Drain holes in the bed?

Are the holes at each corner at the front of the bed intended as water drains only or are the for extra "D" ring tie-downs? Any harm using these holes for extra "D" rings?

 

the three holes in the front of the bed are used as drainage. only harm in using them for tie down d rings is lack of drainage but those old plastic bed liners you could buy never had drainage either so i dont see any harm being done.

 

I personally wouldn't plug up those drainage holes, but then again we do have non-metal beds anyway so it can't really do much harm, if any.

 

Did a search on this subject after my original post (not unusual for me to approach things a$$-backward...) Mavrick491 had a nice write-up and I think I'll use his way of drilling new holes near the factory drains.

 

Most people, including me, use the factory bolts that are already there at the front of the bed. Not sure if I'm missing something, but why not use those?

 

I for one enlarged the exsisting drain holes.

 

+1 No joke... after a good 15 minutes of rain the bed is starting to look like a pool that is half full.

 

I believe D-rings anchored in the plastic of the bed would be very likely to rip out if you put any stress on them. As other threads have described, it's quite easy to remove the bolts holding the bed to the frame and anchor a D-ring there...much stronger.

 

If I may inquire, how big did you enlarge them too. I am thinking I am going to do that too.

 

Same here, the slightest amount of dirt blocks them up.

The D rings come with a piece of metal for the underside of the bed. but if you are hauling something that can rip it out, you can alwys put a larger bracket underneath.

 

About 3/8" - 1/2" .... a some time back ... slow and easy with the drill .... works like a champ.

 

I enlarged my drain holes. Used Dewalt cordless with my metal drill bits. Use slow speed. I started with existing size and stepped up by two sizes each bit until I reached 1/2 Size. BIG difference drainage. Even debris flows out. Go slow! drilling. I used #1 drive hand speed. Good luck.
Mark/ Cape Cod

 

Its 'plastic' go whole hog

 

Has anyone drilled larger drain holes in the factory location and then plugged them with a gasket to prevent dust from entering? This is what I am considering doing. And then I can remove the gaskets or plugs or whatever when I want to hose the bed out...