Why doesn't my truck have bed stakes? The holes right behind the cab and right before the tailgate? I see them on Scab's but not on screws?

Any other screws have them?

 

They're there but you have to cut into the bed rail cap to access the holes.

 

Why would they do that? I knew they were there, I was mainly asking why it doesn't have the holes in the caps

 

because very few people would want stakes and it would cost to have them punched out, so, they leave it up to you to cut it out if you want stakes.

 

Yeah, I kinda figured it was something like that

 

I have no experience with 2004+ models.
The 1997-2003 were setup as follows.
Styleside Reg & Supercabs had stakepockets.
Flareside % Supercrew did not.

I say 'did not' because I don't consider a 'hole' to be a stakepocket.
The styleside stakepocket has an accessable hole plus a 'cage' inside.
(A metal box about 2" by 3" by 6" deep)

Some guys cut into the plastic bedrails to get to the stakepocket only to find the pocket was bottomless.

Use caution and make sure you have more than just a hole before you deform your railcaps.

Ford didn't put access covers where there was no 'caged' (workable) stakepocket on the oldstyle.
Different materials were used on the bed sides.
Stylesides were sheetmetal.
Flaresides and Supercrews were some kind of composite (fiberglass?)

 

That's pretty much exactly how mine is, if you remove the taillight, theres the stake pocket, and its bottomless. Has anyone tried fabbing up a peice of aluminum to keep mud and water out of there?

 

I never noticed the SCrews didn't have the pockets until just recently, and personaly I'm glad they don't. I've found them to be utterly useless and ugly. But that is just my opinion because I don't use them for anything...

 

What are your plans for the hole?
I'm sure you could have something fabricated that would be superior to OEM.

 

No reason actually I just noticed that my truck didn't have them, whilst I was parked next to a scab the other day.

Im talking about underneath the truck, the stake hole goes straight up to the taillight, I think im gonna try and fab something up, to try and close it up, keep stuff outta there.

 

My Screw has them but its a 6.5' bed

 

I added bullrings to mine and use them all the time.


http://www.bullamerica.com/

 

This puzzles me as well.. I've seen bed rail caps on Screws, Scabs, regs with or without the pop-out covers for the stake holders.. on +'04 models I mean.. seems to be no rhyme or reason to it, my '05 Screw doesn't have 'em.
It sure wasn't an "option", as far as I recall.. I suspect that much like the nerf bars it's more a matter of what they had on hand for the best price at the time..

No biggie, I don't need to put in stakes, and if I did I'd just cut holes.. just curious that it seems random on Fords part..