Front bed rail removal issue :(

Hi fellas, trying to install a new tonneau required me to remove the front accessory rail on my Reg Cab. Every single torx bolt was a pain but with some patience I got all of them out except the 2nd over for the drivers side….unfortunately the captive nut got liberated about halfway through the removal and now just spins inside the bed wall….no clearance to reach the head of the nut in between the cab and bed. What do I do here?

 

Drill the head of the torx bolt to free the rail, then drill out the captive nut and install a new Nutsert into the hole. Reinstall rail or accessory that you were installing the rail for.

 

Thank you, I will attempt this!

 

Part Out !!!!

Just kidding. Maybe you can chisel off the head of the bolt, or if the other screws are already out, can you pull the bar away from the bed enough to get something behind it, to wedge the nut from spinning.

Good luck

Edit: A left hand drill bit can help in some situations, but if the bolt is free spinning, that probably wouldn't work.

 

LOL

Yeah the front of the bed is pretty flexible, so maybe I can get some vise grips in there. I just worry about warping the front of the bed/bulkhead.

 

Drilled out the head of that rail bolt a couple weeks ago and got the Gator FX3 installed. Thanks to everyone who took the time to respond/help in this thread!

 

Do you have to remove the side rails to install this or did they get lowered?

 

Side rails stayed put. The FX3 has it’s own rails that mount on the factory side rails. The front bed rail needs to be removed or it gets in the way of the front mounting brackets.

It’s a nice cover and I got it for half price direct from Gator on eBay. Not completely dry but I can’t imagine anything is.

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/201434096450

I paid $481.00….you might do better with the make an offer option.

Edit - I just ‘watched’ the listing and the seller sent the offer.