Rope Hooks - What to Do!? .... #ropehooksmatter

yes, the bedliner over them is the easiest and most efficient option, i am certainly making this very difficult!
i tried to get a few off with the best #3 screwdriver I have (a #4 did not come in this multi-set) ... but they ain't budging as i thought they might
i went to Lowe's and another Menards place to rent impact driver and they don't rent those, gotta shell out over $100 for that tool

if they are bedlined do they still remain magnetic?
maybe can just get some quality silverish paint and paint over the bedliner? and see how it holds up to my future uses

how did you break the bits on the driver and ratchet? how many bits did you break?

maybe get the bodyshop (that owes me a big one) to 'professionally' take them off

 

if you could do it, would you not!?

bling bling!

 

Then you'd turn it into an Elvis truck. Ha!

 

i think gold on black would be something else

i would need to put an alarm on my bed then hahah with lasers and stuff

 

Gold does hold up over the years. I've got a 28 yo Japenese luxury car that came with a bunch of gold plating. This is a car that I bought 10 years ago. I actually don't like the gold plating. This car even came with a gold plated and platinum key. The original owner who had the car gold plated was some golden girl from Midland TX. I guess all that oil money in Midland contributed to the bling factor. Like who can out bling the other...

This car needs to be in a museum of artifacts from the excessive "go go" 80s.. We called it the King Tut mobile when we first got it.

 

Hahaha that screams 80s Japanese luxury

 

anybody know the total grams/ounces of the 4 rope hooks?

I am very curious now what the gold hooks approximate 'cost of material' would be now


the current gold spot price is almost $46 per gram

i think gold is heavier though so a different method might be needed to find how much they would be

 

The best bet would to get a set of new chrome hooks, then get a local plater to plate them. Or the plater could soak the existing hooks in acid, then nickel plate them and put on a final layer of gold. Nickel is used in the gold plating process. 24k gold industrial plating may not be all that expensive. I guy I knew did a lot of gold plating for Falcon Jets. People would order a new Falcon with a gold plated bathroom sink and fixtures.

 

i think i am going to go and ask my 'big' 3rd gen black taco younger brothers if they got any of the gold bling stuff going on (outside of the possible wheels)

 

this tune had some regular rotation in the taco changer in '99 and 2000
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FnRnKHS5ds

 

I mean, if the magnet is strong enough to hold through the bedliner then sure, but does it matter? And the bits broke from the torque I was putting on them. After 3 I said nope.

 

just curious about it still being magnetic (no other reason!), after I magnet tested my old exhaust and the new exhaust i had a 'moment of clarity'


were your rope hooks 'weathered' before attempting to take them out?

 

The two on the cab side looked new, the two on tailgate side rusted pretty good. None of them came loose ha. I just scuffed them up then put some Coroseal on them to convert the surface rust then Linex'd.

 

does good quality auto paint (or comparable) adhere well to the LineX?
that might be an option to get the 'look' that I am wanting then no stress on trying to get them off before Mondays appointment

 

I dont see why it wouldn't work. But it might come off over time. But you could just reapply

 

that will work for me
thanks

 

I'm glad I'm not the only one who wants their truck bed rope hooks to look good. I'm in the process of restoring/repainting my bed and my old rope hooks are looking pretty shabby. My solution after much research is to electroplate them myself. Electroplating is far more durable than painting them, especially given the levels of abrasion they are exposed to on a regular basis.

It's definitely cost prohibitive to send them out to be plated, so (after even more time spent researching on the interwebs) I've decided to plate them myself. What equipment I didn't already have I purchased online, along with the needed chemicals. I plan to do multiple zinc plating sessions on them, then yellow chrommate them. From what I understand, the chromate hardens or reacts with the zinc to make it even more durable as a finish. The end result should be that gold color of some grade 8 hardware, with possibly a bit of iridescence. I kinda dig that!

I'll be plating both the hooks and the screws that attach them to the bed. If everything goes well, it should be a super durable finish and the color will likely really pop against the new bedliner paint. I'll try to post pics when I'm done.

I've cleaned them already in my sandblasting cabinet. I thought of buffing them to a shiny finish prior to plating but I kinda like the rougher finish because I think it may result in more of a flat chromate color, sort of like a cerakote but more durable.

I had trouble breaking the screws loose too, so I used an impact driver. That helped on some of them, but if I recall correctly, on others I had to resort to my impact gun with a phillips bit.

 

OP would have an aneurysm if he saw how many items on my truck get spray painted when they get scratched or the paint wears off.

 

everybody's truck is just a little bit different and unique is a good thing!

 

finally able to get 3 1/2 hooks off with a last resort stop at the dealer this morning. They had the proper tool and mini sledge hammer to take them off, damn it was loud in that service garage with the bang bang bang, they came out smooth as butter with that impact
all set to go for LineX job next week, drop the rope hooks off at the powdercoater and see how they handle over time with whatever use I can give to them now that I will have ease of access to them.

thank you to everybody for inputs and suggestions
... will keep an update as I get them put back on (hopefully with no issue like I had getting them off!)

#ropehooksmatter