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As the title says, I finally finished installing the utilitrack rails on the 3 sides of my bed with reinforcements under the sheet metal where the two tracks come together on the side of the bed. In all, it took about 1.5 hrs. per side after my metal was cut to size. The rails are very strong and look great. I didn't take as many pictures as I should have to help illustrate this but I'll attempt to describe the process I used in case someone else finds it useful. Feel free to ask questions or PM if something doesn't make sense.
If you're going to get a spray-in liner I would recommend doing that before you install the utilitracks.
Tools needed: Mechanical fingers, extendable magnet, ¼” ratchet, ½” ratchet, box end wrench, string, ~7”x7”x1/16” metal, Dremel tool, drill and drill bits.
1. Cut/obtain/whatever two pieces of metal approximately 7”x7”. The metal I used was closer to 6 ½” square and 1/16” thick.
2. Look underneath the bed rails and locate the plastic fasteners used to hold the bed rail caps on. The fasteners have hooks on both sides that grab the hole in the bed rail. Begin removing the bed rail caps by carefully squeezing both the inside and outside of the fasteners one at a time. Note, there are two rows of fasteners. Only one can be reached from inside the bed. I loosened the outer row by pushing the inside of the fastener with a screwdriver and pulling the outside with a seal remover (similar to a dental pick). The cap is also held on with double sided tape at the back of the bed. Follow the directions in this link for locating the existing nuts in the bed.
http://www.titantalk.com/forums/tit...non-utilitrack-bed-2.html?highlight=utiltrack
This is a very good write-up and saved me a lot of time and headaches. With regards to the track on the front of the bed, my truck already had bolts in these locations. I only needed to drill through the sheet metal to locate the nuts on the sides of the bed.
3. Install the front and rear sections on one side of the bed by using the existing nuts. You will only have two bolts at each end of the track at this point.
4. Verify the front and rear tracks are level with the bed rail and with each other. Mark and drill the bolt holes in the middle of the bed.
5. Slide the piece of metal you cut earlier up underneath the tracks between the tracks and bed wall. Leave a small gap near the top to give yourself some wiggle room when installing the bolts. Mark the holes through the tracks on the metal. Once the holes are marked, remove the metal and drill out the holes. Make the holes big enough for the bolts to easily slide through.
6. Now you’ll need to cut a small hole on the top of the bed rail similar to a stake pocket but not as large. You’ll notice there is a ridge on top of the bed rail right above the location where the tracks will mount. Just forward of that ridge, there are two holes, one oval and one rectangle. I used a Dremel to cut a hole through both of those existing holes. The picture probably explains it better than I can in writing but I started my cut approximately ½ way through the rectangular hole and cut towards the inside of the bed stopping about 1-½” from the inside edge of the bed rail. If you go any further you’ll start cutting into the inner structure of the wall. From there I cut straight back approximately 2-1/4”. Connect that cut to the oval hole and from the oval hole straight forward back to the rectangular hole. The hole you’ve made should be wider on one side than the other. This width is sufficient for a ¼” ratchet to fit inside
If you're going to get a spray-in liner I would recommend doing that before you install the utilitracks.
Tools needed: Mechanical fingers, extendable magnet, ¼” ratchet, ½” ratchet, box end wrench, string, ~7”x7”x1/16” metal, Dremel tool, drill and drill bits.
1. Cut/obtain/whatever two pieces of metal approximately 7”x7”. The metal I used was closer to 6 ½” square and 1/16” thick.
2. Look underneath the bed rails and locate the plastic fasteners used to hold the bed rail caps on. The fasteners have hooks on both sides that grab the hole in the bed rail. Begin removing the bed rail caps by carefully squeezing both the inside and outside of the fasteners one at a time. Note, there are two rows of fasteners. Only one can be reached from inside the bed. I loosened the outer row by pushing the inside of the fastener with a screwdriver and pulling the outside with a seal remover (similar to a dental pick). The cap is also held on with double sided tape at the back of the bed. Follow the directions in this link for locating the existing nuts in the bed.
http://www.titantalk.com/forums/tit...non-utilitrack-bed-2.html?highlight=utiltrack
This is a very good write-up and saved me a lot of time and headaches. With regards to the track on the front of the bed, my truck already had bolts in these locations. I only needed to drill through the sheet metal to locate the nuts on the sides of the bed.
3. Install the front and rear sections on one side of the bed by using the existing nuts. You will only have two bolts at each end of the track at this point.
4. Verify the front and rear tracks are level with the bed rail and with each other. Mark and drill the bolt holes in the middle of the bed.
5. Slide the piece of metal you cut earlier up underneath the tracks between the tracks and bed wall. Leave a small gap near the top to give yourself some wiggle room when installing the bolts. Mark the holes through the tracks on the metal. Once the holes are marked, remove the metal and drill out the holes. Make the holes big enough for the bolts to easily slide through.
6. Now you’ll need to cut a small hole on the top of the bed rail similar to a stake pocket but not as large. You’ll notice there is a ridge on top of the bed rail right above the location where the tracks will mount. Just forward of that ridge, there are two holes, one oval and one rectangle. I used a Dremel to cut a hole through both of those existing holes. The picture probably explains it better than I can in writing but I started my cut approximately ½ way through the rectangular hole and cut towards the inside of the bed stopping about 1-½” from the inside edge of the bed rail. If you go any further you’ll start cutting into the inner structure of the wall. From there I cut straight back approximately 2-1/4”. Connect that cut to the oval hole and from the oval hole straight forward back to the rectangular hole. The hole you’ve made should be wider on one side than the other. This width is sufficient for a ¼” ratchet to fit inside
