Has anybody replaced the factory tie downs. I've already bent two of them and when I was towing my dads new Harley home for him I was terrified they wer going to bend and let the bike roll out the back. Ive considered getting d rings and welding them in but I'm not sure if the sheet metal would hold up.

 

I just removed mine to take out my bed liner and fair warning i had 6 of the 8 torks bolts snap on me and one of the welded nuts break off. They're a bit*h to take off.

-Kirk

 

I've already had them off when I put on my bed liner so that should t be a problem.

 

My 97 had pretty lousy stock bed tie-downs. I had a similar situation to you, I bought a used jetski with no trailer and went to strap it down to the stock "hooks" and of course they started to bend. I found that the newer trucks god a much better tie-down than the older trucks. Last time I was at the junkyard I started looking in the beds of trucks and found that the newer (01-03) seemed to have the D-ring style tie downs.

I'll try to remember to grab a couple pics of the old and new ones tomorrow. I think the new ones will work well and will actually function as tie-downs.

 

i have the same problem they are crap and i have been meaning to measure on a new truck to see if the bolt holes are the same width i know they use the same torx bolt cause i replaced some of my loose ones with new ones from the ford dealer (where i work) and they fit fine just need to check on the width of the holes and they should fit ... hopefully lol

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-Ford-F-150-Truck-Bed-Tie-down-Heavy-Duty-Hooks-Tiedowns-1-4-2-Hole-Spacing-/380608819683?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item589e0db1e3&vxp=mtr
these are the new ones im talking about they look like they will work much better than the T bar hooks

these are the ones i have and they blow!
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ford-F-150-F150-Bed-Tie-Down-Hooks-and-screws-1997-2003-/151023039998?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item2329acb5fe&vxp=mtr

 

I have the ones you posted on the top, in my 03 and they suck. I tried strapping down my atv and they completely bent while tightening the strap.

 

crap that sucks.. do you know how thick the steel is? maybe the new truck shave the same design with thicker steel? in the add on ebay it shows stock vs their brand and they look a little beefier..

 

It is pretty thick, im not sure if there is an actual difference. I will say that the newer ones are stronger than the ones you have. My friend has a 99 with the older ones and they completely ripped apart with almost no tension. Mine are bent but they still work, his are completely destroyed.

 

I haven't had any problems with the ones in my 02 screw in the last 10 years that i've been hauling multiple dirt bikes, atvs and random stuff. I wasn't a fan of the hooks in my '98 ext cab, but they never bent.

My friend always bolts these loops on the bed rails of his trucks.


They're only on the rear of the bed because he usually has a toolbox in there.

 

Your truck looks realy cool dude. But my uncles 05 has the first style hooks that were posted up and I thought about getting some of those but I figured ford would change the width by 1/8th of an inch just because they can. But they should be plenty strong enof as I can see the sheet metal in the bed flexing when tightening loads down. But that is also a reason why I wasn't too sure on welding d rings in there.