Painting The Underside of The Bed and Preparing for new Over Sized Bed Bolts

I am making a modification to the way the original bed is attached to the frame of the truck. The old bolts were button cap carriage bolts. To tighten/loosen these old bolts you had to do it from the underside of the truck. It was a real pain and with the new fuel tank I added, there is no way for me to get a ratchet in the opening to tighten those nuts. So instead, I ordered 8 new "Button Head Socket Cap" bolts. They are hardened steal and 1/2" width, the originals were 7/16". These bolts still require someone under the truck, but they simply have to hold the nut with a wrench. The tightening/loosening will be done from the top side, in the bed, with an hex socket. All the work will be done from the top, this will be a lot easier!

I tipped the bed up on its front end, de-greased and pressure washed it. As you can see below, I drilled the furthest back bed hole through the bed floor. The original bolts attached under the bed floor but I want all 8 to be through the floor. I will have to add a small piece of pipe to act as a spacer on these bolts since the bed cross member does not extend to the bed floor like the other three.

This is after de-grease and wash.

Masked off.

Painted. This paint will take 24 hour to harden to the point I can work with it. Tomorrow I plan to put the bed back on the frame.

I ordered a 8 insulators to go between the bed and the frame. They have an adhesive back on them which is pure genius!

Just peal the back and stick them to the frame. I did not install the pair that is closest to the cab to the frame... this is an oblong hole, so instead I will stick them to the bottom of the bed. The fuel line you see below will pass between the frame and the bed, there is about 1 1/4" clearance.

Tomorrow I plan to replace the rear brake hose before I put the bed back on.