I got started today, after breaking my first T-50 stubby on the bed bolts I decided to try something different and it worked tremendously well- much better than grinding (IMO)- I do enough grinding at work! Funny thing is I have seen no mention of this on Diesel Stop, truck forums, or YouTube.
1/2” Milwaukee Drill, stepped 11/16” drill bit— drilled out 6 bolts in 40 minutes, going slow, making sure I stayed centered, and plenty of oil. Once deep enough head of bolt spins off.
Once the bed is off I will either weld nuts to remaining bolt shoulders or sawzall.
Nice job!! My 99 has restrictor in the filler right at the door, I did not wack it out when I had my tank out. Not a big deal but every now and then I find a pump with a big nozzle I can't use. If yours has it now would be a good time to wack it. Keep the pics coming.
DENNY
The remaining bed bolts—1. pipe wrench & cheater pipe, turned bolt shoulder until nut broke loose from the clip. 2. Cut clip in two with cut off wheel. 3. Tap of the hammer and it all falls apart off of the frame
Sorry all, been trying to move forward but have been tired, I’ve been welding hydraulic 4” schedule 160 pipe all week on a machine outage at work:
Got the air springs modified and fitted: Air Lift, Load Lifter 5000 part # 57298 bought from SD Truck Springs. The application says for ‘71-‘04 F250/F350 Superduty 2WD/4WD w/Reese 5th wheel.
So here was the problem, I laid out the springs in their respective location (there is a Left and a Right. I did not like the fit. I double checked instruction detail which shows “Forward” and and still could not understand why in the world they would lay out the bracket this way. Bracket didn’t catch much of the frame on the forward end and rear of bracket that overlapped the 5th wheel bracket was excessive and holes didn’t line up?.
I reversed the top brackets putting the left on the right, and right on the left, looked at the modifications I would have to make to the slots in the top bracket, and fully welded to the 5th wheel brackets. Then I called the “Air Lift Technical department, went over the detailed drawing and they said “go for it”. From what I gathered they try to cover a lot of frame designs with a limited number of brackets.
The finished fit turned out “sweet” and I am posting pictures before painting so that the mods are obvious. Sorry for the extremely long post but figured someone may run into the same issue. I am also including the diagram from the instruction manual so you can see the difference,
Your next issue may be getting the bed back on. I did mine with the bed on and the top brackets barely squeezed in, so take some measurements for no surprises.
Of course we have different beds, so hopefully you are good to go.
Thanks 69mach1377— good to always look at all possibilities, earlier I took some measurements and layed my 4’ level across the 5th wheel brackets. The top bracket lip that turns up (stiffener) is going to clear by about an inch on each side.
Now that you have airbags to adjust hight you could pull the blocks out from under the springs. I dropped the springs all the way to the top of the axle on my 99 and my tail gate is now 5 inches lower. Great for loading/unloading and better side wall clearance for the 5th wheel on uneven ground. Truck sits level when empty and headlights are always aimed right due to adjusting air bags for the load. I ran my air bag lines to the top holes in the license plate. This is also a good time to pop the spare tire key out of the reel if so inclined. What year truck do you have?
DENNY
Now that you have airbags to adjust hight you could pull the blocks out from under the springs. I dropped the springs all the way to the top of the axle on my 99 and my tail gate is now 5 inches lower. Great for loading/unloading and better side wall clearance for the 5th wheel on uneven ground. DENNY
A screw driver wasn’t going to get her done but an old bumper jack handle/lug wrench and big hammer did! Took bearing out, removed old Teflon, clean out hub, put bearing back in (I didn’t forget?) pressed in seals and mounted new rotors.
Q. Does anyone have the torque specs lb-ft for the rear axle flange (to hub) bolts? I’ve been all over the forum and web. I’m finding other references for Dana 80 (Dodge) with axle flange bolts at 95 lb-ft. ? Don’t know if that’s right.
At one time I had seen a write up—but now I can’t find it. In It was listed a Ford part # thread lock
Q. Can I use the blue locktite on these bolt threads
Got the hubs and axles buttoned up. And the Amsoil added. 4 quarts is not quite enough even with half a bottle of Slip Lock additive added per instructions. Descaled all the loose rust with my needle gun (comparison jn picture of bottom already peened cleaned)
Coated with “Ospho” and needs a 24 hr cure.
Found root cause of right rear rotor scored up so badly- caliper bracket slide pin was locked up solid. Tried penetrating oil and pipewrench- just twisted it off. Heading to town to pick up two loaded calipers for the rear. I think Denny mentioned earlier if they looked like the original calipers replace with new loaded ones, the piston boots look pretty wore too—good call Denny!
I think it’s been mentioned before about the lousy set-up for adjusting the parking brakes. I never had trouble with my old Chevy’s over the years but the brake spoon I had wasn’t going to work.
Here’s a picture of the screwdriver I modified— easy to turn the star wheel and enough room to see as I was turning it.
Does anyone know why this cable (see picture) is ran though the bed support channel and bolted to the frame?
Is it factory or something that was added when the 5th wheel was installed?
Thanks- that’s certainly is what it looks like..... I really don’t want to drill a big hole in my new bed channel though. Hard to believe 8 bolts wouldn’t hold the bed on in a wreck and with the addition of the 5th wheel rails across the inside of the bed and bolted to the frame I think putting the strap back on would be a waste of time— IMO
:winking: I suppose you’re right—isn’t that a shame what it’s come to
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