Busted tie down - alternatives?

[DukeCanBuildit]

Plus one to what Phil said - install failure. I’ll take it one step further and suggest the missing bolt was likely never in, not even part way.

The tech may have stripped the threads on the bolt or possibly the threads on the fastening point because of the build up of Linex and said screw it, lined it up, tightened the one good bolt, tossed the other, and called it a day.

It could easily have gone unnoticed. Everything just blends into one big matte grey finish.

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[jsphlynch]

I can't tell from photos if the tie down had another bolt threaded in or not but it's possible they left one out. Mine were put in before the spray liner because it's all over the tie down. Yours doesn't appear to have spray liner on it, which seems strange to me.

My truck has Linex or whatever it's called and when I put some tie downs in the middle of the box (where Ford should still be putting them!!!) I had to clean the threads with an M8 1.25" tap. The OE tie downs are covered in spray liner, that one looks like it was misassembled at some point after the liner spray.

Surprised to see people talking about having spray liner on their tiedowns. I haven't yet gotten my current Ranger sprayed, but when I did it to my previous gen Ranger, they removed anything in the bed that was removeable, then replaced it after completing the liner. Is this not standard practice?

 

[halligan1201]

Surprised to see people talking about having spray liner on their tiedowns. I haven't yet gotten my current Ranger sprayed, but when I did it to my previous gen Ranger, they removed anything in the bed that was removeable, then replaced it after completing the liner. Is this not standard practice?

I made the mistake of buying the factory liner, and while it's probably fine for what I'll do with the truck, the quality isn't good - things like just spraying over the tie downs. I'm also a 2021 buyer and it seems like a lot of steps and parts got dropped last year to accommodate cost, supply shortage, and to speed up production.

 

[Peragrin]

Surprised to see people talking about having spray liner on their tiedowns. I haven't yet gotten my current Ranger sprayed, but when I did it to my previous gen Ranger, they removed anything in the bed that was removeable, then replaced it after completing the liner. Is this not standard practice?

I am also a 2021 buyer with factory liner. Most third parties remove the tie downs prior to spraying. The factory liner does not. So when I installed my swing case, and extra tiedowns. (two up front eyes 2 middle brackets) I had to not only scrap material out of the holes (I retapped them ) I had to scrap liner off the tie down bolts so I could undo them.

 

[Krudo]

So it appears as though the bolt does not go all the way in. Only about half way, and then will not tighten further and backs back out if you try.

I haven’t been in a good place to take the camper off so it’s been tricky to resolve/get good leverage. Will need to find a place to take the camper off to get this done, it seems.

Does appear the thread needs retapping/cleaning upon further inspection. There’s no bolt stuck in there or anything. Hard to see but it does appear to be damaged or have bedliner on the threads.

 

[Wes Siler]

So it appears as though the bolt does not go all the way in. Only about half way, and then will not tighten further and backs back out if you try.

I haven’t been in a good place to take the camper off so it’s been tricky to resolve/get good leverage. Will need to find a place to take the camper off to get this done, it seems.

Perhaps the thread needs retapping?

Just screw one of these into the good hole, in place of the factory tie down point: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01NBN7L55/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[Peragrin]

Just screw one of these into the good hole, in place of the factory tie down point: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01NBN7L55/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

got a set of those for the extra holes up front. very handy to have

 

[mtbikernate]

My truck has Linex or whatever it's called and when I put some tie downs in the middle of the box (where Ford should still be putting them!!!) I had to clean the threads with an M8 1.25" tap. The OE tie downs are covered in spray liner, that one looks like it was misassembled at some point after the liner spray.

I had my bedliner done by a local Rhino Lining shop.

They removed all the tie downs before doing the spray in, and put them back.

That said, they did not mask off the other threaded holes in the bed. So for the 3rd set of tie downs that I added later, and for the other holes near the tailgate that I used for a semi-custom bike rack install later on, I also had to clean the threads with a tap.

I didn't remove the factory tie downs that the bedliner folks dealt with, so I don't know if they just masked them off really well, or if they also cleaned the threads with a tap. I haven't taken those off.

 

[12Bravo20]

Surprised to see people talking about having spray liner on their tiedowns. I haven't yet gotten my current Ranger sprayed, but when I did it to my previous gen Ranger, they removed anything in the bed that was removeable, then replaced it after completing the liner. Is this not standard practice?

Those of us that have sprayed bed liner on top of all the tie downs have the Ford Factory sprayed in liner. They don't bother to remove tie downs or cover open holes when the bed liner is applied at the factory. I also had to clean out all the holes to mount my swing box due to Berliner in the holes.

 

[Krudo]

Alright finally got time to take the camper off and fix this thing. I definitely think they never installed the bolt after the liner was installed. The holes didn’t line up at all. Had to unbolt them tie down completely and clear the opening of both bolts holes. Then it all went back into place just fine. Check your tie downs after a spray in is installed!

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