Bed tie downs

... back with more info:

Here is the 48" track I bought - http://www.uscargocontrol.com/Ratch...rline-Track-48-Aluminum-Finish-Logistic-Track

Here are more photos:



In regards to the top photo, I suggest 5" from the back of the bed instead of 6" like I did. I had one bolt that was a struggle due to the under bed stiffener/ cross member. Also, I bought stainless steel hardware and nylock nuts.

Hope this helps you.

 

It does, thanks. I appreciate you taking the time to do this.

 

I picked up a red set, not yet installed. And some SS hardware too.

Perhaps our camera perspectives are different? This is with the rail in the bed groove nearest the wheel well and the rail end 5" from the bed's edge.

 

Looks like that will work.

Post pics once installed.

 

Gonna be a while longer. But let me just get this part out there.

I decided on 1/4-20 SS hardware. I used 3/4" length, about right, although for perfection some should have been a little shorter because there are places where the frame comes close to the bed and the rails are positioned in the bed such that they are located right over the frame. Positioning them inwards would ease installation but of course make them less useful.

I pre-drilled all holes prior to bolting each rail on, by laying the rail down, drilling a hole and placing bolts in the holes I'd drilled and moved on to the next. (I didn't trust myself with measuring where to drill holes and then hope the drill bit didn't drift slightly away each time, creating a royal mistake by the time I got to the end.)

I did position the rails 5" from the end, as discussed. But look at my earlier pic above. I neglected to look closely at yours, Ritchie, and noticed too late that the screw holes aren't symmetrical in the rail with respect to the ends (at least on these 4' lengths) and had my rails flipped to the other end. So that means one bolt wound up at the crossmember that holds up the spare tire.

I needed longer bolts in order to just go all that way through the spare tire crossmember and in the C-channel of the rear frame. Got those holes drilled longer but neither HD nor Lowe's carries a 1/4-20 SS flat head bolt longer than about 2" and I needed something more, for it to appear down below.

So I went online last week and bought some 4", 4.5" and 5" SS bolts to cover all bases ... and waited.

Most of the other bolts cleared everything underneath without a problem except for one that came close to the main bed crossmember. It BARELY cleared it aft of the crossmember, but it was enough for washer and nut to go on. I had to work alone on most of it and get creative with duct tape to hold a wrench or nut from below while I worked from above a bunch of other nonsense. Using washers added to the joy, but I wanted those too.

Drove the truck for the better part of a week in the rain, with grocery bags duct-taped over the holes with missing hardware. I wasn't interested in letting rain fall down the holes and onto the frame. I thought the worst had passed, but the mail hadn't arrived yet.

With new, longer bolts in hand I finally needed a second helper* and ALSO needed to remove the spare tire for hand/arm access. Would have made the earlier bolts easier but now it was a necessity. The bolts were so close to the frame wall, the nut wouldn't go on. Managed to finish one side only by getting it started by holding the bolt up and not letting the nut/bolt drop down, where it would rub the frame. Moving to the other side the situation was the same except a bolt sheared. It just stopped tightening, with the bolt flopping around in the air, so we decided it had to come out. Sheared upon removal.

Grabbed another bolt. Same thing. Wasn't cross threaded. Not sure what happened. I must have grabbed the wrong nylock nuts out of the toolbox?? and ran into coarse thread vs fine thread issue. I honestly don't know.

So ... gotta order more long bolts but will this time get them a little shorter, 3.5" or so. Or maybe I'll just hacksaw the extras I already have, after going yet again to the store to buy another SS nut. And I'll be paying attention to the thread pitch a bit better. Such a pain in the ass.

BUT I'll eventually have all holes securely bolted down; it could be worse, with not being able to do that, had the rail been positioned differently still. There are a few places underneath where you wouldn't be able to get a nut on a bolt, particularly at the main bed crossmember.

 

How far away from the wheel tub are you?
Also, I have a step side bed, thinking about it now... that may have something to do with it, don't know.

 

It's pretty close to the tub, located in the first available full length "gully". I'll have that picture too when it's all done.

 

Sweet system. Do those stick up much above the ridges in the bed? They look almost flush.

 

^ They are flush with the ribs in the bed. Killer set up for me.
Oh and yes, they were a PITA to install. As the OP stated, getting the nylock nuts & washers started on the bolt between the underside of the bed & frame were tougher in some areas.

 

Cool. Well I have the bed pulled to do some suspension work so maybe now is a good time to do the install.

 

OK then perhaps you will be able to measure better so that you don't smack into a crossmember. 1" max length on the bolts.

 

Nice...
That will make life much easier.
If you're like me, line up the Phillips screw heads imitating the + sign.
Just a thought.

Good luck.

 

Anybody know if the tailgate or the back of the bed could support the short version of this tie down? I was thinking maybe two on the tailgate and two on the back of the bed.



Here are the two types:

 

The tracks have the advantage of distributed strength. When you pull up in one area you're really pulling up against most of the bolts holding it down. With only TWO bolts I wouldn't expect the holding strength to be as strong, but check with the site about that. At the very least I'd want larger washers underneath, possibly fender washers or a bracket if you can.

As far as the bed's concerned, it's really the same underneath everywhere, so I wouldn't expect the back of the bed to be "weaker" necessarily. Again, a short track can redistribute better.

The tailgate's not a candidate, it'll get pulled up with a bounce or tug of the tie down strap, no?

 

Nah... leave the tail gate alone. It's basically support for the bed sides.
For example, to see for yourself, put the tail gate down, tie down something using the stock tie down points and try to close the tail gate.

Hope that clears that up.

Good luck.

 

Wow do these pictures suck. But it's DONE. I couldn't be bothered to back the truck out of the garage, so the difference in photographic exposure seen here is extreme enough to overpower the phone's camera. That's why the rails look multicolored ...

Here they are, along with my dirty, banged-up bed and dirty 1/4" "horse stall" rubber mat (from Tractor Supply.)







Turns out that Home Depot did carry a 3" bolt, which did turn out to be the ideal length for where it had to go through the rear crossmember portion into the frame.

Had to cut my 2nd attempt at the bolt the other day off with the angle grinder first. I think what happened wasn't a coarse thread/fine thread mess up, but rather, when the bolt goes through a few pieces of sheet metal spaced apart from each other, there's ample opportunity for the threads to get caught on one of the "layers" and then begin to twist. That's the only reason I can think of that caused them to bend. Using a shorter bolt here avoided that.

 

So is it possible do you think to install the rail without hitting any cross members? I mean by moving the rails back or forward an inch or two can the cross member be missed?

 

Yes because I think that's basically what Ritchie did although he got close to the main crossmember when placing the end 6" from the bed edge. I took his recommendation of leaving only 5" from the end of the bed but "flipped" mine around, not realizing it and ran into trouble in the same way, at the backside of the crossmember.

My "trouble" bolt was ultimately solved by drilling down into the rear crossmember/frame with a larger diameter bit and using a 3" bolt. The 4.5-5" bolts I first tried there got snagged, twisted and sheared.

I'll try and take some pics of what it looks like underneath so you can see where the bolts come through.

Above, I said I used 3/4" bolts for the rest. That's wrong, I used 1" length. It's OK but 3/4" is a bit better.

 

Nice job. Good to see your project complete.

Going forward, I'll include how far apart the bolt holes are on my 4' lengths. I didn't think to ask how far apart yours were... which could explain the issues you ran into.

For mine, had I backed them towards the rear of the bed to 5" instead of 6", I wouldn't have had any cross member issues.

Oh well, hindsight is 20/20.

Great job.