I know I did a no no, just wanted to say this before anyone else pointed it out but about a year ago when I had my toolbox I drilled holes in my bed rails. I don't have my box anymore and instead of paying $68 bucks each for new bed rails from ford does anyone have any cleaver ideas on how I might plug the holes.

Here is my thinking.....Plug hole with some type of soft plastic that hardens then lightly sand the bed rail down and repaint black (they are faded anyways). I'm just not sure what type of plastic I could use to fill the holes. Each hole is 1/2 in diameter, 2 on each rail.

Any thoughts?

 

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mmmm....let's see....Bondo, caulk,....M&M (plain)

 

New rails from junkyard or ebay.

 

yeah use jbweld to fill it sand it to shape then paint it, that is how my friend fixes plastic parts for $200,000 gullwing mercedes

 

Find out what they are made of. Likely ABS. Find out by putting a drop of ABS solvent-cement in a corner and see if it disolves the plastic.
Then, get a piece of scrap ABS drain pipe from a plumber. Shave some bits into a small pile. Using a wide flat tip, melt them into a glob using your soldering gun. Don't burn it. Then glob it into the hole and melt/weld it in with your soldering gun.
If not ABS, maybe HDPE but not likely. Find a scrap of watermain pipe = HDPE
You can do the same thing chemically by making a black paste with ABS shavings and ABS cement, but you don't have a lot of working time with that.

 

I used this ribbed flexible material on my '77 F-150 in 1989 when I had it repainted. It's still there on the bed rails.

Seriosly, you might find some plastic or black rubber hole fillers that simply pop into place.

You might look at some chrome or stainless tie down points to install, install a pair in back too.

What do the bed caps look like now?

 

I cut small circles our of my bedliner since I was installing herculiner and used rvp sealant and it worked great. I then sanded them down, primed and painted then threw a few coats of clear coat on them. They look good now.