Snapped Bed Bolts

[tomryan31]

Good evening all, I've pulled my bed to bedline and prep for painting, and ran into some issues. I snapped several of the bed bolts, and while easy enough to cut five of them off with a cutoff wheel, the front driver bolt is in a little cubby against the gas tank. I was successful with the passenger side due to the additional space (and a little percussive encouragement ).

Is there any chance anyone has some advice on the driver's side? Do I need to drop the gas tank?

At this point I'm a little concerned if pulling more frame bolts out ... I've previously had to have a shop weld-out a snapped started bolt that I couldn't start a drill on.

Thanks in advance!

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Cut/grind the head of the bolt off? Then deal with the leftover once the bed is off?

 

[SenorNoob]

So the bed is off with the bolt sticking in the frame by the clip? If so just cut the back of the clip off and the bolt will fall. You should be able to reach the top of the frame rail to replace the clip. If the bed is still on alwaysFlOoReD is right. Cut the head off then take care of the stub once the bed is out of the way.

BTW, there are kits available on E-bay cheap. I can't speak to the quality, I haven't used one. I've been thinking about making my own clips.

 

[tomryan31]

Sorry if I wasn't clear enough, I'll go get a picture. The clip is cut, but I am unable to remove the remnant from the cavity

 

[tomryan31]

Here's a photo. It's right up against the gas tank so I don't have much room for a cutting tool to cut the bottom portion of the bolt to remove it. My bimetal oscillating tool blades seemed to just lose teeth on the bolt.

 

[ShhhhhDougsHere]

So Tomryan31,
Can you get some vice grips onto what's left of the bolt on the underside of the frame?

 

[tomryan31]

Yes, I can get vice grips on it, but only from the side

 

[ShhhhhDougsHere]

That is the frame I'm seeing the bottom part of the bolt sticking out of in the picture Right?

 

[SenorNoob]

That picture confuses me more. What's holding it in? Once the clip is broken in half it should fall out the bottom... The only thing it's threaded into is the bottom half of the clip.

 

[tomryan31]

That picture confuses me more. What's holding it in? Once the clip is broken in half it should fall out the bottom... The only thing it's threaded into is the bottom half of the clip.

The clip originally goes around the tab above the frame. This is where the frame angles down towards the cab. There is a hole in the frame as well to allow the bolt full travel downward. Because there is remnant of the clip, the bolt drops into this frame hole, but I cannot pull it out because the bolt/residual clip is too big to angle out of the cavity created by the tab/frame

 

[SenorNoob]

Oh. Ok.

 

[ShhhhhDougsHere]

So in the picture we see the bottom of the bolt. Then just above it, it goes through the frame then a little piece of metal,
Which I'm assuming is part of the clip and then there's another metal tab of something what is that upper metal tab?

 

[tomryan31]

So in the picture we see the bottom of the bolt. Then just above it, it goes through the frame then a little piece of metal,
Which I'm assuming is part of the clip and then there's another metal tab of something what is that upper metal tab?

Correct on all fronts. The upper metal tab is the front most mounting point for the bed. Because the frame angles there, the additional tab is needed. Both sides of the frame have that tab for the cab-most mounting points.

 

[tomryan31]

The gas tank is in the foreground of the picture if that helps your frame of reference. The tab is level with the top of the gas tank, the frame angles down there (~ 30°?) to go below the cab

 

[SenorNoob]

Can that tab be removed? Grind off rivets and replace with bolts? Quite the conundrum.