I bought my 2005 Lariat Screw as a demonstrator/new, it currently has 45,000 original miles, but rust has taken a toll. I am in the process of fixing my rear wheel wells etc. and would like to take off the bed. The problem is, I have a sprayed in liner and the bolts are covered. My question is, are the bolts only threaded through the body clips underneath? If I were to take those off, would the bed come off, bolts and all? I could then replace the clips with washers and nuts. Thanks in advance

 

I believe they are clips.

Make sure you use TP50 sockets... TP = Torx Plus.

Don't try to use standard Torx bits you'll wind up hating yourself.

 

I've heard those horror stories. That was why I was considering cutting the clips and just taking the bed off with the bolts still in it. Well, that and the fact that the heads of the bolts are buried in about 1/4" of Speedliner.

 

What kind of spray in liner?

When Line-X applied mine, every bolt was removed, then re-installed after the spray. They even took the tailgate apart, shot the pieces, then reassembled. The installer even explained to me that only an idiot would spray bedliner over the fasteners.

 

Speedliner It's been a great liner, but the people I bought the truck from were shady.

 

The bolts are thread into body clips with a nut attached to it.

 

It sounds like they sprayed the bedliner on to hide the rust.

 

I have a 2004 f150 with 60,050 miles on it with no rust on the body anywere and I live in in ill. You must live in a state that use a lot of rock salt to cause all of that damage to your truck.

 

I bought the truck new/demonstrator. The owner of the dealership drove it for 5,000 miles. There was no liner in it but the bed had some scratches in the paint, so I told them I'd buy it, but they had to have a spray in liner put in first.

 

I'm in PA, we get a lot of lake effect snow, and yes, they use a LOT of road salt here. The strange thing is, the vast majority of the rust, is all on the driver's side.

 

Most of the salt is directed to the middle of the road so it can be spread out more by cars and the melting action. Hence why there is more rust on the driver's side.

I know most of NY's plow drivers try to drive in the middle of the road to at least get both sides at once.