5" C-C bolt holes and maybe in black? Or something similar? I can use them as anchors for tie down straps or bungee cords. Maybe I can stretch the one below 1/2" outward???

 

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Is tapping the original backing plate the best way to fasten things with these holes? How did you determine that you needed to install your own backing plates to retain the full 600lb cleat rating? I want to mount some wooden boxes for holding traction boards and jerrycans, as well as some cheap tools.

 

If the CMS mounting holes have never been used, then you must tap them in some way to bolt things to them as they are not tapped from the factory. If you have a CMS-prepared bed, then you can use them as is with no further reinforcement... unless you plan on affixing extremely heavy equipment that exceeds what the CMS mounting points were designed for.

As Ford discontinued adding the backing plates for the 2013 and 2014 MY's (there have been reports of 13-14's that actually have a bed prepared for the CMS, which suggests these were probably 09-12 beds, either new old stock in inventory, or replaced after sale), there are no holes nor plates, ergo, nothing but flimsy sheet metal. Hence, to install an OEM Ford CMS, you need some "meat" to grab onto the sheet metal. Some have resorted to rivet nuts when installing a CMS into these beds, which may be acceptable so long as they don't anticipate exerting high lateral load forces on the side rails that could pull the rivet nuts through the sheet metal, but I elected to put 2" x 3/8" steel flat bar for peace of mind and to retain the full load rating of the CMS.

 

I now realize my question was kind of dumb. Thanks for the response!

 

Looks like a good place to shoot in some Fluid Film or your favorite rust treatment.

 

Ford designed the holes to work with their self-tapping screws. The simplest way, and maybe the best, would be to get some of Ford's screws. The screws are designed to work with the holes.

The bolts/screws that hold the bed to the frame are self-tapping. Same concept, bigger screw.

https://parts.ford.com/shop/SearchDi...ce:&pageSize:&