What’s the best way to get to the bed bolts in between the cab and bed

My ocd is getting the better of me and I want to replace the bolts that are on front of my bed between the bed and cab since they’re a little rusty, normally I think the best method would be to unbolt the bed and just move it back a few inches to fit a ratchet back there but I have a camper shell, any suggestions?

 

I don't think you're going to get to those bolts without pulling the bed off the truck. Obviously more complex with a topper, but pulling the bed off isn't bad. Hardest part is lifting it high enough to clear the bumper. I recommend you take off your mud flaps.

 

Maybe a couple universal joints on each end of a 1/4” extension and rachet.

 

Long paint brush and cover them in whatever color you like?

 

Your OCD is not going to like whatever you uncover while removing the bed...

And if those guys are rusted, you'll probably encounter a lot of stubborn, rusted fasteners along the way.

This is an exorbitant amount of work for some rusty bolt heads, I'm with Ryan: just hit them with some rust converter and paint.

 

Flex head ratcheting wrench, and patience.

 

Probably would be more of a pain in the ass to get whatever new bolts started back in those holes.

 

That was and is a valid concern but oddly enough I have yet to encounter any rusted bolts underneath the truck while wrenching

 

I was thinking the same thing, hahaha. Getting them out is probably the easy part. With my luck I'd unscrew them and the threaded plate I didn't know about inside the bed would fall down inside somewhere never to be screwed into again.

 

So the weird thing is my last Tacoma I had also another SoCal truck with absolutely zero rust had rusted bolts there as well, when that truck got repainted my body guy replaced those so I guess I’ll most likely have him replace them as well

 

This.

Some painters tape or paper towel between the ratchet and bolt head to hold the new bolt in place. Honestly though.. seems like more work than its worth

 

How close are you to the ocean? That salty mist can be a killer. Southwest cars as a rule are great, but you can always tell the ones that lived near the water..

 

this is absolutely true, I’ve seen Toyota trucks that lived their entire lives in Huntington Beach or San Diego and their frames had literal chunks of rust falling off, my former second gen lived in the valley in Los Angeles per the carfax so nowhere near the ocean this one lived in Los Angeles/thousand oaks (which is sorta by the ocean off the 101)

I live in the inland empire a very dry climate but I still fluid film all my vehicles because caltrans sprays salt even here in California and even in SoCal