Alright guys, need some help here. Under the bed of our trucks above the muffler and gas tank there are two square sheets of thin metal stuck to the bottom of the bed. Not sure how they are secured (almost seem to be glued) but to make a long story short one came off and got wrapped around my driveshaft. I stopped at a rest area to see what was making noise and pulled this from my shaft and threw it away (not realizing it came from my truck). When I got home I crawled under to make sure there was no other damage and I noticed another piece like it above the muffler (other one came from above gas tank i think) and the other one is starting to fall off.

What are these for??????? I cant see any reason for these pieces to be stuck to the underside of the bed. The only thing i can think is that maybe they are for sound deadening or possibly to keep the heat from the muffler from heating up the bed floor.

 

heat shields

 

Does it matter if they fall off?

 

Well they were there for some reason.

 

X2, there not just there to cost Ford $$$$$

 

heat shields fall off of cars all the time. They put them there mainly in case something like leaves would happen to become stuck on the muffler. if you can get a hold of some new ones for a good price you might as well replace them. If not I wouldn't worry about it. I've ripped the ones off all my Mustangs to cut weight and have never had problems. I just wouldn't go parking in a pile of leaves or grass lol.

 

The difference is: this heat shield isn't on the bottom of the exhaust, it is between the bed floor and the exhaust. These shields have NOTHING to do with leaves/tall grass. You are referring to the cat. converter heat shields.

 

My guess would be that its there to keep you from cooking things in the bed of your truck.

 

Ford can't tell me where I can and can't grill a burger!!

 

Yeah, those are there to protect anything in the bed that could combust due radiant heat. I have seen bedliner's melt when they are missing.