Since this bed bolt & hole are already damaged, I welded some splines onto the bolt, sharpened them with
carbide Dremel bits, and then matched those locations in the bed hole with a triangular file.
The bolt won't spin again, but it can still be installed & removed as-intended. Before final installation, I sandblasted & sprayed it with cold galvanizing, similar to its original finish.
IF THE IMAGE IS TOO SMALL, click it.
I have since decided to swap to later-style bolts from now on, as shown on this & the NEXT 2 pages:
This page shows how to swap the bed bolts to the newer style that's easier to R&R:
![bedboltsplined.jpg Since this bed bolt & hole are already damaged, I welded some splines onto the bolt, sharpened them with [url=https://www.ebay.com/itm/374330146726]carbide Dremel bits[/url], and then matched those locations in the bed hole with a triangular file.
[url=https://www.supermotors.net/vehicles/registry/media/1164101][img]https://www.supermotors.net/getfile/1164101/thumbnail/bedbolt.jpg[/img][/url]
The bolt won't spin again, but it can still be installed & removed as-intended. Before final installation, I sandblasted & sprayed it with cold galvanizing, similar to its original finish.
IF THE IMAGE IS TOO SMALL, click it.
I have since decided to swap to later-style bolts from now on, as shown on this & the NEXT 2 pages:
[url=https://www.supermotors.net/registry/media/1169577][img]https://www.supermotors.net/getfile/1169577/thumbnail/bedboltcmprf.jpg[/img][/url]
This page shows how to swap the bed bolts to the newer style that's easier to R&R:
[url=https://www.supermotors.net/registry/23144/89143-2][img]https://www.supermotors.net/getfile/1171761/thumbnail/bedboltnew.jpg[/img][/url]](https://www.supermotors.net/getfile/1164215/fullsize/bedboltsplined.jpg)