Rusty bed bolts...

So I have a 01 RC, my bed bolts are extremely rusty and I was just curious if it would be wise to take a angle grinder and just cut the heads off? I'm also buy another bed that I'm going to have to remove on site and I was just thinking if I can cut the heads off the bolts then it'll most definitely make for an easier and less time consuming day. I'm planning on buying new bolts when I bedline the new to me bed so I don't care about the condition of the old bolts. I guess my 2 biggest questions are can I cut the head bolts off on site and what should I use? Cordless angle grinder? And how would I remove the remainder of the bolt in my truck if I cut the heads off?

 

Start hitting them now with penetrant. After 2-3 days of hitting with penetrant, use an impact, specifically, to knock them loose. Don't make the mistake of trying to power them off. The only way you're getting them out if they snap off from over-torquing (versus tapping repeatedly with an impact) will be to cut off flush, and drill/extract.

 

I'll do that. Is there a way to hit all of them from the bottom with a Sawzall on the bed I'm buy or do you think my best option is taking an angle grinder with me and just cutting the heads off would be easiest? I'm getting a great deal on this bed I want to get in and out before the dude changes his mind on price. 400 bucks for the bed and he's leaving the tailgate and taillight with it. Plus by all the pics he's sent me this bed is like brand new. I haven't been able to pic out a single ding or dent on it regardless of the angle in the pic. I'd say that's a pretty good find for a RC. Oh and I also found a leer fiberglass bedcover for it for 200 bucks, I pretty sure that's a rare find for a RC too. So I'm gonna buy both and while I'm still in the area I'm going to be looking for a set of wheels and some other stuff. I plan on putting the bed cover on the bed so I can lock anything else up that I buy. Lol

 

The other bed is easier to haul with your existing bed intact. Flip over the new bed and mate then rail to rail, then tie it down. Then get it home and you can work at your own pace.

Don’t start talking about sawzalls until you know there’s no other option. Do you have an impact?

 

I may have made that kind of confusing. I want be taking my truck to get the new bed. I plan on doing as you said on it and soaking the bolt for a few days and getting it off before I go after the new bed. I'm taking a impact with me to get the new bed and I was just asking about grinding the heads off the bolts or using a Sawzall as last resorts, I just don't want to spend my whole day there. We're taking my brothers truck and car hauler so we don't have to try to lift the bed up over the rails of a trailer. I am hauling it with it facing upwards tho. My bro has some thick foam pads were going to lay under it and we're going strap it down by the stake pockets until we get the bedcover on it and then we're going to run ratchet straps around it and over it to keep it in place since I'll be mounting the bed cover to it to make it all easier to haul.

 

Hopefully the donor still has the factory bedliner in it, so the bolts should be rust-free.

As for removal hacks, I'd probably tag @jpink and @FirstGenVol for it. They've been through this with @jpink's bed swap. He had some stubborn bolts. But they're in an area that has seen salt on roads they've driven, so it may be a wildly different experience than anything spending its whole life in TX.

 

In my experience, the heads look fine... the bolts rust inside the bed spacer tubes and deteriorate from within

The easiest way to access them with penetrant is to crawl underneath and then spray on the bottom of the bolt shank and on top of frame between the bed if accessible

 

Yes, if you can’t get the donor bed off with an impact gun and appropriate impact torx bit, take a sawzall or angle grinder to it if you feel you won’t damage the donor bed.

Don’t use that approach on your own truck though. Use a torch to break the rust bond instead if the impact won’t work (although be careful as you don’t want to do that in the vicinity of the gas tank; you may have to temporarily remove it if you do).

I take it the guy selling it to you is just parting it out and doesn’t care?

 

Fun times.

 

That's exactly why I'll never Rhino/Line-X/etc. my bed.

It seems pretty damningly obvious water leaked up into the bed through the bed bolt sleeves, and rotted the bed from that tube outward.

It never ceases to amaze me the number of times I've heard, "nuh uh! you're wrong! bedliners are great!" because that picture really does lay the story out pretty clearly.

 

Line the underside too

 

To that point, you could probably also throw antiseize on the bolts too, or jam the holes with grease. But then you risk causing adhesion failure with the spray-in liner.

 

Hopefully no one welded your bed to the frame...like they did mine.