f*** you bed bolt

keep a bottle of plasti-dip in your truck.... when you see the initial coat peeling, give it a spray and your good to go again.

 

You know that you are now making me go out there in my jammies with a flashlight at 10pm, right?

 

Pics or it didnt happen

 

No pics needed. Black bolts, black D rings, no rust.

 

What.

YOU show me a pic of your nuts and bolts. Pfft.

 

08's came with the silver painted bolts too. mine started rusting too. so i painted them orange.

 

why are you removing them anyways?

 

i used a breaker bar on mine and they popped off no problem.

seat your 3/4" rachet nice and snug, and slide a 2ft metal pipe over the handle for extra leverage. i think a 12yr old girl could break them loose using this method.

 

Just a couple quick ideas here to maybe make it easier for the next guy to remove his box bolts.

Always spray your bolts from above at the head and below the box if they're exposed in the rail with rust penetrant. Then if you have use a breaker bar. If that doesn't work grab an impact and try to zip them off. If they come a little way then stop, tighten them back up and try to back then out again. If they start to move a bit this usually works. And yes you should be able to use heat. A torch along the threaded part underneath works good if you have access.
Now say hif you strip it that sucks but it's not the end of the world either. Rather then dremeling or cutting the head to fit a socket is if you have access to a welder, weld a nut on top of the head and use a socket. A lot quicker and less messy. Just my .02 cents, hope it helps somebody

 

Spray with zinc clear. Even if there is a break in the coating, the zinc will stop the rust.

 

I have the same problem but its the two bed bolts closest to the cab. It appears that this is likely due to rain water collecting in that section of the bed...Its small rust spots now...I want to be proactive about this problem. I think "sanding" the rust spots off is in order for now but looking to coat the bolts in the near future. My truck is also a 2010.

 

Oooohh THOSE bed bolts. Yep. Mine are showing a little but of surface rust too.

 

2011 here and mine are rusting. I would love to get a new set and plastidip the heads.

 

i had the same problem with one of mine, i just welded a nut to the top of it and impacted it off, it's still in my truck lol

 

Mine are fully rusted 09. I live near the coast where it's always damp. Someone should just buy a bunch of these, treat 'em and sell them to the rest of us who want to replace them. (Also go by the dealerships in any town I am in and see almost all the used Tacoma's with some amount of rust on the bolts if they don't have a cap or bedrug...30k truck and you get rusted bolts in a year? Wtf)...

This dude did a great job on his:

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd-gen-tacomas/202825-those-damn-rusty-bed-bolts-no-more.html

 

In the battle of man vs a stripped torx, a long-handle pipe wrench is my weapon of choice.

 

Before you try to remove them spray underneath with your penetrent of choice. Then clean the crap out of the head of the bolt so that that bit fits tightly. Now put the socket bit in the bolt and wack it with a steel hammer. Finally, go for your breaker bar. I started using this method on VW/Audi CV Joint bolts that use the triple square fasteners and haven't stripped one yet!